Poor miss out on music, says Ofsted
A new report into musical education from Ofsted warns that pupils from lower income families may be missing out on a chance to learn a musical instrument.
In its report into the standard of music support provided by 15 Local Education Authorities (LEAs) Ofsted found that the standard of tuition was at least satisfactory in all, and more often good or better.
Though all schools have music on the curriculum, specialist instrumental and vocal tuition is most often provided by teachers employed directly by the LEA who visit different schools to teach. In addition, LEAs provide professional development courses for music teachers within their area, and organise area ensembles.
Despite the positive report on the standards of teaching, Ofsted expresses real concerns about the accessibility of music education and gender stereotyping within music.
Though a number of LEAs have systems of fee remission for poorer pupils, Ofsted notes that this is often very low and “there is no systematic guidance for schools on how to identify and encourage pupils who may wish to participate, but do not put themselves forward because of their family circumstances.”
The percentage of pupils receiving free meals – the common yardstick for identifying children from low income homes – who received musical tuition was very low in the LEAs examined.
Ofsted also notes evidence of a gender bias, revealing that one and a half times as many girls as boys in this sample receive tuition and notes a “clear gender stereotyping” in choice of instrument.
Nine times as many girls as boys learn the flute, and twice as many boys as girls learn the trumpet. Ofsted found that the music services do not have “sufficiently secure systems for monitoring such patterns, or strategies to try to counter them.”
Commenting on the report, the Chief Inspector of Schools, David Bell, said he was encouraged to find that “all the music support services surveyed in this report are doing a good job overall of helping youngsters with an enthusiasm or talent for music.
“The report highlights that there is still work to be done by music services to ensure that all pupils are given the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument.”
Mr Bell went on to recommend that: “In particular, LEA music services and schools must work harder to identify and encourage those pupils who may wish to learn an instrument but who do not put themselves forward because of their family’s financial circumstances.”
Music services are also urged to encourage more continuity in musical education in the transfer to secondary school, where a number of pupils then cease to learn musical instruments, and encourage the learning of a variety of instruments to ensure that instruments like the oboe, French horn and double bass are not neglected.
