Ferry Concerning
The fact that the ABRSM has been awarded the contract to draft the new non-statutory music curriculum is extremely worrying.
I wasn't aware that ABRSM had experience of delivering classroom curriculum lessons. I acknowledge that ABRSM has (many) members of staff who are extremely experienced classroom teachers and I further acknowledge that ABRSM sponsors many music initiatives throughout the world, but the important issue remains that ABRSM itself is not a classroom curriculum creator or deliverer – it is an examination board.
I hope (reservedly) that this is not yet another case of the now infamous ‘Chris-Grayling-Contract-Awarding’ method. The whole bidding process appears to have been decidedly suspect though:
- Only being able to tender if invited.
- What organisations were invited to tender and what were the criteria for an invitation?
- Awarding most points to the lowest bidder (irrespective of the value or content of the bid).
- ABRSM's own chief executive Michael Elliott being on the ‘expert panel’.
- What are the details of ABRSM's bid and what is the final cost estimated to be?
At least Music Mark can hold its head up high; it chose not to get involved due to the potential conflict of interest from its chief executive also being on the panel and quite right too. The irony is that Music Mark is much better placed to develop the new curriculum than ABRSM could ever be.
Music is crucial to our children's education and if it is ‘farmed out’ by contract to organisations that have no experience of in-school curriculum teaching, I am obviously extremely concerned. Surely any new national curriculum for music should be developed by the people who do it and are doing it now.
We can't possibly allow what is (essentially) an instrumental examination board to draft the country's whole music curriculum, can we?
Why not leave the classroom curriculum to the classroom professionals – or would that be more expensive?
- Brian Cotterill
An open letter to the DFE
We the undersigned are writing to you to express our grave concern in relation to the process which has been adopted by the Department for Education (DfE) in connection with the creation of the new model music curriculum. Our concerns are as follows:
- A lack of transparency in relation to the appointment of the expert panel who have been charged with creating the new model music curriculum. We also note the underrepresentation of classroom teachers from ordinary state-maintained schools on the panel and would like to know the thinking of the DfE behind this decision. We are concerned that this lack of representation could lead to the creation of a new model music curriculum which lacks appropriate pedagogical rigour and authenticity.
- A lack of transparency in the awarding of the contract by the DfE to ABRSM for the drafting of the new model music curriculum. There was no open and transparent tender process in which all interested parties could apply to be considered in relation to drafting this important document and again the question must be why.
- The awarding of the contract to ABRSM, an exam board with no experience in the delivery of curriculum music in the classroom can only increase the concern in the music education sector as to the credibility and quality of the new model music curriculum. It also reinforces the view that the DfE, for whatever reason, does not want to hear the voices of ordinary classroom music teachers who are delivering the national curriculum for music both in primary and secondary schools day in and day out.
- A lack of time for any meaningful consultation, particularly early in the drafting of the new model music curriculum. Again, this reinforces the view that the process is deeply flawed.
Appointing a Panel which lacks sufficient classroom teacher experience from the state sector, appointing ABRSM as the organisation to put together the new model music curriculum without an open and transparent process, and creating a timetable which will prevent any meaningful consultation leads us to conclude that the Minister for Schools has already decided what should be in the new model music curriculum. This is deeply concerning since it is the classroom teachers who are charged with delivery of the national curriculum for music and it is our voices which should be at the heart of this process.
To see the full list of signatories, and to add your own name, please visit tinyurl.com/DfE-openletter
