Music Education for Children with Physical Disabilities

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Wednesday 30th July 2014 Grand Committee

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend Lord Lipsey for securing this debate and for his continuing diligence in championing the cause of music education. He has enabled us to have a fascinating debate and to hear some moving examples of how music can be transformative for people with physical disabilities.

As a number of noble Lords have pointed out, the national plan for music education has a clear aspiration of ensuring that children from all backgrounds should have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, to make music with others, to learn to sing and to have the opportunity to progress to a level of excellence. It also determined that all schools should provide high quality music education as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. These provisions, combined with the parallel entitlements for children with special educational needs and disabilities to have access to the same quality and standards of education as their peers, ought to have ensured that children with physical disabilities receive quality music education. However, we know that this is not the case, and it is worth exploring some of the barriers to that.

At the outset, we have to acknowledge that music education as a whole in the UK is not in great shape. For example, the numbers taking the subject at GCSE have been dropping, with only 41,500 taking the subject in England in 2012, which is down from 43,100 in 2011. Part of this decline can be explained in retrospect by the rather disastrous decision of the Secretary of State to introduce the EBacc system, which excluded music from the list of subjects to be measured. Despite the change of heart in 2013, which widened the league table subjects to eight, we are being told that music has continued to be squeezed within the overall curriculum. Even more worrying is the evidence that the top-performing schools for music GCSE are overwhelmingly in the independent sector. Therefore, music is in danger of becoming an elite subject, or one that is the preserve of parents who are prepared to pay for lessons, rather than one that is open to all, as was originally intended. That point about access was raised by the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, and other noble Lords.

We therefore need to consider what more can be done to make the aspirations of the national plan for music education a reality, particularly for children with disabilities. That is important, not only because children with disabilities have the right to equal access to this learning but because it offers another sensory route to expression and communication for children who are denied that through their disability. As the noble Lord, Lord German, pointed out, at its basic level, playing a musical instrument can help develop movement and motor skills. At a higher level, it can offer a unique form of self-expression and engagement—and we have heard some examples of that this afternoon.

First, I concur with the view of a number of noble Lords in the Room that music hubs appear to be working well. The recent government announcement of an increased grant of £75 million to support those hubs is obviously to be welcomed. However, we need to ensure that proper monitoring is in place to ensure that the money is spent wisely. I was collared the other day by some music teachers, who complained to me that the staff employed in the music hub had given themselves rather inflated salaries, at the expense of the music that was meant to be happening in the school. Can the Minister explain how that expenditure is audited and overseen to make sure that the money is being spent properly?

Secondly, we need to ensure that the music hubs collaborate and share resources with the specialist organisations and individuals working in this sector. This afternoon we heard about the One-Handed Musical Instrument Trust, which is obviously doing some very innovative work. I was particularly impressed by the work it is doing to create competitions to design accessible musical instruments, which is very much to be lauded. When I was researching this debate, I was struck by the large number of impressive charities that work in this field. However, they all seem to be struggling to fund their work. What funding is being made available? Are we sure that we take adequate notice of the contribution the voluntary sector can make? Perhaps the Minister could comment on that.

Thirdly, we should consider making it a specific requirement of Ofsted to assess the music provision in schools when it carries out an inspection. For example, its own report Music in Schools identified that music hubs sometimes found it difficult to engage with schools that were not providing high quality music education. Surely, if that is the case, and it is a problem, we should know about it. Fourthly, we need to address the failings in initial teacher training for primary school teachers. Weaknesses in primary school music were identified in the Henley review of music education but the training module that was developed was never fully rolled out or funded. Perhaps the Minister could update us on the plans for that.

Finally, as the noble Lord, Lord German, pointed out, we should encourage and support the expansion of music technology and the innovative uses we could make of it to open up new opportunities for children with disabilities to create music. Contemporary music technology can recreate the sounds of musical instruments as well as creating exciting new sounds, and can unite children’s enthusiasm whether or not they have SEN or a disability. I would be interested to know whether the Minister thinks that there is a bigger role for using technology in music to supplement the importance of learning to play an instrument. We have had a very interesting debate today and I have certainly learnt a lot. I very much look forward to hearing the Minister’s response.