NPME response: Much ‘feels optimistic and acknowledges that it will be a mammoth undertaking’

It is encouraging that the initial reaction to the new National Plan for Music Education (NPME2) seems to be fairly positive – unlike the Model Music Curriculum (MMC), which was divisive due to its prescriptive nature. While the executive summary is full of optimism and underscored by many phrases we all would have expected, the ‘hows’ of this plan may need further explanation.

First of all, there will be schools and hubs appointed as ‘lead schools’ and ‘national hub centres of excellence’ who will be supported in helping to provide excellent CPD, inclusion strategies, and to promote music technology nationally. Unfortunately, hubs will have to compete to become centres of excellence, rather than being selected based on demonstrable good practice in spite of funds and status. The hope is that this competition will be as fair as possible so as not to allow the most well-off and most diverse and inclusive schools and hubs to ‘win’, in a ‘rich get richer’ scenario. On the flip side, this may mean that organisations need to collect and track certain data, which can help the drive for inclusion.