Report: Westminster Education Forum music policy conference

On 10 November, around 80 delegates and 15 speakers logged on to the Westminster Education Forum (WEdF) policy conference, Next steps for music education in England and implementing the new curriculum, chaired by shadow education minister, Lord Mike Watson. Organised and hosted by one of 16 impartial and cross-party forums that has ‘no policy agenda of its own’, the online conference was billed as an opportunity for informed discussion and debate around music education policy.

The ‘new curriculum’ in the conference title refers to the non-statutory Model Music Curriculum (MMC) published by the Department for Education (DfE) in March. As pointed out on social media ahead of the event, and by speakers on the day, the 104-page document is not a new curriculum – instead, it is an example of how the National Curriculum can be implemented at Key Stages 1–3. This was evidently understood by all speakers, although the blunder by the event organisers seems only to compound one of the many challenges faced by the music education sector, particularly in relation to governance and policy making.