My Lords, I am co-chair of the Classical Music APPG, which I have chaired for more than 10 years. I have worked with the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley of Knighton, who has been my co-chair, as well as the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, the noble Baroness, Lady Fleet, and other noble Lords.
During the last six years, there has been a strong message coming to us of a growing crisis in music education in state schools. I will start with a review of the issues in that crisis, inherited by this Government last July. However, first, I welcome the fact that my noble friend Lady Debbonaire will make her maiden speech in this debate. It was a pleasure to work with her in the shadow team in 2023 and 2024 when she was shadow Culture Secretary and I was shadow Minister for Music. It was also a pleasure to hear her play the cello in the string quartet, the Statutory Instruments.
At the heart of the crisis in music education in our state schools are issues affecting quantity and quality. The ones I want to highlight are the shortage of specialist music teachers and the problems of teacher confidence and expertise, lack of curriculum time for music, and declining uptake and inequalities in access to music at both GCSE and A-level. These issues have been explored in debates, and in reports to Parliament and to all-party parliamentary groups.
In the 2019 report Music Education: State of the Nation by the Independent Society of Musicians, we heard that the policy of the former Government around accountability measures, such as the English baccalaureate, has had significant negative impacts on music education in schools in England. We also heard that curriculum time for music, which is statutory for key stages 1-3, had reduced, along with opportunities for children to pursue music to GCSE and A-Level.
The report posed serious questions to be addressed regarding the music education workforce becoming demoralised because of the increasing marginalisation of music in our schools. It called on the Government to review and reform the EBacc and Progress 8 accountability measures or, at the very least, to add a sixth pillar to the EBacc for creative subjects, including music. The 2019 report of the Commons CMS Select Committee on the social impact of participation in culture and sport also recommended that the Government add arts subjects to the EBacc. More recently, in your Lordships’ House, the 2024 report of the Education for 11-16 Year Olds Committee recommended that the Government should:
“Abandon the EBacc school performance measures and review the other measures in the 11–16 phase”.
A 2022 survey of music teachers by the Independent Society of Musicians found significant variability in music provision, particularly in primary schools. It also found that the key stage 3 music curriculum had been progressively narrowed, mostly in academies, by placing music on a carousel or rota system, where it was offered for only part of the year, in rotation with other subjects.
My Lords, it is an honour to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Keeley, and I pay tribute to her for securing this debate. I declare my interest as chair and co-founder of the London Music Fund, and former chair of the model music curriculum and the national plan for music education. I am very much looking forward to the noble Baroness, Lady Debbonaire, making her maiden speech.
No Government in the last 25 years have done enough to support and promote music education. What do they not understand? Music brings young people together. It enriches lives. It helps emotional and social development. Music helps reading, listening, concentration and memory. And all this filters through to help with grades and exams. Music changes lives.
The previous Government made a start and published the national plan for music education in 2022, which was delivered by teachers working with music hubs across the country with guaranteed funding—it was never enough but a start. What did the Labour Government do? They pulled the plug on the national plan. Since then, there has been nothing but uncertainty and anxiety. Has funding been secured? No. Have music hubs been supported? No. Have specialist teachers been reassured? No. Have hubs been exempted from additional NI contributions? No. What are the plans to reduce the administrative burden on hubs?
Astonishingly, despite strong headwinds, many schools—not enough, but many—deliver outstanding music education. That is thanks only to the dogged determination of music leaders and teachers. We heard today that the brilliant music and dance scheme is secure for a year—but then what? As for the proposed national centre for arts and music, there is confusion and dismay. Will it be a new bureaucracy or just an information centre? There is no budget and no brief, just delay.
Schools can only build music departments with at least three years of funding, to allow everyone to plan properly. With the support of an ambitious trust, music could be delivered in every school. We await the Professor Becky Francis curriculum review. However, as of today, all those in music and the arts feel utterly let down by this Government.
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Keeley, for the opportunity to hold this debate, and I very much look forward to hearing the maiden speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Debbonaire.
First, I acknowledge the important work of the 43 music hubs as well as organisations that partner with state schools, such as the Church of England. I also acknowledge the excellent work of the many cultural organisations that promote young people’s participation in music, such as The Glasshouse, Gateshead—close to where I live—which makes an outstanding contribution.
Nevertheless, the evidence is clear: music is part of the national curriculum only to key stage 3. We need more secondary schools to teach music at GCSE level, because 42% of secondary schools did not have any GCSE entries in music in 2024. Worryingly, the vacancy rate for music teachers increased sixfold between 2010 and 2023, and teacher recruitment in music over the same period dropped by half. The result is that there are fewer students studying music at secondary level. In addition, over the last two years we have seen a drop of one-third in vocational qualifications in music achieved at level 2.
