APPG for Music Education AGM
23 October 2023
All-Party Parliamentary Group for Music Education, Briefing Minutes
Monday, 23 October 2023
Monday, 23 October 2023
Opening Proceedings
Parliamentarians present: Charlotte Nichols MP, Robin Walker MP, Lord Black, The Earl of Clancarty, Baroness Fleet of Brentwood, Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury, office of Sharon Hodgson MP
Apologies: Valerie Vaz MP, Sharon Hodgson MP, Stephanie Peacock MP, Allan Dorans MP, Greg Clarke MP, Kate Osborne MP, Barbara Keeley MP, Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall, Lord Triesman
The attending parliamentarians were joined by members of the music education sector.
Welcome: Wera Hobhouse MP, Chair
Wera Hobhouse talked about the need for greater government support for the arts, which has not been good enough. The decline in music exam entries is a concern, as is the process for the Music Hub Investment Programme. We cannot let music become an afterthought. I hope that we as a group can continue to press the government to give it the priority it deserves.
AGM Business
Official Annual General Meeting business of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Music Education was carried out. The group re-selected Wera Hobhouse MP as its chair, elected officers and approved an expenditure statement.
Presentations
Jane Bonham Carter, Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury
Baroness Bonham-Carter is the Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport. She discussed the need for government to understand the importance of music education in the skills pipeline. The artist Grayson Perry warned in 2012 that leaving arts subjects out of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) would gradually erode them in schools and deprive poor children of culture – this is what has happened.
Particularly interested in how this is feeding a lack of diversity in our education system. Schools that provide high-quality cultural education get better academic results, but there is a growing gap between state and independent provision. This means that the talent pipeline is even more dependent on the wealth of parents. The Liberal Democrats recently passed a motion at their autumn conference to include a creative pillar in the EBacc.
The Creative Diversity APPG has launched a report into improving diversity in creative education. We also hope that the Cultural Education Plan will help to right the wrongs done to creative education. We are an island of creative talents which have shaped our economy and we want to remain a creative nation but it’s in a fragile state – education is crucial to us continuing this.
Questions/comments
The Earl of Clancarty: Interesting that the Lib Dems have decided to keep the EBacc but with a creative pillar. Why has that decision been made?
Baroness Bonham-Carter: This was an amendment proposed by the Lib Dem DCMS team to a broader education motion, saying that if the EBacc continues, it must have a creative element.
Wera Hobhouse: The amendment was overwhelmingly voted through by delegates at the Lib Dem conference and it is now party policy, although it’s unclear if it will be formally included in the general election manifesto.
Baroness Nichols: Could we have a briefing on the different between state and independent schools in uptake of GCSE and A-level music – if possible split by region? What’s being done with making the case for STEAM rather than STEM? Creative education often not taken seriously and the focus is on science instead – but if scientists speak up for the importance of the arts, eg improving fine motor skills, that will help. A coalition of people making this argument is necessary.
Deborah Annetts: There is data about GCSEs and localities which shows that in areas of deprivation you tend to have lower take-up of music/arts subjects. The ISM can provide this information.
Wera Hobhouse: Please ensure everyone on the APPG has this break down.
Action: ISM to provide the data and information requested.
Baroness Fleet: Formerly chair of the refreshed National Plan for Music Education (NPME) and now chair of the NPME monitoring board. We will be monitoring the NPME and ensuring that its ambitions are implemented. Hoping for considerable progress by Sept 2024, when the first phase of the plan should be implemented. I urge everyone to make sure through their networks that every school has read the NPME – if they don’t read it, they won’t implement it. Important that they understand they need to provide a minimum of one hour of curriculum music per week.
Wera Hobhouse: Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) can be harder to hold to account than Local Authority schools.
Baroness Fleet: We need to contact the MATs we know about implementing the NPME. We have a responsibility to ensure that those who are trying to embed music in schools hear from us.
