Institutionalised feedback
As with many teachers I am waiting for music exam results. I personally use a number of exam boards so I am not writing this specifically towards one.
It has become increasingly more prevalent that examination reports from examiners have become more and more – how shall I put it? – ‘bland’. Lacking in any kind of encouragement, and written more like a technical instruction manual than feedback about a human musical performance.
Last term one of my students achieved a good merit at a pretty high grade for her age – the mother relayed that as she read her form (which I'd posted through the door) she simply sobbed believing she'd done badly and that the examiner did not enjoy her playing. I have since decided that perhaps I should no longer provide students with their mark forms and simply give them to the parent.
Whenever you bring this up with any board they simply quote Ofqual requirements and potential complaints. However, when I look back at my own exam reports with the warmth of ‘a very promising candidate’ to ‘thank you for playing to me today, it was so musical and enjoyable’, I worry that our students and children will never enjoy the encouragement provided in by gone years.
Music exams are expensive but I fear have become institutionalised. Surely what children need is encouragement. I feel exam boards need to develop the courage to still provide that – despite it potentially resulting in some complaints about ‘remarks not reflecting marks’. The complaint culture of the time I fear has resulted in the loss of an examiner being able to encourage our children's musical future. It's so terribly sad.
Jo Martin, Cumbria
Bright ideas
It's entirely unsurprising to see that there has been a further decline in arts entries at GCSE (News, MT March). I'm glad that the Bacc for the Future campaign, Musicians’ Union and the Creative Industries Federation are continuing to highlight the effects of the EBacc, but less happy that there seems no likelihood of any policy change. At this stage, I wonder: do any MT readers have any bright ideas on how we might be able to ditch the EBacc? It's important to keep the pressure on and to say what we believe in, but at the same time the campaigning thus far does not seem to be having the desired effect.
Dan Friend, London
Bad gig
The idea that peripatetic teachers are somehow appropriate candidates for a zero-hours contract (Gig economy?, MT March) is sad but not at all surprising. I worry at times that the intangibility of what music teachers do – and particularly the difficulty of explaining what marks out a brilliant teacher from a merely decent one (particularly if their students are still churning out the grades) means that the worth of a good music teacher is hard for some people to value – in all senses of the word.
The MU's story of a teacher who, for what appear to be purely logistical reasons at a particular school, was eventually evicted from her home, is indeed horrific, and scary. Music teachers are still teachers – nothing less simply because they don't work in the same classroom every day. They make an extremely valuable contribution to their pupils’ development and that has to be respected.
Joanne Dean, Bromley