As the noble Baroness, Lady Keeley, reminded us, in 2019 the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee found that the introduction of the English baccalaureate—EBacc—had resulted in fewer students studying music at secondary level, because only GCSEs in English, maths, the sciences, one humanity and one language are measured for the proportion of students reaching grade 5. As the Select Committee said:
“We remain deeply concerned about the gap between the government’s reassuring rhetoric and the evidence presented to us of the decline in music provision in state schools, for which the Ebacc is blamed and which affects students from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds disproportionately”.
What can the Government do about that situation? I hope that the Minister will tell us what plans they have to reverse the trend.
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Keeley, on securing this vital debate, and I am delighted to precede the maiden speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Debbonaire. When she was in the other place, the musical world was thrilled to have a former orchestral player in such an important position. I still enjoy seeing the cello case come down the Corridor, with the noble Baroness in close attendance. I am sure that she appreciates, all too significantly, the power of taking music into schools.
Yesterday, I recorded a conversation with the Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, who said that her success in turning around failing schools was hugely due to music. What do we need to achieve that? We need an inspiring and passionate teacher and the opportunity to experience and perform music. Rachel mentioned the visit of a singer who left the children agog with wonder as she rose through the stratosphere with the famous aria from Puccini’s “La rondine”. As we heard, orchestral and operatic visits to schools are absolutely vital.
In light of the Oral Question yesterday from the noble Lord, Lord Brennan, about aid to live music, I have a suggestion for the Government: subsidise more visits to schools; up the number of peripatetic teachers; make sure that the hubs understand the policies and rationale behind the decisions; and do not tie them up in red tape and make them endlessly fill in forms about compliance.
I hope that Becky Francis will put creativity back in schools. I would like to see music back on the curriculum —that would make such a statement. Most importantly, more vital still, let us give children who are not advantaged the ability to listen to and make music. Surely that would be a natural step for a Labour Government, in relation to which the noble Baroness, Lady Debbonaire, is such a distinguished party member.
My Lords, I am grateful to follow the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley. It has been a pleasure actually seeing him in real life, as opposed to just hearing him on Radio 3, which is still a great pleasure.
I rise for my first speech in your Lordships’ House. I am grateful to all noble Lords for the warm welcome I have received, and I am particularly grateful to my noble friend Lady Keeley—we really were a great team. I declare my interest as a member of the Musicians’ Union; the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, has outed me as a cellist already.
Music and, more broadly, arts and culture are everywhere and everything: the tune we sing in the shower; the stories we read to children; the poems that I have tattooed—there really is something for everyone. Just saying that is not enough; we need to make a political case for the arts. The arts give us ways to dream and to imagine a better world. They are good for our economy, for our lives and for our planet. They give good economic return on investment for exports, tourism and jobs. The social return is enormous.
This is an ecosystem. The commercial and the non-commercial, the different art forms and the enormous range of skills—they all interact to sustain the whole. But much of this sector is threatened, as other noble Lords have referred to, and we risk losing our global reputation for excellence. I benefited from outstanding musical education, and I want every child to have that chance.
This ecosystem means that the person who started out at the National Theatre becomes a writer on “Succession”. It is why film soundtracks are recorded in the UK—because our musicians really are the best. A TV costume designer visits a museum to capture exactly how a suit of armour moves. A game’s creator was inspired by their art teacher. The ecosystem is essential, not optional.
My Lords, what an honour, privilege and pleasure to follow my noble friend Lady Debbonaire and congratulate her on her maiden speech. I do not think that I have ever been present for a maiden speech that has had to be made in more compressed circumstances as this, but even so, she spoke with great passion about a subject about which she knows a great deal and feels even more.
I congratulate my noble friend Lady Keeley on securing the debate. The fact that so many Members wanted to take part, and that we have such a short time, shows the Government Front Bench that, the next time this happens, we must have more time now.
I have only a minute or two, and I want to devote it all to praising my noble friend and what she brings to the House. She brings her musical talent. She brings her patronage of the arts. She brings her extensive experience over many years with women’s refuges; she was the national officer of the Women’s Aid Federation of England. She has authored books and papers about domestic violence and was the national research manager for the anti-domestic violence organisation Respect. She brings all this enormous and valuable experience to this House.
Of course, she brought that in equal measure to the other House. She was first elected a decade ago to represent the city of Bristol, which, I hope the House will understand, I have a lifelong family affection for. Five years later, she was already shadow Leader of the House, playing a busy part in the important parliamentary debates in the 2017 to 2019 parliamentary Session, before being appointed as shadow Secretary of State for DCMS. In that role, she did, if I may say so, an enormous amount to prepare for the Government who were elected in June last year.
