A rude awakening: February 2022 Editorial

I hope you're starting to get back into the swing of things after the Christmas break – the mornings are getting lighter and soon the classroom teachers among you won't be leaving and arriving home in the pitch black.

The start of the new year hasn't been without its music-education-related frustrations, though, with the news breaking rather abruptly on 3 January that Ofqual's new chair Ian Bauckham had suggested suspending music lessons in schools to free up teachers to cover other subjects. Clearly, Covid-related staff absences are a challenge that cannot be ignored, but there are so many things wrong with this ‘proposal’ that it almost doesn't seem worth spelling out.

Many are, quite rightly, highlighting the wellbeing benefits of music, labelling this as one of the main reasons why it must remain on the timetable, even under ‘emergency’ measures. But this justification for music education doesn't fully sit right with me. Music is a valid statutory ‘academic’ subject, and we should not be being forced into a corner like this, left with no choice but to defend ourselves with cries of, ‘but music gives children a break from their serious subjects!’. Those with years more experience in music education will tell me that this is an age-old issue, which, to be honest, is far from comforting. (You can read the full story on p.8).

But, as ever, we continue. In this month's issue of MT you'll find an early years focus, including a cover feature with Live Music Now about their pilot Lullaby Project (p.17), a look at Chickenshed's Tales from the Shed (p.22), and a fascinating exploration of mastery in early years settings by Emma Hutchinson.

Elsewhere, we have an interview with Noise Solution's Simon Glenister (p.20), a piece on effective hub partnership work by Yogesh Dattani (p.26), an analysis of the current situation in Wales (p.24), and part two of Robert Bunting's no-nonsense commentary on preserving curriculum music (p.29). Finally, for all our private music teacher readers, I'm delighted to introduce a new monthly column, Ask Althea (p.38). As you'll discover, Althea Talbot-Howard and I hope you will use this as an ‘agony aunt’ column, so I look forward to receiving your questions.

I hope you take plenty of gems from this issue and, as ever, please do get in touch with me on harriet.clifford@markallengroup.com with any feedback, letters, or article ideas.

Harriet Clifford, editor