Data from the Department for Education has revealed the government met only 27% of its recruitment target for trainee secondary music teachers for 2023/24.
Just 219 students have begun postgraduate initial teacher training courses against a target of 790, according to the Initial Teacher Training Census.
The latest figures form part of a downward trend of missed recruitment targets for music, falling from 64% for 2022/23 and 71% for 2021/22.
Chris Walters, national organiser for education at the Musicians’ Union, said: ‘The Department for Education’s recruitment of just 27% of its target for new classroom music teachers sadly shows how unappealing a career in music teaching has become – understandably so, given music’s precarious status in schools.
‘It is time to reverse the decline in arts subjects in schools and restore a broad curriculum for all, with a teaching workforce that is appropriately supported and valued.’
In the autumn, the government announced the reintroduction of the teacher training bursary for music to drive recruitment, which ISM chief executive Deborah Annetts said still ‘may not be enough’.
Annetts added: ‘The government must urgently look at the decline of music in schools due to accountability measures, the EBacc and Progress 8, as well as the pay of teachers as current policies have led to this situation where would be teachers are put off.
‘The government set out ambitious plans for music in the refreshed National Plan for Music Education. However, without the workforce to deliver it, those plans will never be realised and the teaching of music may disappear in schools.’
Before this autumn’s political party conferences, UK Music, an umbrella body for the music industry, urged the next government to recruit 1,000 more music teachers to help secure the country’s talent pipeline as part of its Manifesto for Music.
Across 18 subjects, the government missed its 2023/24 recruitment targets in all but three: history, classics and PE.
