Music education in state schools debated in House of Lords

This story was updated on 08.03.22 to include a response from the DfE.

A debate on music education in state schools took place in the House of Lords yesterday (2 March) just after 3pm. 

Lord Black – a Conservative, a chairman of the Royal College of Music, and a governor of Brentwood School – asked the government ‘what steps they are taking to support music education in state schools’. 

Representing the Department for Education (DfE) and responding to Black’s question was the parliamentary under-secretary of state for the DfE, baroness Barran. 

State school music ‘on life support’

In her first response, Barran cited the government’s commitments ‘to high-quality education for all pupils’, adding that ‘music is integral to this’. She referred to the imminent National Plan for Music Education (NPME), the Model Music Curriculum (MMC), and the already-announced £115m per annum investment in music, arts and heritage education over the next three years.

Black responded with: ‘The sad, blunt truth is that music education in state schools is on life support.’

‘The number of pupils taking A Level Music is down by a third since 2014 – sadly, often because it is simply not available as a subject. GCSE applicants have come down by 17 per cent over the same period and 29 per cent of state schools have seen a reduction in the number of qualified music teachers, while the number of trainees is falling inexorably.’ 

He continued: ‘Is my noble friend aware that while 50 per cent of pupils in private schools get sustained music education, just 15 per cent of state school pupils do so? Should this not be at the top of the levelling-up agenda? 

‘We need a national plan soon, so can she tell us more precisely when that is coming? Can we also be assured that practitioners and musicians will be able to have their say before it is implemented?’

GSCEs vs vocational qualifications

As part of her reply, Barran said: ‘I point out that while he is right that uptake of the GCSE has declined, uptake of the VTQ – the vocational qualification – has increased, so actually there are almost 53,000 children today taking either the GCSE or the VTQ, compared to almost 50,000 in 2016.’ She also added that she will ‘take [Black’s] recommendations on further consultation back to the department’, in reference to the NPME.

It was initially unclear what baroness Barran meant by ‘the VTQ’ – VTQ is usually referred to in the plural, standing for vocational and technical qualifications, including BTECs and vocational qualifications (VQs) awarded by RSL. 

As part of the government’s plans to ‘streamline’ post-16 qualification options for students and remove ‘low-quality’ courses, funding for BTECs will be scrapped, and there is currently no ‘T Level’ in music.

When contacted for clarification, a spokesperson from the DfE said: 'The source of the figures baroness Barran quoted include both music GCSE and vocational and technical qualifications in music subjects taken at Key Stage 4.

'Baroness Barran was not referring to a single VTQ, but a collection of different VTQs taken at KS4 in music subjects. All qualifications cited in the data sources are for subjects that were available at the time. Some may include qualifications that have since been replaced with similar courses.' 

Music is being ‘squeezed out’

The debate continued with input from others, and reference to inequalities between independent and state school music provision, accountability measures including the EBacc and Progress 8, teacher training, instrumental tuition in primary schools, school orchestras, and the undelivered ‘arts premium’.

Congratulating Nicola Benedetti on her recent appointment as the next director of the Edinburgh International Festival, Labour’s viscount Stansgate asked: ‘Is the minister aware of the concerns of musicians, such as Julian Lloyd Webber, that music is being squeezed out of state school syllabuses and is increasingly coming to be seen as the preserve of only the rich?’

Barran replied: ‘I remind the noble viscount, as I am sure he knows, that music is compulsory in all maintained schools from the ages of five to 14.’

Towards the end of the debate, Labour’s lord Winston said: ‘My lords, unfortunately, the noble lord, lord Black, has had the same answers in the same kinds of debates for many years, since he has been asking this really important question.’

‘[...] Not even sufficient instruments are available in primary schools, despite what the noble baroness asserts. There should be far more done to ensure music is an essential part of the curriculum.’

The debate can be read in full via Hansard.