Plan into action: August 2022 Editorial

In the January 2012 MT editorial, the then editor Chris Walters wrote of the newly published National Plan for Music Education in England: ‘in the current climate, any kind of funding commitment is a positive outcome’. A decade and a new National Plan later, this sentence still applies; although with the cost of living soaring and a gaggle of Tory leaders seemingly determined to back-stab, blunder, and contradict their way to the top, we arguably find ourselves in more of a ‘crisis’ than a ‘climate’.

The ring-fenced £25m for musical instruments and equipment set out in the new NPME is, then, something to be celebrated. Besides, as Phil Castang points out, it's not about ‘us and them’ – them being the government (or, at least, civil servants at the DfE and DCMS) – it's about ensuring that the plan grows legs so that every child has access to ambitious, progressive music education (see here for guidance for primary schools).