Lord Freyberg
Main Page: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)(1 day, 15 hours ago)
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Lord Freyberg (CB)
My Lords, I add my congratulations to the noble Baroness, Lady Debbonaire, on her excellent maiden speech and to the noble Baroness, Lady Keeley, on securing this debate.
Music education cannot flourish without expert teachers, but recruitment into initial teacher training for music has fallen by 76% since 2020. While a £10,000 bursary is now available, music trainees must still pay £9,225 in tuition fees. The support is welcome, but they are almost certainly taking on significant debt to train. In contrast, maths and physics trainees receive nearly three times as much—enough, in many cases, to cover both fees and living costs. This disparity sends a clear and damaging message: that music matters less.
Government messaging matters. When adverts highlight high bursaries for other subjects but omit music, we should not be surprised when our best graduates look elsewhere. We need national campaigns that champion music teaching, celebrate its impact, and make it clear that becoming a music teacher is not only valued but vital.
We must offer music teachers career pathways that keep them in the classroom. The restoration of schemes such as the advanced skills teacher programme would help us retain the best and allow them to mentor the next generation. Further, we must support school leaders. Too often, music is squeezed out by the EBacc, confined to carousel timetables or forced into silent, worksheet-led lessons. Music is practical, messy and joyful. If head teachers misunderstand this, children miss out. The Government must help leaders understand what high-quality music education looks like, provide clearer guidance to head teachers and trust music teachers to deliver it.
Finally, on music hubs, 2024’s restructure created complex compliance-heavy consortia that add workload without benefit. Funding is top-sliced and local expertise marginalised. If the Arts Council cannot make the system work in practice, it is time to ask whether it is the right body to oversee it.