Wera Hobhouse: Can the APPG write a model letter about implementing the NPME and engaging with hubs and ask MPs to send it to all MATs and LAs in their patch?
Action: ISM to provide a model letter for MPs; the APPG will also write to MATs.
John de la Cour, Chair of Severn Arts Music Hub: Four academy heads have said verbally, ‘I know about the NPME and I’m not going to do anything about it’. It is definitely easier to talk to non-academy schools. Hubs are required to speak to 95% of schools – but it’s very hard for them to reach MATs.
Baroness Fleet: that is why the NPME was produced, to try to rectify some of the problems. There is a way to make it happen and we are trying to do that.
Lord Black: One of the problems is a lack of data regarding MATs. What are we are doing as an APPG to get some of this data together?
Deborah Annetts: We can assemble all the data you want; we just need to know what data would be useful.
Action: ISM and APPG Chair to discuss this.
Adam Ockelford, Professor of Music, Roehampton University
Adam Ockelford has been working with neurodiverse young people for the past four decades. He emphasised how music is the lifeblood of these young people. It can be the only way of communicating with the wider world for some.
He talked about the Sounds of Intent project set up in 2001 to research how children with learning difficulties develop musically: ‘It showed that music development follows the same path irrespective of different needs – therefore disability doesn’t have to be a barrier to progress.’ The idea of educating those with complex needs is still relatively new, so we are still adapting.
Adam shared videos of three young people with differing educational needs expressing themselves through music and using it to communicate.
Questions/comments
Robin Walker, Chair of the Education Select Committee: Apologies for late arrival. As a committee we are keen to follow up with the government on the NPME implementation. Intent has to be to deliver the NPME across the system to ensure inclusion. I am already receiving letters and emails about this. It would be helpful if the APPG could write to the other members of the committee to request this inquiry.
Action: The APPG Chair to write to members of the Education Select Committee.
Rachel Elliot, Education Director, English Folk Dance and Song Society (EDFSS)
Rachel Elliot spoke about the EFDSS’s Inclusive Folk Programme for learning-disabled young people aged 12-30, which they have developed over the past six years. The upper age limit is 30 because once a young person becomes an adult, access to arts education vanishes.
As part of the programme the EFDSS holds workshops that allow learning-disabled young people to join in with folk music and dance, including delivering free workshops at Special Educational Needs/Disabilities schools in West London. ‘Folk is a highly adaptable form of music. We believe the only way you can destroy folk music is by not playing it, so we want people to make it their own.’
Rachel shared a video one of EFDSS’s Folk Unlimited sessions, alongside interviews with participants and their carers.
Questions/comments
Wera Hobhouse: how do people find you as an organisation?
Rachel Elliot: Via our website. We are based in Camden and we work with the local music hub and other London hubs. We also reach out to schools. Demand is huge but it’s a complex issue: schools that are engaged with the programme already have an ethos and a structure that enables them to benefit from visiting music educators. Many of the schools that are less well served do not have this ethos or structure.
Robin Walker: There is a strong link between folk music and the gypsy/Roma communities – any work been done here?
Rachel Elliot: Yes, our Gypsy and Traveller Voices in UK Archives project and resource. Also holding a Folk Education Development Day in Norwich with several speakers from Gypsy, Traveller and Romani communities. These resources will be made available for schools.
Any other business
Adam Ockleford: The new NPME is explicit about inclusion for SEN students and I see this as a big lever going forward.
Baroness Fleet: Two specialists in inclusion and SEN are on the monitoring board
Wera Hobhouse: Less money and more need is an intractable problem. In parliament we talk about getting funding early to those who need help, which saves money at the other end of the spectrum. So early years education is vital.
Earl of Clancarty: Having heard from the Liberal Democrats, it would be good to hear from Labour about their music education policies.
Action: ISM to follow up on this with Labour education team for the next APPG meeting.
Chair's concluding remarks
As an APPG we are alarmed about the sinking numbers of people talking up music at GCSE and A level. We don’t want to lose this USP for the UK as a country. You can only have it if young people are exposed to it from an early age, so early years music is important.
