Labour fast-tracks music scheme that Tories fell asleep on
NewsThe Labour Government has green-lighted a ready-made scheme giving disadvantaged children access to music in schools. Tory ministers had dithered for two years over giving it priority. Labour has, naturally, taken full credit for the implementation.
Here’s the Whitehall statement:
Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds or with SEND (special educational need and disabilities) will get targeted support to unlock their musical potential, thanks to a new scheme designed to break down the barriers to opportunity and advance their talents.
The government’s Music Opportunities Pilot will expand on Young Sounds UK’s existing programme – Young Sounds Connect – which offers pupils across primary and secondary schools the opportunity to learn to play an instrument of their choice or how to sing to a high standard by providing free lessons and supporting young people to progress, including taking music exams.
Backed by £5.8million, co-funded by the government and partners including Young Sounds UK, Arts Council England and Youth Music, the programme aims to inspire the next generation of British musicians across 12 areas including Sunderland, Bury, Bradford and Stoke on Trent to help ensure the arts remain a cornerstone of the nation’s identity.
School Standards Minister, Catherine McKinnell said:
The arts are one of the most important ways to help children and young people to develop creativity and find their voice. Music opportunities should be available to all pupils – no matter their background or circumstance.
Following a summer filled with vibrant festivals and creative acts that filled the streets with energy, it’s clear the role music plays in enriching lives. By investing in our young people we not only nurture individual talent, but also secure the future of the UK’s rich music scene by fostering a deep appreciation for music from an early age.
Alongside our Curriculum and Assessment Review, the Music Opportunities pilot will help break down the barriers to opportunity by widening access to the arts for more young people across the country.
Arts Minister Sir Chris Bryant said:
Music should never be the preserve of a privileged few. I want everyone to have a chance to realise their talent regardless of their background.
This support will help to make sure that every child has access to high-quality creative education, with the opportunity to learn musical skills that may become the foundation of a lifelong passion or a future star of the UK arts scene.
Supporting young people to become musicians is invaluable in various creative and other industries. It fuels innovation and excellence in the broader creative landscape, contributing to the UK’s world class reputation as a global hub for the arts.
The pilot scheme will run over 4 years and is jointly funded by a £2 million investment from the Department for Education and £3.85 million funding from Young Sounds UK and its partners. Young Sounds UK will work in collaboration with local Music Hub partners that support and enable access to music education for children and young people in England in order to deliver the programme.
Will Starmer allow them to speak once they find their voice?
He’s known around the traps as “Two-tier Kier”. Rounding up people who post messages on Facebook and getting the courts involved. No amount of musical enthusiasm can remove that smell.
A glimmer of hope at long last.
Instrumental music provision is nowadays touted under the DEI agenda. Inclusion usually means those who suffer other disadvantages which is fair enough but, in truth, all children have lost out in recent decades. There have been one size fits all schemes when what is required are pathways matched to the needs of each learner. The Gulbenkian report recognised this in the 60s and for around 25-30 years the system proved itself.
To me it looks as though our present government will fall into the trap of providing mostly for ‘deprived’ groups and fail to look at the big picture.
What does this possibly have to do with DEI?
Question – if there’s an article on, say, flatbed trucks… how would you shoehorn “DEI” or “woke” into the comments sections? I bet you’re creative, can’t wait to hear it.
This money will go to Music Hubs many of which have zero musicians running them. The musical opportunities some, but not all, of them offer are often aimed more at an inclusion agenda prioritising social issues rather than just focussing on music itself.
They would argue differently of course but the workforce of peripatetic teachers in itself reveals a complete change from a time when instrumental teaching and the resulting bands and orchestras were to the fore.
You are clearly not informed
The article specifically states that “music opportunities should be available to all pupils – no matter their background or circumstance.” Please explain how DEI applies here.
“pathways matched to the needs of each learner” is exactly what this pilot is delivering.
Will Two Tier Kier emulate Labour hero Maduro in oil rich Venezuela?
Reduce the UK economy to rubble and introduce a UK Sistema?
At least we will have a decent youth orchestra in the Land of Want and Misery.
Sistema projects have been running in the UK for over ten years. In the last funding round ACE pulled the plug. So probably ‘no’ is the answer to your question.
This is good news and a positive sign of a new approach to the performing arts
Even Stalin enjoyed classical music.
In the UK we HAD El Sistema in the ’70s and well into the ’80s, where proper music lessons on proper instruments were given by proper teachers without charge or significantly subsidised. There are many pros in the UK (and those who work abroad – mostly now in their late 50s, 60s and 70s) who benefitted from these programs – many will tell you that they could never have become working musicians had their parents been required to pay. As one who has worked as a UK peripatetic since 1978, I can assure you this is true.
The devastation that has been wrought to our once universally admired system is tragic.
A parting thought – in 1978, the basic rate of UK tax here was 25%, now it’s 20.
(And btw, even though things were of course not totally rosy then, you could get an NHS dentist AND see a GP at short notice too…)
Liberal or conservative, leftist or rightist, too much of Western Europe, the EU/NATO and North America have been very, very generous in supporting Ukraine. So portions of the two sides of the political aisle now have arguments for why monies either ARE available or NOT available for Project A, Project B, Project C.
You broke it, you buy it.