A plan to help ‘unloved’ music teachers

Writing on The Times op-ed page today, Veronica Wadley explains how the newly unrolled National Music Plan can help music teachers who feel ‘isolated and unloved’.

… The plan is a catalyst for change, a turning point. So it is the right time to put aside the stories of gloom and doom. The Incorporated Society of Musicians’ recent report suggested music was a “subject in peril”. Frankly, many music teachers I have spoken to do not recognise this sentiment. They are making music happen in wondrous ways.

Head teachers, supported by their governors and trusts, are backing music, finding the money within their budgets, the time in their timetables and the space for lessons and rehearsals. In the plan there are wonderful examples of primary and secondary schools across the country where this is happening….

With an emphasis on inclusion, progression and excellence, the plan will help give all children that opportunity, whatever their background or circumstances. We hope to inspire young people to go to local cultural events and later consider a career in the music industry.

The plan is ambitious and not everything will happen instantly. I know that some teachers, particularly music teachers, feel isolated and unloved. But they are the ones who really do have the power to change lives. I hope the plan will help them. So, as Sir Paul McCartney would say, let’s come together and make it happen.

photo from May 2016