Great Music, Great School
This is the message that NAME, FMS and ISM are promoting in our joint approach to advocacy for music education. Through it, all three organisations commit to the importance of high-quality provision of music education for all children through the school curriculum. It is a message that I believe NAME can take pride in, and this why...
It is a message that celebrates the role of schools in the provision of music education. Not only does the curriculum secure access to a music education for all children, but the combination of opportunities offered by schools, music services and other providers enables young people to access a breadth of musical experience and progression routes. Great music happens when the curriculum supports young people, not just in accessing musical experience, but in extending their understanding of what it is “to music”.
It is a message that recognises that it is not just music that makes a great school, it is Great music. Quality is at the heart of this message; and this reflects the role played by NAME, FMS and ISM as professional organisations in supporting our members in their professional development.
It is a message that suggests that Great Schools are those that acknowledge music as a fundamental part of what it is to be human, and give all young people the opportunity to develop this aspect of their personality. Great schools become great because young people are able to reach their potential, and developing musical thinking is an intrinsic part of this, along with providing access to career opportunities in music and enhancing the school community through music.
In promoting this message, NAME, FMS and ISM are seeking to raise awareness amongst all those involved in education of the importance of great music to great schools, and the importance of great schools to great music. Although the National Plan provides some welcome reassurance (as did Mr Gove’s interview on Music Matters at the weekend), a cold wind is nevertheless blowing over the curriculum in the form of the English Baccalaureate and the National Curriculum Review. NAME, FMS and ISM each recognise the importance of music in schools to our members, and more importantly to the young people our members work with.
Equally, in promoting this message, NAME, FMS and ISM feel that we are expressing the aspirations of our members, of young people and of their families. All would like to be part of a great school; and all, we believe, would wish to be part of the great music that makes it that way.
James Garnett
9 December 2011
