Teachers of STEM/English, what reasoned argument/experience would convince you that music is an important curriculum subject?

[MissTriggs]

Lots of worry in the music ed. Community at present about the EBAAC and in general the government's attitude to music education.

Generally the music ed people avoid making an argument that music might be useful for improving English/maths/science but given that the election is 5years away I think that we might have to change that argument.

So I wondered: what would convince teachers of "core" subjects and/or leadership teams that music education in school is or could be important and what would such a music education look like?

All thoughts appreciated

Oh, and in terms of crossover, I have two groups doing PA in yr 11 this year - one doing GCSE, one doing BTEC. They've done the same work almost all the way through.

It makes no sense at all to drop the GCSE. It makes me cross.

Further Additional Science GCSE doesn't count for Ebacc in progress 8. You take exactly the same Exam papers as for Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Exactly the same, yet they count but Further Additional doesn't. No logic.

One of the things we teach is PIES, that a human being has physical, intellectual, emotional and social needs, some models also include spiritual.

Music can be incorporated in everything other than physical (and possibly in that too) so it is relevant to overall health and well being, and I think that is enough to justify music teaching in schools.

I teach a STEM subject, I travel to work with a colleague who teaches music. Some of our most challenging students, some with SEN, some not, are able to connect with music - mostly with a piano. He encourages them to play in assembly and they are quite often in the practice rooms after school and at lunchtimes. For those students it might be the only positive thing they accomplish in a day, but from little acorns...............