Music Expo Speech

Can I open by quoting some words from a speech by Ed

Miliband recently. He said,
If you believe in social justice, if you believe in a more equal
society, as I do, then access to the arts and culture is not an
optional extrait is essential.
Not simply because of the worlds it opens up, but because of
the wider impact it has.
Some people pose the arts and culture as an alternative to
academic education. But the truth is the opposite.
Over 40% of 16 year olds from low-income families who
engage in the arts and culture score above average in their
school tests.
Those who take part in the arts and culture are more likely to
get a degree.
It cant be right that all of these advantages are the privilege of
a few, rather than the right of the many.
That is why at the heart of the next Labour governments
mission is to guarantee every young person, from whatever
background access to the arts and culture.
He went on to talk about a universal entitlement to a creative
education.
A strengthening of creative education in schools and afterschool clubs.
Building clear paths from school, college and university into the
arts or creative industries.

And he pledged to use the power of the Prime Ministers office

to put arts and culture policy at the very heart of government.
And of course he was right to do that not least in the light of the
findings of the recent Warwick Commission.
That the number of primary school children taking part in music
fell from well over half in 2010, to just over a third by 2013.
That the number of arts and culture teachers in schools has
fallen by 11% since 2010.
And that in 2013, fewer than one in ten of students combined
arts and culture and science subjects at AS level.
These outcomes are a direct consequence of a backwardlooking, narrow educational philosophy from the government.
We have to fix that.
Much of what we did to improve access to the arts in
government has been cut back.
So as the first part of our plan to improve access to the arts and
culture, the next Labour government will champion the
importance of a creative education.
A truly outstanding education cannot exclude creative subjects,
especially if we wish to see fully rounded citizens of our country
leaving our schools and colleges at 18.
Schools will have to provide high quality creative subjects,
including music, and great cultural opportunities to all their
pupils if they want to get an outstanding Ofsted rating.

We will succeed in the future with STEAM not just STEM

because young people deserve and need a broad and
balanced curriculum.
Now I want to say a few more specific things about Music
education.
The Tories have tried to give the impression of supporting
music in education, but in reality the follow up on their rhetoric
has been poor. They have sent out mixed messages by their
actions and failed to link the importance of music education and
the economic contribution of music to the country, including by
dropping copyright education.
Theyve introduced a national plan for music but introduced
policies which discourage schools from offering Music.
The music industry is worth 3.8bn to the UK economy
(mention IPT here) but that is not reflected in policy making at
the DfE.
You all know that Music education is a very mixed economy
with private tuition being a major part of it with the obvious
implications for equality. Classroom music education has been
declining as a result of this governments messaging to schools
about other subjects, and the impact of the cuts in
implementing the Henley Review and National Music Plan. In
fact as you know things were getting so bad last year that they
had to find 17m last year to stop the Plan from collapsing.
Music services used to be run through local authorities but this
government has channelled funding to hubs via the Arts
Council. In my view there is currently a lack of transparency on
how well it is being spent and distributed.
We would review this mechanism to insure that these
resources are being used effectively to implement the music

education agenda envisaged in the national plan - we need to

get the money out to the talented individuals who can deliver
music education at a local level. With no certainty year on year
about funding, staff in many cases are effectively being made
redundant every year and then being re-employed.
The core values of the National plan are sound.
Ensure that every child aged 5-18 has the opportunity to
learn a musical instrument
Provide opportunities to play in ensembles and to perform
from an early stage.
Ensure that clear progression routes are available and
affordable to all young people.
Develop a singing strategy to ensure that every pupil sings
regularly and that choirs and other vocal ensembles are
available in the area.
So in general the National Plan is good but we will review its
implementation.
There are still real issues around inequality in music education
because there is little or no private education in poorer areas.
In the primary sector some schools have no access to
specialist music teachers and struggle to deliver the national
curriculum. We want ensure that there are more specialist
music teachers being developed for the primary sector in initial
teacher training, as well as improving CPD for existing primary
teachers.
I know there are concerns that music is not being inspected
properly. As I said earlier under Labour no school will be rated
outstanding without having an excellent cultural offer, including
music in the curriculum and as an extra curricula activity.

Regarding exams, Music is after all a serious academic subject

even though the current government has failed to acknowledge
this in its policies and actions. We will look very closely at how
the new accountability measures are impacting on Music as an
option, and make changes if necessary.
We will also review the exam content proposals to make
sure they have not been narrowed too much by a very
limited vision of which composers and eras of music can
be studied.
As a government we will give strong support to music
education both as a cultural entitlement for all and as an
academic subject.
We will develop better careers advice about opportunities
to work in the music industries.
We will support programmes like Young Enterprise to
include music industry projects.
And we will consult on including copyright education in the
music curriculum again.
So Labour will insist that no school can be rated outstanding
unless it delivers a broad and balanced curriculum with an
outstanding cultural offer to its students. We will ensure that the
National Plan for Music does not just teach a minority of pupils
as Ofsted found. We will ensure that publicly funded schools,
regardless of type, collaborate to meet the cultural needs of
children. Not only will that lead to a more vibrant democratic
society with more citizens able to contribute positively, but it will
also help us to sustain and grow our creative industries which
are one of this countrys greatest exports.