PRESS RELEASE: immediate 25th June 2022
Download this press release as a PDF
The power of music to change lives:
a national plan for music education
On Saturday 25th June 2022, the Department for Education launched the policy paper: The power of music to change lives. Don Gillthorpe, President of the Music Teachers’ Association responds:
In publishing its refreshed National Plan for Music Education, the Government has set out an ambitious vision to
provide high-quality music education for all children in England, from early years to KS5 and beyond. Several members
of the Music Teachers’ Association were involved in the creation of the document, and we are grateful to them and to the
rest of the panel for the time and care taken over this work.
This plan recognises the power of music to change lives and seeks to address some of the inequalities found in our
current provision. As a membership association, we will be reviewing the document and providing resources, webinars,
and ongoing support to ensure that colleagues can make the most of the opportunities provided in it.
It is especially pleasing to see schools and curriculum music placed at the heart of the plan, with a renewed call for all
pupils in Key Stages 1-3 to receive at least one hour a week of timetabled curriculum music as standard, backing up
similar statements made in the Model Music Curriculum and Ofsted Research Review. We are also delighted to see
significant reference to ensuring that disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND also have music as part of their full
curriculum entitlement.
In partnership with Music Mark, the MTA has released three documents today, as an initial way of supporting teachers in
responding to the plan:
• A Summary for Schools written by Catherine Barker, MTA President-Elect and member of the NPME expert panel; this provides a clearly distilled version of the document which teachers can share with their Senior Leadership Teams. A similar summary will be published in due course by our friends at Music Mark with Hubs in mind.
• Self-evaluation tools for Primary and Secondary schools, designed to help with writing a school-level development plan for music by reviewing their provision, identifying areas for development, and celebrating excellent work. We are also hosting two webinars in early July, looking at Primary and Secondary schools and what the National Plan means for them.
As we take time to review the document in greater depth and consider what we need to do to respond to it, we will
release more resources and hold more events in the coming months. This initial response covers the headlines only.
Don Gillthorpe
President, Music Teachers’ Association
president@musicteachers.org
Media enquiries: Keith Ayling keith@musicteachers.org
www.musicteachers.org/npme
Further links to documents and resources can be found here.
