Music Masters is a pioneering music education charity dedicated to building inclusive models of music education. A couple of years ago, they partnered with Birmingham City University (BCU) to create a new qualification for those wanting to learn how to teach music through a group work approach in schools and other educational settings. The PGCEi in Group Instrument Learning is a one-year course that equips instrumental teachers with the essential theoretical and practical skills to teach group lessons well. In previous years, the course was for string players; but from this year onwards, the course is open to those teaching any instrument, including woodwind, brass, drums, piano, strings, and early years musicianship.
Katrina Damigos, the course leader, tells me about the demand for such a course: ‘Music Masters had identified a massive need among music teachers – who were not able to commit to a full-time course of PGCE study – for a qualification and level of training that did not depend on prior teacher training. This course fits within that gap and is a stepping-stone for those who might want to continue onto full-time study. The PGCEi creates that bridge.’
The course itself comprises four modules. Three of these have academic credit totalling 60 credits at Level 7. This means that students who successfully complete the course are awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, the first third of a master's degree. The academic component of the course is assessed through a range of assignments and presentations, and key content includes theories of teaching and learning, exploring learning in the context of group instrument learning contexts, models of reflective practice, planning, and assessment.
Enriched vision
The link with BCU is particularly important to Music Masters, and Damigos speaks powerfully about the benefits of having ‘access to some of the really great minds in music education that have been delivering the secondary PGCE at BCU: Martin Fautley, Gary Spruce, Anthony Anderson’. The benefits of working with academics of this calibre are felt by both the students and the team at Music Masters: ‘These people have enriched our vision of music education and allowed us to grow as an organisation,’ says Damigos. ‘We can share our passion for learning with them, being curious about what an inclusive music education looks and sounds like, and go on that shared journey with them. For a small charity like ours, which now has a national focus, it is incredibly important that we are collaborating with a university like BCU.’
It is important to note that the PGCEi offered by Music Masters is not quite the same as a PGCE offered by many universities. It does not include the designation of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) that is required by most teachers to teach in state schools in England. That said, it does not cost anywhere near the £9,000 required to undertake such a university course, and it does not require its students to take a year out from employment for their studies either. In fact, as part of its impressive offer, Music Masters has been able to attract charitable funding to ensure that it can offer fully funded places worth £6,000 each to all students. This was part of Music Masters' wider commitment to instrumental music teachers, whose work they feel has been decimated by COVID-19 over the last year. Beyond completing the course, and a willingness to support the ongoing work of Music Masters, there are no obligations placed on students who benefit from this funding.
Better together
Damigos' vision for the course is impressive. The wider agenda for many in music education today is quite rightly focused on aspects of inclusion and engagement. She sees the course as one way of effecting positive change in a sector that is often conservative by nature. She notes that, ‘Music teachers who work on the course are committed and ambitious to make music education as inclusive and reflective of society as possible. This is a vital and overarching motivation for the course and is a theme within its content and delivery.’
She believes passionately that group teaching is the way to do this: ‘We don't feel that individualised tuition as a music offer is the best way to get as many children engaged with music for the long term. It doesn't engage a school community in the same way that a musical group or ensemble could. These are more visible in the school community, normalise music making, and embed it in a school culture. This course is trying to ensure that the quality of that group tuition is the best it can be, rather than it being delivered badly and, as a result, people seeing it as a problem.’
The same aspiration can be found within Music Masters and its commitment to ensuring that each student on the PGCEi in Group Instrument Learning is given the best possible learning experience. Effective mentoring is central to this process, and students get visits and support from their own individual mentor throughout the programme. Institutionally, Damigos' stresses that even though Music Masters is a small organisation, it doesn't ‘role out a one size-fits-all programme’. She continues: ‘We look at how we can make the training experience within the course work for the individual and what they want to achieve.’
It seems that the teaching provision within the programme, together with students being able to benefit from the fundraising experience within the charity, membership of a graduate network to sustain their work following their studies, and wider training opportunities for all, make the PGCEi in Group Instrument Learning an excellent opportunity for any instrumental music teacher looking to develop their teaching expertise.