I need hardly add, but I am proud to do so, that my noble friend is a cellist. She has performed professionally. Indeed, she still does, because she is a member—as Members may know—of the parliamentary string quartet, which has performed at both ends of the Palace of Westminster. I recommend it strongly when noble Lords get the chance. They are known as the Statutory Instruments because they used to rehearse in my noble friend’s office in the House of Commons, where piles and boxes of statutory instruments were used in lieu of music stands. I should perhaps declare an interest because my daughter, Emily, is the first violinist in the parliamentary string quartet.
My Lords, until recently, I chaired a charity aimed at inspiring young people with a love of classical music. We developed teaching resources for schools based on Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique”, branded as Fantastique! for Schools. Schools that used them were delighted with them, but scaling up proved challenging.
How can we do more with the resources and dedication already out there from teachers, hubs, musicians, orchestras, opera companies, choirs, venues, charities, grant-givers and, of course, parents? We need a better awareness of what is actually available. Perhaps a central hub run by the proposed new national centre for arts and music education could signpost resources and guidance for schools.
We should also actively share good practice and success stories. Recent events hosted by the Opera APPG in the Jubilee Room have showcased some inspiring examples: a class of 20 violinists from an east London primary school; a school choir which sang in ENO’s “La Bohème”; and a class of ocarina players reading music at sight. Examples such as these show how music fosters discipline, behaviour and learning, and could motivate other schools.
We should encourage more partnerships and less fragmentation, but none of this will work without enough trained music teachers, including part-time, non-specialist and peripatetic music teachers. The Government should focus on recruiting, training and retaining them, and ensuring they have time in the curriculum and the support they need to turn the national plan for music education from fantasy into reality.
I have enough time to congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Debbonaire, on her magnificent speech in such a short time. I have now overrun.
My Lords, I declare my interest as chairman of the Royal College of Music, of which the noble Baroness, Lady Debbonaire, is a distinguished alumna. We have had countless debates on this subject over the years. Each time another comes along I feel a growing sense of frustration—indeed anger—because, for all the fine words, we never seem to make progress. It did not make me popular with my colleagues at the time, but I was very critical of the previous Government for their failure to act to secure better music education in state schools.
As music should be a bipartisan issue, I hoped that, with the change in Government, we would finally see some progress. But it is a year on from the election and still nothing has changed: no progress on post-Brexit visa issues, the curriculum, funding, or the long-term financial sustainability of the hubs and the music and dance scheme, both of which are forced to exist from hand to mouth.
Because this inaction has been going on for so long, there is now a real danger of terminal damage to the entire music ecosystem, which depends totally on the ability of talented young musicians to be able to progress from their earliest years to the start of their careers. It is a complex and intensive pipeline which depends on music and singing in primary schools, the easy availability of peripatetic teaching, professional music teachers, entry to a conservatoire or university with dedicated but intensive one-to-one teaching, and then career opportunities. It cannot be left to chance. It needs understanding from government and a co-ordinated, strategic approach.
At the moment, we do not have that, as government is not joined up, with policy spread across at least four departments. No one is in charge and there is no coherent, functioning national plan. That must change and quickly. We need someone to take overall responsibility. We need to establish long-term commitments to and sustainable funding of the hubs and the MDS. We need action on the curriculum and we need to make music an attractive profession for young people to enter, which means sorting out touring visas and ensuring we have a proper copyright regime in place to tackle the threat of AI. I hope that next time we have a debate there will be meaningful progress on all these issues.
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The Cultural Learning Alliance’s Report Card 2024 highlighted that access to music education opportunities now varies greatly across the country, with 42% of schools no longer entering any pupils for music GCSE, and young people’s take-up of musical instruments and ensemble playing varying greatly by socioeconomic background.
I think we can say that all of this means that far too many young people are missing out on the benefits, experiences and opportunities that music education can bring. The curriculum and assessment review could play an important role in improving the quantity of music education in our state schools, because two of the issues that need to be resolved are the pressures on schools created by the accountability measures for the EBacc and Progress 8, and the lack of curriculum time for music.
Over recent years, Dr Adam Whittaker, of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and Dr Anthony Anderson, of Birmingham City University, have worked on the issue of the significant disparities in access to advanced-level music qualifications across the country. I am grateful to Dr Whittaker and Dr Anderson for making several suggestions to improve the quality and quantity of music education in state schools.
The first recommendation is to ensure a sustained and universal music curriculum throughout a young person’s life. We are nowhere near this, particularly at secondary level, in many state schools, where report after report has shown that music education and opportunities are not being sustained.
I want to mention here the excellent work done up and down the country by orchestras, opera companies, churches, cathedrals and music projects working with schools and in the community. To mention just a few, the London Philharmonic Orchestra has the Music Makers and BrightSparks programmes for schools; the Royal Ballet and Opera’s learning programme reaches 100,000 pupils per year; Opera Holland Park has just held two performances of the opera “Itch” for local schools; and the National Schools Singing Programme has worked with over 36,000 children and young people. These enrichment activities are very important, but we must make sure that music at school is present as part of the curriculum for every young person.