We have work to do and we will follow up on the various action points.
The Chair thanked all attendees and the meeting closed at 15.35pm
Apologies: Valerie Vaz MP, Sharon Hodgson MP, Stephanie Peacock MP, Allan Dorans MP, Greg Clarke MP, Kate Osborne MP, Barbara Keeley MP, Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall, Lord Triesman
The attending parliamentarians were joined by members of the music education sector.
Welcome: Wera Hobhouse MP, Chair
Wera Hobhouse talked about the need for greater government support for the arts, which has not been good enough. The decline in music exam entries is a concern, as is the process for the Music Hub Investment Programme. We cannot let music become an afterthought. I hope that we as a group can continue to press the government to give it the priority it deserves.
AGM Business
Official Annual General Meeting business of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Music Education was carried out. The group re-selected Wera Hobhouse MP as its chair, elected officers and approved an expenditure statement.
Presentations
Jane Bonham Carter, Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury
Baroness Bonham-Carter is the Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport. She discussed the need for government to understand the importance of music education in the skills pipeline. The artist Grayson Perry warned in 2012 that leaving arts subjects out of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) would gradually erode them in schools and deprive poor children of culture – this is what has happened.
Particularly interested in how this is feeding a lack of diversity in our education system. Schools that provide high-quality cultural education get better academic results, but there is a growing gap between state and independent provision. This means that the talent pipeline is even more dependent on the wealth of parents. The Liberal Democrats recently passed a motion at their autumn conference to include a creative pillar in the EBacc.
The Creative Diversity APPG has launched a report into improving diversity in creative education. We also hope that the Cultural Education Plan will help to right the wrongs done to creative education. We are an island of creative talents which have shaped our economy and we want to remain a creative nation but it’s in a fragile state – education is crucial to us continuing this.
Questions/comments
The Earl of Clancarty: Interesting that the Lib Dems have decided to keep the EBacc but with a creative pillar. Why has that decision been made?
Baroness Bonham-Carter: This was an amendment proposed by the Lib Dem DCMS team to a broader education motion, saying that if the EBacc continues, it must have a creative element.
Wera Hobhouse: The amendment was overwhelmingly voted through by delegates at the Lib Dem conference and it is now party policy, although it’s unclear if it will be formally included in the general election manifesto.
Baroness Nichols: Could we have a briefing on the different between state and independent schools in uptake of GCSE and A-level music – if possible split by region? What’s being done with making the case for STEAM rather than STEM? Creative education often not taken seriously and the focus is on science instead – but if scientists speak up for the importance of the arts, eg improving fine motor skills, that will help. A coalition of people making this argument is necessary.
Deborah Annetts: There is data about GCSEs and localities which shows that in areas of deprivation you tend to have lower take-up of music/arts subjects. The ISM can provide this information.
Wera Hobhouse: Please ensure everyone on the APPG has this break down.
Action: ISM to provide the data and information requested.
Baroness Fleet: Formerly chair of the refreshed National Plan for Music Education (NPME) and now chair of the NPME monitoring board. We will be monitoring the NPME and ensuring that its ambitions are implemented. Hoping for considerable progress by Sept 2024, when the first phase of the plan should be implemented. I urge everyone to make sure through their networks that every school has read the NPME – if they don’t read it, they won’t implement it. Important that they understand they need to provide a minimum of one hour of curriculum music per week.
Wera Hobhouse: Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) can be harder to hold to account than Local Authority schools.
Baroness Fleet: We need to contact the MATs we know about implementing the NPME. We have a responsibility to ensure that those who are trying to embed music in schools hear from us.
Wera Hobhouse: Can the APPG write a model letter about implementing the NPME and engaging with hubs and ask MPs to send it to all MATs and LAs in their patch?
Action: ISM to provide a model letter for MPs; the APPG will also write to MATs.
