Music Teacher - How to assess music hubs

How should the effectiveness of music hubs be assessed? Graeme Smith, the former chair of Music Mark and Head of Croydon Music and Arts (2000–24), argues for greater value to be placed on quality of experience and innovation

Graeme Smith conducting young musicians at the CR Talent Festival in July 2023, part of Croydon’s London Borough of Culture year - © Vipul Sangoi

The National Centre for Social Research has been asked to evaluate the music education hubs programme and associated funding. That evaluation involves interviewing hub staff about their experience of providing support before September 2024, including:

This article represents the perspective of someone who was involved in much of the work in the run up to the music education hubs programme, before it launched, and who led the music hub in Croydon until the end of April 2024.

With the launch of the formal Music Hub Investment Programme, as it became known, national leadership of music education in England was taken out of the hands of music education specialists when Richard Hallam left his DfE role as National Music Education Grant Director in 2012. Instead, the national leadership passed to Arts Council England.