Christopher Stevens interview: Living up to high standards

‘They’re big shoes to fill; that’s the reality of it. There’s a lot to live up to, and lots to do to keep the momentum going,’ says Christopher Stevens, Ofsted’s newly appointed national lead for music. He is speaking about his predecessor Mark Phillips, who was in the role from September 2020 to December 2021. Despite a relatively short tenure, Phillips made an impact during this particularly challenging period for music teachers, becoming well respected among educators and regularly speaking at conferences and events. He announced Stevens’ appointment on Twitter in January, writing: ‘I know that you’ll make Christopher very welcome and will continue to work together to champion the role that high-quality music education plays in every pupil’s curriculum.’

Phillips, it seems, managed to navigate his potentially intimidating role in an unintimidating way, making it clear every time he spoke publicly that he was there to support music teachers advocate for music education in their schools, and to hold schools accountable where necessary, rather than inspect, judge, or grade individual teachers. Sitting (virtually) across from me now, Stevens’ demeanour and answers to my questions create a similar impression. Granted, an Ofsted inspector in your classroom could take the form of a puppy and would probably still be intimidating – but there is some reassurance in Stevens’ thoughtful responses, personable character, and clear enthusiasm for music, nonetheless.

A subject in its own right

Aside from skipping GCSE Music (he started piano lessons at 14 and went straight to A Level from there), Stevens took a traditional route into music teaching: he studied music at Durham University and did his PGCE immediately after graduating. ‘I joined a fairly big department of three other music teachers,’ says Stevens, ‘which was a real privilege. I was then fortunate enough to become an advanced skills teacher. I worked with what was then Birmingham Music Service, working with other teachers on their curriculum, particularly focused on composition – something that really fascinated me.’ He then took on leadership roles and ended up at a multi-academy trust: ‘Sadly, in a way, this took me further and further away from the music classroom. So, this role at Ofsted has meant that I’ve actually come back to the thing that brought me into education in the first place: music.’

Stevens took on the new role, he tells me, primarily because of his ‘passion for music education’ stemming from personal experience: ‘I still try to play the piano every single day; it’s such an important part of my life. I know what a difference it makes to me personally in terms of mental health, feeling good, my daily routine – it’s really important and I feel really passionately that all pupils should have that opportunity.’ He also adds that, because of the education inspection framework (EIF)’s current focus on a ‘broad and balanced curriculum’, there is an ‘opportunity’ to reinforce the importance of music in schools. ‘Music is a subject in its own right – it is not a subject which is in the service of other subjects, which is something you hear a lot,’ says Stevens. ‘I’m very much of the view that music is good because music is a subject, which brings with it lots of benefits of its own. Therefore, I think that at this time, given the challenges facing music teachers, given the challenges of the pandemic, it seems like the right time to come back and work in the field of music education.’

Explaining quality

Within the first eight minutes of our conversation, the phrase ‘high-quality music education’ makes an appearance. The ambiguity around this descriptor has previously raised hackles, with the meaning of ‘high quality’ often assumed with no explanation. Stevens refers to it a lot – as did Phillips – presumably because it’s part of Ofsted’s mantra: the EIF states that ‘the expectation is that all learners will receive a high-quality, ambitious education’. In his response now, Stevens refers to Ofsted’s research review for music from July 2021, which sets out a model (‘and it is a model’) for progression in music. ‘That model sets out pupils developing their progression in technical ability, their constructive knowledge, and their expressive knowledge. The key point is that it’s about getting better.’ (These are the ‘three pillars’ of progression).

Stevens continues: ‘It’s about pupils making progress – knowing and remembering more, if you use our definition – as they move through the curriculum so that they are becoming more musical. Critically, this is so that they are prepared for the next stage of their musical education if that’s what they want. That, for me, is at the heart of a high-quality music education.’ He adds that this is opposed to the idea that students might ‘experience music’ – a point also pushed by Phillips. ‘You might do some singing, learn about reggae, do some composition; but they’re isolated activities that don’t build any of those pillars of progression over time, and then that becomes a musical experience rather than a musical education.’

