Advocating for music in schools: A guide by ISM Musicians

Advocating for music in schools A guide

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Introduction Arts subjects are in serious decline in English schools. Over 20 years of curriculum narrowing as a result of SATs and school accountability measures like the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) and Progress 8 have devalued arts subjects in our schools.

Contents Introduction

What is advocacy?

Why should you advocate for the arts in schools?

Who are you advocating to?

What are you advocating for?

How do you advocate?

What evidence can you use to advocate?

Writing to your local councillor or MP

Key facts and arguments

Despite the government releasing a refreshed National Plan for Music Education it is non-statutory and concerns remain around funding, training, recruitment and retention of music teachers and the impact of accountability measures. We cannot simply wait for change from above. Those of us who believe in music education must keep advocating for the change we want to see. We need to use all the research available to us to show school leaders the importance of investing time, personnel and funding into our creative subjects and demonstrate the impact that this will have on our pupils.

We must engage with parents on how the arts can enhance their children’s lives within and beyond formal education, building selfesteem, confidence and empathy as well as showing clear career pathways. We must ensure we are the best role models for the arts that we can be, supporting our pupils’ interests, widening their opportunities, celebrating their successes and helping them to progress to the next stage of their journey. We all have a part to play in standing up for music education.

Those of us who believe in music education must keep advocating for the change we want to see.

ADVOCATING FOR MUSIC IN SCHOOLS: A GUIDE

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What is advocacy? Advocacy can be used to raise awareness of a particular issue, create support for a policy (or policy amendment) and encourage people to look for further information. Increasing knowledge and awareness can help to shape beliefs, attitudes and behaviours.

In schools, advocacy may be as simple as talking to stakeholders (eg governors, colleagues, parents or pupils) about the importance of arts education and the impact it could have on your pupils or as complex as trying to increase the number of hours for the arts on the timetable or the amount of money your department receives.

Increasing knowledge and awareness can help to shape beliefs, attitudes and behaviours.

Why should you advocate for the arts in schools? The Australian conductor and music educator Richard Gill once said, ‘Music is worth teaching for its own sake. It is worth teaching because it is good. It is worth teaching because it is unique. And, it is worth teaching because it empowers children spectacularly.’

There is also a wealth of research showing the benefits of music education, drawn from the fields of neuroscience, psychology, education and music (Hallam and Himonides, 2022). These include how music contributes to a range of non-musical skills such as language, literacy and spatial skills and how it can be a positive way to re-engage disaffected young people and enhance self-beliefs. In addition to these direct benefits for children and young people, the arts play a major role in the UK economy with the music industry contributing £5.8 billion in 2019. Employers also need workers with creative skills, and business leaders have called for a curriculum which fosters these and broadens horizons rather than narrowing them (Kingston University, 2022). The devastating impact of school accountability measures cannot be underestimated. They have devalued arts and technology subjects in our secondary schools – the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) excludes all arts subjects and Progress 8 heavily weights league tables towards EBacc subjects. GCSE music entries fell 36% between 2010 and 2023 while A-level entries fell 45% in the same period. In 2022 there were almost 500

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ADVOCATING FOR MUSIC IN SCHOOLS: A GUIDE

fewer teachers teaching music in our schools than there were in 2010 and 3 in 5 teaching hours in secondary schools are for EBacc subjects. However, changing the culture of a school and the beliefs of governors, senior leaders, parents and pupils can be a long process, even with the most enthusiastic and supportive school stakeholders. Advocating for music can help reverse the downward trend in schools and encourage them to invest in arts, culture and creativity.

Reasons to advocate for the arts in schools may include: • Raising the profile and value of the subject • Increasing understanding of the subject • Dispelling myths or misunderstandings, for example Russell Group facilitating subjects and GCSE/A-level subject choices • Effecting cultural change • Influencing policy at all levels, including government

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Who are you advocating to?

What are you advocating for?

There is a range of people that you can advocate to, depending on which issues you feel need addressing and what your priorities are. While these may often be senior leaders and perhaps governors, they are not the only stakeholders you can approach.

When advocating at the school level, there will be a range of issues that are personal to you, your pupils and your school’s circumstances.

You may not have considered reaching out to your local councillors or MP before, but politicians are elected to serve their communities and they will be interested in what you have to say. Find your councillors on your local authority website and MP at: https://members.parliament.uk/ FindYourMP

You may not have considered advocating to your pupils and their parents or carers, but they can often be just as influential as senior leaders and governors. Research has indicated that if the parental view of learning music at school is negative then their child’s view would also be negative, which in turn affects engagement, the value placed on music as a school subject and the decision to continue studying it at Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5.

It may be that your primary school currently doesn’t offer music and you want to get it added to the curriculum; it could be that your Key Stage 3 lessons are taught on a carousel system and you want to reverse this. Perhaps you need more instruments or a space for peripatetic teachers to offer instrumental lessons? You might need more access to technology or CPD in a specific area.

Whatever you are asking for, you need a clear vision: • What is that you want?

Central Government

local Government

SLT

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Governors

• What do you need in order to get it? • How will this impact your pupils/the school/the community?

Make sure you have clear asks, messaging and outcomes as well as evidence to support them. If you don’t share your concerns, decision makers have no way of knowing this is important to parents and voters.

When advocating at the school level, there will be a range of issues that are personal to you, your pupils and your school’s circumstances.

Parents

ADVOCATING FOR MUSIC IN SCHOOLS: A GUIDE

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How do you advocate? Here are some ideas for advocating in schools:

– Create a department newsletter or a use a section in whole-school newsletters just for music updates

• Be the best role model for the arts you can be – support your pupils’ interests, widen their opportunities, celebrate their successes and help them to progress to the next stage of their journey

– Offer music performances for open evenings/transition days/induction days

• Personalise your asks and impacts to your school and pupils • Use pupil voice to share what music means to them • Link back to your School Development or Improvement plan if possible • Provide solutions wherever you can – for example, if you are asking to take subjects off a carousel, can you suggest where the extra time needed comes from? • Become visible: – Use your school or department social media to share research and articles which promote the importance of music as well as classroom and extra-curricular updates. Depending on your school’s policy, you may be able to share videos of rehearsals, performances or trips – Use your displays to promote careers information, share successes of former pupils and information on famous people who studied music, but didn’t necessarily pursue it as a profession – there may be examples from your local area

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– Share performances or big news with local press – often if you write the article yourself and submit it with photos, you’ll find it appears – Share pupils’ work with SLT – show them recordings, invite them to a lesson where pupils will be performing • Build the department from the ground up – a great curriculum and great extracurricular activities will lead to increased engagement and demand • Build a coalition in and out of school – these could be non-teaching staff like teaching assistants or site managers, other subject staff, governors, parent-teacher associations, community organisations, feeder primaries or local secondaries • Take advantage of external opportunities and local events – for example, could a pupil play at a local Remembrance Day service? Could a secondary choir sing at a primary Christmas fair?

ADVOCATING FOR MUSIC IN SCHOOLS: A GUIDE

What evidence can you use to advocate? • Government publications such as the refreshed National Plan for Music Education and Ofsted research reviews and subject reports outline the government’s expectations for music provision in schools

• The ISM publishes exam data for both GCSE and A-level music each August on its website but figures can also be found on the Joint Council for Qualifications and the Cultural Learning Alliance websites

• Parliamentary reports from the House of Lords and select committees have raised concerns around the narrowing of the curriculum and the impact on creative skills

• External resources like Wiltshire Music Connect – primary and secondary information on music for schools and parents/carers which includes vocational qualifications as well as GCSE and A-level music

• Data on economic activity from organisations such as the Office of National Statistics • Exam board resources – for example, Eduqas have a series of Option Evening Materials with leaflets which outline how GCSE and A-level music can help young people’s future plans, the skills they will gain and potential progression routes

• Internal data – can you demonstrate the impact on pupils by using school-level data? For example, do you think what you’re asking for will improve attendance/behaviour/ attainment and can you evidence this? Pupil voice can also be a powerful tool

• External research – such as Susan Hallam’s Power of Music showing the benefits of music education; the ISM’s reports such as State of the Nation (2019), Music: A subject in peril? (2022) and The case for change (2022); and many of the reports listed on the #SaveOurSubjects campaign website (www.saveoursubjects.org)

ADVOCATING FOR MUSIC IN SCHOOLS: A GUIDE

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Writing to your local councillor or MP

It’s best if you make the letter as personal as possible but do use our template if you need any inspiration.

You can get in touch with your local borough, city or county councillor and MP to tell them why the arts in schools really matter. By writing a letter in support of the arts in schools you could make a real difference.

Dear [NAME OF MP OR COUNCILLOR], My name is [YOUR NAME] and I am a [SAY A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF] I am writing to you as a constituent asking you to support music, arts and cultural education in England. [SHARE A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE VALUE OF MUSIC AND LOCAL EXAMPLES OF GOOD PROVISION]

You may even be able to make your case in person at your MP’s regular surgery. Even though local authorities have much less control over individual school budgets than they have had historically, they still have the power to ask questions and to influence. They also do still have funding and policy within their control. You can find out who your local representatives are here: www.writetothem.com

Send an email or letter to your councillors and MP • Include your contact details and postcode, so they know you’re a constituent (all your personal data is protected when writing to a politician) • Introduce yourself and the organisation/s you work for and with (tell them if you are a parent)

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• Tell them why the arts in schools should be protected in your community (key arguments and evidence included at the end of this resource) • Give practical, tangible examples of where the arts in schools has enhanced your community – either through regeneration (contributing to jobs or place-making), health outcomes or improving community cohesion • Describe any decline of the arts in schools that you have seen and why any further cuts in your local area would have a negative effect: be as specific as you possibly can • Use the arguments and evidence at the end of this resource to make a broader argument, showing the national decline and the value of the arts and cultural learning • If you work in arts education, invite them to come and see your work in practice and ask if you can meet with them in person

ADVOCATING FOR MUSIC IN SCHOOLS: A GUIDE

Arts education matters. As well as the difference it makes to educational outcomes, and the social impact of a thriving arts sector in our community, the arts are also economically significant. In fact, government figures show that in 2019 the creative industries were worth £115.9 billion a year to the UK economy with over 2.1 million people employed in the creative industries. And they are growing faster than the rest of the UK economy. Locally, businesses like [NAME SOME LOCAL ARTS ORGANISATIONS] are part of this creative economy. However, recent research and reports show that a number of factors are working against the provision of arts education opportunities in schools. League tables, accountability measures and funding pressures are working against the arts in schools. [SHARE ANY LOCAL EXAMPLES OF BAD NEWS] A good education, and an education that will be fit for the 21st Century must be broad and balanced and include creativity at its heart. I am asking you to: [IF AN MP:] Promote arts education and work with local schools to ensure that every school has arts education opportunities at the heart of its school curriculum and raise these issues with the Secretary of State for Education. [IF PART OF A LOCAL COUNCIL:] Promote arts education and work with local schools to ensure that every school has arts education opportunities at the heart of its school curriculum. I am happy to meet with you to discuss these issues and can share more information with you if it would be useful. Yours sincerely, [YOUR NAME]

ADVOCATING FOR MUSIC IN SCHOOLS: A GUIDE

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Key facts and arguments

Tips for successful engagement: • Make it relevant: – Focus your remarks on what’s happening in the constituency. Use practical, every-day examples of what’s going on in the community and how the arts links to it – Make sure you write to a named person • Be passionate, but not aggressive: – Make your case as compelling and as human as possible, but – particularly if you’re talking to a Conservative – it’s best not to criticise them, the government or the chancellor.

• Tailor your argument: – Every politician is individual – they will campaign for a wide variety of issues and respond to different arguments in different ways. If they have spoken in Parliament or in the newspapers about social cohesion or healthcare, mention any work you might be doing alongside the local health service. If they often campaign on education issues, make sure you reflect their priorities. Do the same if they are interested in the economy

Why the arts matter in our education system The arts have the power to change and shape young lives. They provide knowledge, skills, values and attributes that can play a significant role in young people’s development, creating opportunities for them to express their ideas and form their values, and equipping them to navigate a rapidly changing world.

• Use numbers: – As far as possible, back-up your arguments with numbers, evidence and data

The arts are not an add-on, or a nice-to-have, but are part of the fabric of our society, and all young people have a right to experience the best, and to be given the opportunity to contribute to the arts and culture of the future. In schools, the arts should be a vital part of a broad and balanced curriculum, with social, educational, economic and personal benefits for children and young people, and for society as a whole.

Value of arts education articipation in structured arts activities 1 P can increase cognitive abilities by 17% 2 Learning through arts and culture can improve attainment in maths and English 3 Learning through arts and culture develops skills and behaviour that lead children to do better in school 4 Students from low-income families who take part in arts activities at school are three times more likely to get a degree 5 Employability of students who study arts subjects is higher and they are more likely to stay in employment 6 Students from low-income families who engage in the arts at school are twice as likely to volunteer tudents from low-income families who 7 S engage in the arts at school are 20% more likely to vote as young adults 8 Young offenders who take part in arts activities are 18% less likely to re-offend 9 Children who take part in arts activities in the home during their early years are ahead in reading and maths at age nine 10 People who take part in the arts are

The arts have the power to change and shape young lives.

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ADVOCATING FOR MUSIC IN SCHOOLS: A GUIDE

38% more likely to report good health Read the above evidence data and references in full at: www.culturallearningalliance.org. uk/evidence

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Reports and other evidence • The power of music to change lives: A National Plan for Music Education (2022) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/1086619/The_ Power_of_Music_to_Change_Lives.pdf • Ofsted research review series: music (2021) https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/research-review-seriesmusic/research-review-series-music

• ISM reports: – The case for change: The music education workforce in 2022 (2022) https://www.ism. org/images/images/ISM-The-case-forchange-Report_July-2022_Online.pdf – Music: A subject in peril? 10 years on from the first National Plan for Music Education (2022) https://www.ism.org/images/ images/ISM_Music-a-subject-of-peril_ A4_March-2022_Online2.pdf – Music Education: State of the Nation (2019) https://www.ism.org/images/images/ FINAL-State-of-the-Nation-MusicEducation-for-email-or-web-2.pdf – Save Our Subjects campaign resources https://www.saveoursubjects.org/ research-and-reports.html

• Joint Council for Qualifications https://www. jcq.org.uk/examination-results/ • Cultural Learning Alliance https://www. culturallearningalliance.org.uk/evidence/

• Eduqas resources: – GCSE music https://www.eduqas. co.uk/umbraco/surface/blobstorage/ download?nodeId=25183 – A-level music https://www.eduqas. co.uk/umbraco/surface/blobstorage/ download?nodeId=25169

• Wilshire Music Connect – Why music? resources: – Leaflets for parents https:// wiltshiremusicconnect.org.uk/whymusic/ download-leaflets-for-parents/ – Leaflets for schools https:// wiltshiremusicconnect.org.uk/whymusic/ download-leaflets-for-schools/

• Russell Group Informed Choices website – https://www.informedchoices.ac.uk/

• The power of music: An exploration of the evidence (2022) Susan Hallam and Evangelos Himonides https://www. openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/ obp.0292

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ADVOCATING FOR MUSIC IN SCHOOLS: A GUIDE

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