Teachers, how accessible and well resourced is music in your secondary school?

[OneBrickFish]

Hi, I’m Lucy, an aspiring teacher, and I am currently writing my dissertation on the importance of music in secondary schools and why it should be prioritised. It will look at the inequalities between schools in different areas and the resources students are provided. I would like to gather some opinions from teachers which is the reason for my post.

I would love to hear about your experience of the music curriculum working in a secondary school. Is it watered down for all student capabilities, or is it too difficult? Do you think there are enough resources to help the students achieve their full potential? Is there anything else you agree or disagree with regarding the music curriculum or the general accessibility of music in schools. I would also be interested to know whether this is about a public or private school.

All comments are anonymous and is to be used for my dissertation. Anyone who chooses to comment on this post will be sent a participant information form and a consent form.

Thank you for choosing to be a part of my research.

I am a teacher in a FE college and find that most students that come to me haven't had the opportunity to study music at school at GCSE levels at all, suggesting that music is given quite short schrift in most secondary schools. I think it's a bit shortsighted, considering music has quite a number of transferable skills (using software, presenting, working towards a goal, commitment etc.) but sadly the arts are seen as a 'nice to have' not a priority.

I am a headteacher - music is a significant part of the curriculum in KS3 and is an options choice for KS4. That said, we only get an uptake on average of 30% of year group cohorts when it comes to options. It’s not taught at KS5 currently as we don’t have enough uptake for it.

We teach at all different abilities. I think it’s good to have the subject and it’s something that the department heavily promotes.

Interesting. Why don't you think you have a strong uptake at KS5? Is it funding (instruments etc.) or possibly persuaded to do something different?

I’m happy to help you. I’m a secondary school music teacher in the twilight of my career.

KS4 and 5 music isn't really designed for students just dabbling in an instrument. To be successful at KS4 you probably need to start at around grade 1/2 standard to be able to get up to standard difficulty for Eduqas (this exam board that allows a grade 3 difficulty to not lose marks). However to access the higher marks you need to be finding grade 4 pieces you can play (Grade 5 pieces for Edexcel). This is GCSE. I was grade 5 when I started my A level in music - so the goal posts have massively shifted.

There is also a focus on sheet music. Students can't be submitted without having sheet music for the performance. However my students didn't learn from sheet music - they learnt from a YouTube video - so how do I get the sheet music? Do I stop them and force them to learn from sheet music? Or do I spend hours notating what they've played? Either I do the work, or they suffer.

In my opinion there is a focus on the wrong things.

Grades in music always seem to be lower than other subjects. Obviously there's got to be a place for the high end musicians to succeed. However - if they're getting 9s in other subjects and maybe 6 or 7s in music - why bother??

A stressed out music teacher............who hates coursework!!!

That makes a lot of sense. Success in music at KS4, KS5 and beyond often depends heavily on having the right support and resources in place at home beforehand. In reality, much of the responsibility falls on parents to encourage and enable this; without that support, it’s hardly surprising that students may struggle to achieve or even choose the subject in the first place—especially when many other subjects can be picked up from scratch.

One of the other issues with attainment at KS4 is the fact that lots of students join us in year 7 with next to no skills or knowledge. Some might have learned the ukulele for a term but they can’t remember any of it.

This is a rural area and many kids join us from small schools where they have no music specialist and Music has never been prioritised, despite it being a requirement. It’s not easy teaching them everything they should have learned at primary school plus KS3 Music in a couple of years. Added to this, we have some amazing musicians who have come from prep schools or had really good support at home, so there is a huge gap in prior knowledge.