Music Teacher - NPME interview: advisory panellist Phil Castang

One of 15 members of the expert advisory panel for the National Plan for Music Education published at the end of June, Phil Castang provides valuable insight into the plan's contents and shares his thoughts on the finished product.

The updated National Plan for Music Education (NPME) is finally with us. As of 12:15am on Saturday 25 June, England had a new plan of action for the delivery of music education to children and young people, now from the early years onwards. The 83-page document from the Department for Education (DfE) and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), entitled The power of music to change lives, replaces the 2011 document, The importance of music. Even the refreshed title suggests a positive shift, moving us beyond the need to justify music’s place in the curriculum and towards a holistic approach to music education fit to serve all young people today.