Designing a curriculum that meets the standards of a ‘high-quality music education’ is, Stevens says, ‘easier said than done’, and involves making some ‘serious choices about what you leave out, not necessarily about what you do’. He continues: ‘One of the key things about curriculum design in music is thinking about what it is that you want your students to know, remember, and do in music at the end of the Key Stage. Are you really clear about that? How are you going to sequence your curriculum to get there? What is realistically going to be achieved in the time you’ve got? Thinking about these questions will inevitably mean that you have to leave some stuff out and make some interesting curriculum decisions, which are for the school to decide.’

High expectations

Alongside marking, lesson planning, lunchtime choir rehearsals, afterschool orchestras, families, life admin, exercise, cooking, and trying to cling onto some semblance of a social life, finding time to simply read this article may have been a challenge for some. There is also a steady stream of new reports, guidance, reviews and plans, all of which music teachers are expected to read, digest, and implement effectively in their classrooms before you can say ‘Ofsted inspection’. On top of this comes the reality that many teachers are running one-person departments with little support from school leaders.

The conversation turns to these high expectations, and Stevens says: ‘It’s perhaps a trap to fall into – trying to do too much in the music curriculum. In terms of the progression I’ve already mentioned, if you break it down and think about how you’re going to build the components systematically over time, that’s a helpful way of thinking about it. Trying to do too much is unlikely to be meeting curriculum goals.’ He continues: ‘There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that if you take things slower, you do less of it, but you do it well, it’s likely to lead to more learning – which hopefully means that there’s less of the intense pressure to try and cover everything. Because coverage is not the same as learning.’

Later, we’re discussing how interested Ofsted is in extra-curricular music (‘very interested’), and Stevens comes back to these points: ‘If there’s a deep dive in music, one of the things the inspectors will want to find out is the broader impact of the music curriculum. As a music teacher, you’ve got all those other things do to, and those are all important parts of a music education. We want to feel the culture in the school, but we’ll also want to find out how leaders are supporting music teachers so that this can happen.

‘Do leaders understand the pressures on music teachers? As part of a deep dive, we’ll be asking music teachers about that. We’ll be asking about your workload – are leaders aware of it? What do they do to support you? If you’re running a club every night, or a choir at lunchtime, what considerations have been made for that? We’ll want to explore these things.’

‘Alert to the signs’

Something of a hot topic, music being on a ‘carousel’ in some schools is a curriculum design choice that Ofsted has managed to denounce in usual government department style, with carefully chosen words and nothing too explicit. Stevens doesn’t disappoint: ‘It’s difficult to see how music on a carousel actually supports what I’ve been talking about, which is the systematic, gradual, incremental development of music over time.’ He adds, ‘Where we find carousels in operation, we will be asking leaders: why have you got a carousel running in music but not in geography? Both are foundation subjects and requirements of the national curriculum. Talk to us about your thinking behind that. We’ll be alert to the signs on that inspection, we’ll ask questions, and we’ll seek to find out why.’

In response to several questions asked by MT readers on Twitter, Stevens reassures me that all Ofsted inspectors go through a ‘programme of training’, which includes work on ‘subject specificity’ and the features of ‘high-quality music provision’. He also stresses that among inspectors, ‘there is an expectation that young people should be studying music at KS2–3’. He adds: ‘That’s our expectation and inspectors are clear about that – it’s at the very heart of what we’re doing.’ With the implications clear, Stevens says: ‘If we went into a school where we were finding that the maths and English results were strong, but children did not have access to other subjects – that there was a narrowing of their curriculum – that is not in line with a good-quality education. We’re clear about that.’

At the end of the call, I dutifully ask whether there’s anything else Stevens wants to add or say directly to music teachers. Without hesitation, he says: ‘Thank you very much for what you’re doing. I am very much aware of the ongoing impact of Covid, and I just want to say a very big thank you, because some people are doing remarkable things for the young people in their schools. So, from me, a big thank you.’ Gratitude may be a mild tonic for the busy music teacher, but Stevens’ sincerity and commitment are certainly welcome.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-review-series-music
www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted