Long-awaited model music curriculum proves divisive - new model music curriculum 2021. Announced towards the end of March, the Department for Education’s Model Music Curriculum (MMC) for Key Stages 1–3 has been met with a mixed reception by music educators and academics online. Originally due for publication in 2019, the non-statutory MMC promises music ‘for all pupils in all schools and stipulates at least one hour of classroom music from Year 1.
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| Long awaited model music curriculum proves divisive |
While many have welcomed the renewed government-level focus on music education and a fresh opportunity for debate, others have raised concerns – ranging from the curriculum’s content and approach to inclusive music-making to its methodology and, in some cases, its very existence.
Although precise details of the MMC’s authorship remain
unclear, ABRSM was ‘engaged as the drafter’ of the document under the guidance
of a 15-strong expert panel. Included on the panel were directors and teachers
of music at all levels, members of Arts Council England, and representatives of
the Music Teachers’ Association (MTA) and Music Mark. The major music education
bodies involved have publicly welcomed the new curriculum.
Incorporating some of the concerns expressed, and as Dr. Ally
Daubney pointed out in her online opinion piece for MT, a group of over 50
university-based music educators wrote to the MMC panel in 2019 that ‘A model the curriculum is not the solution to the significant issues in music education in
England caused through, for example, the accountability measures which exclude
the Arts, a squeeze on funding, and a declining workforce without access to
professional development.’
The Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) wrote in a
detailed review that the MMC ‘does not sit alone among government expectations and cannot, on its own, affect significant change when there are so many other
issues at work’, calling for it to be viewed within the framework of wider
policies and initiatives.
MT contributor and
secondary head of music David Guinane wrote in a blog post on the MMC: ‘As
important as it is to hear that “kids should have music lessons” (in guidance the document that no-one has to follow), if the music lessons subsequently outlined
in the document are lacking, then the value of the big ‘takeaway’ is
undermined.’
Many teachers have been focusing on the ways in which the
curriculum can be best used in their schools, with major aspects of this being
the repertoire lists, and the MMC as a catalyst for individual teachers to
build their own curriculums.
Music teachers are still awaiting the ‘refreshed’ National
Plan for Music Education (NPME), promised for autumn 2020, with the most recent
plan dating back to 2011. gov.uk
Our June issue will include a feature on the MMC and the
Hubs story on p.9, incorporating a range of views. (