John de la Cour, Chair of Severn Arts Music Hub: Four academy heads have said verbally, ‘I know about the NPME and I’m not going to do anything about it’. It is definitely easier to talk to non-academy schools. Hubs are required to speak to 95% of schools – but it’s very hard for them to reach MATs.
Baroness Fleet: that is why the NPME was produced, to try to rectify some of the problems. There is a way to make it happen and we are trying to do that.
Lord Black: One of the problems is a lack of data regarding MATs. What are we are doing as an APPG to get some of this data together?
Deborah Annetts: We can assemble all the data you want; we just need to know what data would be useful.
Action: ISM and APPG Chair to discuss this.
Adam Ockelford, Professor of Music, Roehampton University
Adam Ockelford has been working with neurodiverse young people for the past four decades. He emphasised how music is the lifeblood of these young people. It can be the only way of communicating with the wider world for some.
He talked about the Sounds of Intent project set up in 2001 to research how children with learning difficulties develop musically: ‘It showed that music development follows the same path irrespective of different needs – therefore disability doesn’t have to be a barrier to progress.’ The idea of educating those with complex needs is still relatively new, so we are still adapting.
Adam shared videos of three young people with differing educational needs expressing themselves through music and using it to communicate.
Questions/comments
Robin Walker, Chair of the Education Select Committee: Apologies for late arrival. As a committee we are keen to follow up with the government on the NPME implementation. Intent has to be to deliver the NPME across the system to ensure inclusion. I am already receiving letters and emails about this. It would be helpful if the APPG could write to the other members of the committee to request this inquiry.
Action: The APPG Chair to write to members of the Education Select Committee.
Rachel Elliot, Education Director, English Folk Dance and Song Society (EDFSS)
Rachel Elliot spoke about the EFDSS’s Inclusive Folk Programme for learning-disabled young people aged 12-30, which they have developed over the past six years. The upper age limit is 30 because once a young person becomes an adult, access to arts education vanishes.
As part of the programme the EFDSS holds workshops that allow learning-disabled young people to join in with folk music and dance, including delivering free workshops at Special Educational Needs/Disabilities schools in West London. ‘Folk is a highly adaptable form of music. We believe the only way you can destroy folk music is by not playing it, so we want people to make it their own.’
Rachel shared a video one of EFDSS’s Folk Unlimited sessions, alongside interviews with participants and their carers.
Questions/comments
Wera Hobhouse: how do people find you as an organisation?
Rachel Elliot: Via our website. We are based in Camden and we work with the local music hub and other London hubs. We also reach out to schools. Demand is huge but it’s a complex issue: schools that are engaged with the programme already have an ethos and a structure that enables them to benefit from visiting music educators. Many of the schools that are less well served do not have this ethos or structure.
Robin Walker: There is a strong link between folk music and the gypsy/Roma communities – any work been done here?
Rachel Elliot: Yes, our Gypsy and Traveller Voices in UK Archives project and resource. Also holding a Folk Education Development Day in Norwich with several speakers from Gypsy, Traveller and Romani communities. These resources will be made available for schools.
Any other business
Adam Ockleford: The new NPME is explicit about inclusion for SEN students and I see this as a big lever going forward.
Baroness Fleet: Two specialists in inclusion and SEN are on the monitoring board
Wera Hobhouse: Less money and more need is an intractable problem. In parliament we talk about getting funding early to those who need help, which saves money at the other end of the spectrum. So early years education is vital.
Earl of Clancarty: Having heard from the Liberal Democrats, it would be good to hear from Labour about their music education policies.
Action: ISM to follow up on this with Labour education team for the next APPG meeting.
Chair's concluding remarks
As an APPG we are alarmed about the sinking numbers of people talking up music at GCSE and A level. We don’t want to lose this USP for the UK as a country. You can only have it if young people are exposed to it from an early age, so early years music is important.
We have work to do and we will follow up on the various action points.
The Chair thanked all attendees and the meeting closed at 15.35pm
