Introducing Jazz in Education UK

When we talk about jazz in the context of music education, we are often referring to a GCSE set work by Ella Fitzgerald, or a lesson plan based around teaching swing rhythms; but one group of eminent figures in music education is seeking to contribute to policy through advocacy for jazz in education. Now referring to themselves as Jazz in Education UK (as opposed to the slightly more cumbersome The Jazz in Education Initiative), the group plans to host its first major conference in Birmingham in 2023 – kicking off the campaign in earnest following a pandemic-related lull.

In October 2021, the group sent a document to MPs in response to the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group's (APPJAG) Review of Jazz in England 2021. On behalf of 19 signatories, the paper was written by the head of music and BMus (Education) programme director at the University of Aberdeen and co-chair, Pauline Black, honorary senior lecturer in education at the University of Sussex, Duncan Mackrill, and the current international chair in improvisation at Guildhall, Simon Purcell. Serving as a ‘summary statement of purpose’, the compact document argues that the teaching and learning practices of jazz model ‘highly effective’ classroom and instrumental pedagogy but are currently ‘largely underused’.