Music is a valuable experience for children, contributing to their emotional and social education and promoting positive wellbeing. There are 20,925 primary schools in the UK, each of which has a music subject leader whose role is to coordinate the teaching of the Music National Curriculum, either by teaching it themselves or by bringing in other music services.
This article reviews the current challenges of being a teacher of classroom music in primary schools. I will explain how the University of Reading is trying to address this through its Initial Teacher Training (ITT), where I am the subject leader for the BA in Primary Education (Qualified Teacher Status/QTS) with Music Specialism. Ours is one of the few undergraduate programmes that train students to become music subject leaders in primary schools, combining university-level music study with training in music teaching, supported by placements in schools with experienced music practitioners.
Despite music's popularity among children, most primary teachers feel ill-equipped to teach music in the classroom. A survey in 2016 indicated that only 21% of primary trainee teachers had qualifications in music, with 7% having qualifications at level 3 (A Level, BTEC or practical music Grades 6 to 8).2 Asked about their confidence to model musical activity in the classroom, only 50% reported being confident enough to sing in class, 55% would read music notation in lessons, and 36% felt confident enough to play an instrument in a lesson. Out of the sample, 56% did not play any instrument at all. My experience in ITT and working as a primary liaison with a music hub agrees with these findings. Primary teachers with advanced music qualifications are missing in primary schools.
Teaching teachers
Where do trainee teachers learn to teach music? Around 90% of trainee teachers train on a postgraduate ITT course, either a school-based route, or a PGCE course in a Higher Education Institute (HEI). Realistically, there is only a tiny amount of time that can be devoted to music education on a postgraduate ITT course. Trainees have a remarkable amount to master in one year. The criteria for QTS are stringent, especially in teaching core subjects, which restricts time left for detailed training in any of the foundation subjects. We try to address this on our PGCE programme at Reading by focussing on practical music teaching that is accessible to all trainees and cross-curricular links between music and other subjects. We integrate music whenever we can, for example using singing warm-ups in lectures on other topics, and linking new subject knowledge in music with teaching on placement.
There is more time to specialise on a three-year undergraduate programme. The Music Specialism on the BA in Primary Education (QTS) at the University of Reading is one of few undergraduate courses in the UK that offers students the chance to train as a primary music subject leader. Our graduates are musicians in the classroom, using their creative music-making skills to create a rich learning environment for the children that they teach. We teach musicianship and leadership on our programme, focussing on solo and ensemble performance, composing, improvising, music technology, classroom musicianship, conducting and ensemble direction, analysis and music history. We teach music pedagogy by combining academic study in University with school-based projects where students try out their teaching with real children in real classrooms, and lead CPD for school staff. In a recent school project based on The Lion King, the students devised and taught workshops on djembe drumming and gumboot dancing, and taught the songs for children to sing in the school show. They worked with the school choir to teach the additional harmony parts for the songs, and coached the children who were singing solo roles. They led a training session for the Year 6 staff team to teach them how to lead the drumming and dancing workshops.
First steps: Learning to ‘walk the rhythm’ with their shoes
Beyond the basics
Teachers wishing to develop their music pedagogy can undertake training offered by HEIs and other organisations. These include Masters’ programmes in music education at music conservatoires and HEIs. The music education specialism on our MA in Education at Reading offers study in Classroom Musicianship, Musical Learning with Digital Technology and education research in the music classroom. Specialist organisations offer training from foundation to advanced level in various aspects of musicianship, conducting, music pedagogy, music production, composition and performance, which are variously applicable to the primary classroom. These organisations include the Association of British Choral Directors, British Kodály Academy, Dalcroze UK, Musical Futures, Sing for Pleasure and the Voices Foundation. Many of these courses are certificated, and provide great benefit to the participants. Although some organisations offer bursaries to serving teachers, these courses are generally self-funded by the participant, and busy teachers are required to study during the busy working week.
The primary music coordinator must also champion music in their school, which requires considerable entrepreneurship and resilience. Opportunities to network with other classroom music teachers in the area are really useful, and many teachers report using special interest groups on social media to help facilitate this. Music hubs offer a range of services such as classroom teaching, instrumental and vocal tuition led by professional musicians, and larger scale performances which offer a wider range of challenge and opportunity than an individual primary school could provide. Many primary schools have whole-class ensemble teaching (WCET) led by hubs, promoting grass-roots instrumental teaching. However, the activity metrics shows that WCET provision is not always integrated or consistent across regions, and may not be available for a whole academic year.3 The music curriculum needs to continue once the hub staff have left, and it is the music coordinator that has to make that happen. Having managed WCET projects, I know that these work best where the hub staff are able to liase regularly with the classroom music teacher for professional discussion about shared curriculum content. Flying in a specialist who has little time to explain and demonstrate what they are doing can de-skill the classroom teacher, if their own musicality is not valued or they outclassed by the ‘expert.’ The music coordinator can really help to facilitate these discussions, as can the hub's local management team.
It can be challenging to teach classroom music in a primary school, but it is always rewarding. The shortage of qualified music teachers in primary schools means that our BA Ed Music graduates become subject leaders far sooner in their careers than their peers, and so are challenged to lead and support their colleagues to teach a subject many find intimidating. The music coordinator will always need to have some specialist skills in music, in order to model and lead music-making in the classroom, and will need to invest in their skills to achieve this. It is worth it though, to make music with the children.
