We need a music education system that is genuinely accessible to all children, regardless of their family’s income. Image credit: Shutterstock.
MU General Secretary, Naomi Pohl, and National Organiser for Education, Chris Walters, spoke at a meeting of MPs last week.
The meeting, organised by BEAU (Broadcasting, Entertainment and Arts Unions), centred on the issue of Creative Education.
Addressing the MPs and Peers in the room, Chris highlighted the below points.
Music education should be accessible to all regardless of ability to pay
On current funding levels, access to sustained instrumental tuition is limited to those whose families can afford it. Music Hubs, which deliver instrumental lessons in state schools, have had stagnant funding since 2012.
We need to look at increasing this in line with recommendations from Demos’ recent report, ‘Facing the Music: Meeting the ambitions of the national plan for music education’.
University music courses must be protected
Several high profile courses and departments have recently closed or are consulting to close.
While wider financial pressures facing higher education have contributed to closures, declining student demand is also linked to the long-term marginalisation of arts subjects in schools. The new Government’s policies should help reverse this, but in the meantime we need to protect music courses.
The MU has created a new resource, the Championing University Music Toolkit, to help university music departments advocate for the important work they do when facing closure or staff reductions.
Protection of the music education workforce
Teachers working for Music Hubs have had to accept worsening and increasingly precarious terms due to flat funding and rising costs; these roles are increasingly unappealing and Music Hubs are struggling to recruit the teachers they need.
We believe Government should undertake a strategic review of the music education workforce, covering both Music Hub teachers and classroom music teachers, working alongside unions and employers. This should include consideration of pay, recruitment, retention and professional development. We also support the reinstatement of training bursaries for classroom music teachers.
Follow up to meeting with Chancellor
The General Secretary also followed up on her meeting with Chancellor Rachel Reeves, summarising the key MU asks on music education. She said:
“The Musicians’ Union shares the Government’s vision for a music education system that is genuinely accessible to all children, regardless of their family’s income. However, we do not believe that this vision can be realised without a significant increase in funding for Music Hubs.
“Since their creation in 2012, Music Hubs have received broadly the same level of Department for Education funding, averaging around £80 million per year. Fourteen years later, inflation has significantly eroded the value of that investment, resulting in a substantial real-terms reduction in funding.
“Current funding pressures affect not only children but also the workforce that delivers music education. MU members report that many instrumental and vocal teachers engaged by Hubs work on increasingly precarious and inconsistent terms as Hub budgets struggle to keep pace with rising costs.
“As the National Centre for Arts and Music Education prepares to assume responsibility for Music Hubs from September 2027, there is an opportunity to place music education on a sustainable long-term footing. We believe this transition would be the right moment to review and strengthen the Music Hub funding settlement.”