Reflections from the Music Education Expo 2015
I am writing this fresh from two inspiring days in London at the Music Education Expo.
Reflections from the Music Education Expo 2015
I am writing this fresh from two inspiring days in London at the Music Education Expo. Being based in Cornwall makes it difficult to make it along to such events. We are a long way from everything and often feel a bit forgotten down here at the end of the line! For me personally, having worked for Youth Music HQ for 7 years, it was a real buzz to be back in London and surrounded by people I have known, worked with and learnt from over the years. I felt more connected again.
It’s great to see so many familiar faces still working so successfully in music education, many of them leading the way and pioneering programmes, organisations and initiatives at high levels.
There was an overwhelming feeling of excitement, hunger to absorb and genuine openness all around the venue split over two floors at the Barbican. Music was pouring from every corner, with excited Music Educators trying out new gadgets and resources. Networking, meetings and chance reunions taking place all around. Not a moment was wasted!
The following notes are points that were pertinent for me and for the work that Cymaz Music is currently involved in. I am not representing or feeding back notes from the whole Expo and have included some of my own thoughts and reflections.
A United Music Education
It was really encouraging to see such a united front from MEC, Music Mark, National Foundation for Youth Music and Sound Sense, sending out the “clear message of working together to improve Music Education and make sure children and young people get the very best offer” (Dick Hallam). I often wonder what forms of ‘Hubs’ and partnership working are happening at National Level to support us on the ground where we are expected to work in partnership. This ethos of collaborative learning and leadership must truly be at all levels, without fear or prejudice.
The National Music Education Plan
Kevin Brennan, Shadow Minister for Education claimed that if elected, Labour would remain committed to Music Education. Ofsted would not be able to award Outstanding for school unless they have a ‘high quality arts and culture offer’. He confirmed that the National Music Education Plan would remain active and was charismatically convincing in his own personal love and connection with music and as a musician in a band. Music is economically one of the most important industries for Great Britain. He touched on the recognition that quality of provision is patchy and that inequality still needs to be addressed. He believes that classroom teaching has declined and particularly highlighted a lack of training and skills development for primary school teachers. This theme emerged in other parts of the Expo and is something that we are acutely aware of in Cornwall.
In a panel discussion to examine the National Music Plan and whether we need a Plan B, Matt Griffiths challenged us to think about targeting resources where most needed, encouraging more inclusive practice to give opportunities to children and young people in challenging circumstances. He questioned the value of offering music to EVERY child spreading investment thinly which perhaps results in very light touch and un-sustained activity. He reminded us that music continues to be on the statutory National Curriculum and therefore is on offer to every child.
Read Matt's session blog here
David Ashworth proposed that a Plan B must be the ‘how’ to support the Plan A. He suggests that a Plan B could be more of a manual to support people with implementing the expectations in the Plan and the Core and Extension roles of the Hub. His focus on Music Technology highlighted a significant gap in skills and structured training in Music Technology.
Read David's session blog here
Secondary school teacher Jane Werry gave a very real picture of life as a Head of Music, where expectations above and beyond the role are already very common. She presented the stark reality that schools and teachers are not under any statutory obligation to engage or work with their Hubs. The main challenge for Music Teachers is lack of support, understanding and buy in from senior leadership teams. Even in cases where Hubs might contract schools engagement representatives, this isn’t easy when schools may be academies or running under a different teaching alliance. It’s difficult to even get in the door. Jane concluded that for longer term and sustained funding, it must be supported and campaigned for at top level.
I was inclined to agree with many of the points and arguments raised. The National Music Education Plan does have weaknesses, but it is a good start and gives us a national framework which is unlike any other subject. I wholeheartedly believe that Dick Hallam hit the nail on the head when he said that equality is not the same thing as fairness.
We are in a good position with our Hub in Cornwall, where allocations are made for targeted inclusion programmes as well as to support strategic development and CPD. Our challenge now is to truly embed inclusion across all levels, which is largely needed for the workforce.
Where we need more robust systems in place is in the collection of data and evidence and sharing. We must give ACE the information and data that we would like to share and celebrate, not just what we ‘must submit’ as a data return. We need to get better at showing all the excellent practice and work of Hubs in ways that bring it to life and enables learning.
Why wait for a Plan B…. or a ‘how to’ guide…. Let’s work as a sector to create our own.
Musical Inclusion – breaking down the barriers and embedding inclusion
Exchanging Notes
We were delighted that our Exchanging Notes programme (one of 10 nationally) was invited to present on the progress so far (see session blog here). In Cornwall, Cymaz Music is working with the Hub and Bodmin College on the four year programme. The programme aims to test out a model of non-formal music educators working inside and alongside the music teachers in schools, to offer a package of music provision to a cohort of year 7 children identified as disadvantaged. Through the programme, we hope to develop a deeper understanding of music education in a school environment and how the Cymaz Music/Non-Formal approach and pedagogy can enhance, complement and build on that offer.
Our partnership works because;
We have a good relationship with the Senior Vice Principle of Bodmin College and her absolute buy-in (see point above about a key challenge in schools being lack of SLT support) Cymaz Music Leaders are highly skilled, experienced and have a huge amount to offer The Head of Music at Bodmin college is an inspiration and already very inclusive practitioner. He goes above and beyond to ensure a high quality music offer for students We have support from Youth Worker and the Youth Service, ensuring that there is good pastoral support Communications for the most part are good. We have termly meetings with the full EN notes team to review and plan We adopt and embrace the ‘Do, Review, Improve’ framework
The challenges are;
Time for meaningful reflection which enables learning to inform the development Language barriers (non-formal and formal) Logistical challenges in terms of timetabling Explaining why EN isn’t on offer for all students and managing expectations Collecting all the data required for the research and evaluation of the programme
Feedback from the session was really positive, with many teachers applauding the work, finding it ‘inspiring’ and commending the approach to the research and evaluation.
The Exchanging Notes programme is funded by the National Foundation for Youth Music. It complements the national Musical Inclusion programme also funded by Youth Music.
Musical Inclusion
The final session of the Expo was an update from the Musical Inclusion evaluation and networking team. Cymaz Music has been one of the 26 organisations delivering the Musical Inclusion programme for 3 years. Kathryn Deane and Phil Mullen gave an overview of the types of evaluation and networking activity that has been taking place.
Key points;
Definitions and understanding about what we mean by Musical Inclusion have been developed Progress is slow and steady, with many MINC organisations making headway with embedding Inclusion into their Hubs There is still a way to go until Inclusion becomes fully embedded Inclusion is about equality and targeted resources to reach those most in need and most likely to benefit We need to have shared understanding of what we mean by quality Youth Music continues to support programmes across England which support the aim of working towards a Musically Inclusive England Sharing of practice is vital, as is leadership and change from the ground up Call to action – what can we all do to work towards Musical Inclusion?
Next steps
For us in Cornwall, we are already working very closely with the Hub as one of the most central partners. We have a shared approach to Inclusion and deliver commissioned work for the Hub which is targeted at the most disadvantaged. We have used the McKinsey 7 S framework to chart our current progress with embedding Inclusion.
On 15th April we are hosting a conference; ‘Count Me In!’ as our own call to action for Inclusion in Cornwall. We will discuss and debate some of the key issues; formal vs non-formal, what is quality and how to address skills and training needs.
We look forward to further developing tools and resources to support Musical Inclusion which we will be sharing via the Youth Music Network. Check out our Count Me In! group that we are setting up on the YMN, which will be a vehicle for sharing information and practice on Inclusion. And, we very much hope to be part of the Music Education Expo 2016!
Chip in and share your thoughts, feedback and experiences of the Music Education Expo 2015.