The next key recommendation is for government to support the availability and uptake of formal music qualifications. A-level music has been a long-standing feature of the musical training of many musicians. However, last year there were five local authorities without a single level 3 music entry, including A-levels: Barnsley, Hartlepool, Knowsley, South Tyneside, and Barking and Dagenham. By comparison, in Hertfordshire there were 378 level 3 music entries, and in Essex there were 321. These inequalities start at GCSE, with Blackpool and Middlesbrough having just 35 and 53 entries for GCSE music, compared with over 1,400 in Hertfordshire. Low levels of entry in those areas highlight that music qualifications are not available to all young people in all local authorities. This matters because a child cannot choose a subject that local schools do not offer, unless they can afford to travel out of the area to go to another school—and they should not have to do that to get a music education.
National statistics confirm that there has been a marked reduction in the amount of time teachers are spending teaching music, despite substantial growth of the pupil cohort in secondary schools. Since 2011, the total number of teaching hours for music in secondary schools has fallen by over 6%. Most concerning is the decline in hours taught in examination school years, with school hours for key stage 4 declining by 9%. The largest fall in taught hours for music was for key stage 5, with a catastrophic fall of 40% since 2011. This reduction in hours shows that qualifications such as A-level music are being restricted, or just not offered, in school key stage 5 options in some areas. It may mean that, even where such qualifications are offered, they are not given the same proportion of teaching time that they were in 2011-12, baking in potential disadvantage for those who wish to pursue a musical pathway to higher levels of achievement.
State schools need to be supported by government to offer music qualifications right through to the end of key stage 5, even when only small numbers take up those options. A small subject supplement could be transformative. For example, Dr Whittaker and Dr Anderson estimate that a national 50% subsidy on all school-based level 3 music qualifications could be delivered for less than £750,000. If a scheme were targeted to address the disparities I mentioned, it could be delivered at an even lower level of funding. Support like this from government could help protect the progression routes for pupils into advanced music education.
The next key recommendation is to address the music teacher recruitment crisis and to invest in high-quality, reflective continuing professional development—CPD—for music teachers. There is a continuing and significant shortfall in the recruitment of music teachers, with an almost 60% shortfall against DfE’s recruitment target last year. While there are over 400 fewer secondary music teachers in total than there were in 2011, there are almost 1,200 fewer teachers at key stage 5—that workforce has declined by 35%. That loss of expertise may prove very difficult to recover, as not all music teachers are able to teach immediately at key stage 5, especially during their first year after qualifying.
The Ofsted subject report on music education, published in 2023, highlighted considerable differences in how well teachers teach music. The Ofsted report found that in some secondary schools leaders assume that because their music teachers are specialists, they do not require further subject-specific training, but this can result in significant gaps in their subject knowledge not being addressed. Access to CPD is critical for music teachers but it is problematic, because music teachers are often the only teacher in the department, so difficulties covering their absence mean that they are less likely to be released for CPD.
Dr Anderson and Dr Whittaker feel that bridging the gap between trainee music teachers and early career teachers in music, by investing in that reflective CPD, is one focus that could make a real difference. On costings, they say that, for less than £5 million a year, each secondary school music teacher could be released for one day for CPD, which could improve the musical lives of 3.2 million pupils, at a cost of only £1.56 per child.
We have only a very short time for our debate. I hope I have opened up some issues which need to be addressed. I look forward to hearing from my noble friend the Minister about government action to improve music education in state schools.
When we do this right, music and the arts give enjoyment for everyone—and for people from all backgrounds to earn a good living. Opera, for example, as my noble friend will know, employs so many working-class people, from the chorus to the technicians. It truly is a way to make your way in the arts. When we do it wrong, opportunities become exclusive, and we allow talent to go undeveloped. When museums are honest about the stories behind their objects, they make better museums. When the performing arts are at their best, they tell better stories and have more excellent performers.
Fighting for the whole ecosystem, and for everyone to enjoy it, will always be necessary, and I will use my skills, my knowledge, my experience and my time in this place to make that political case while I am here. Thank you.
I endorse everything my noble friend said in her maiden speech about the importance of music, and everything I have heard so far. When I look back on my own experience, my state secondary school had a fantastic music department: we learned to play instruments, and we had a choir and an entire orchestra. I do not think you can start music at too young an age. Both my children started at the age of five or just before; they do not know a life without music. I endorse everything that the noble Baroness, Lady Fleet, said about the importance of music to people’s lives. It is absolutely crucial. Both my children went on to study at the Royal College of Music. While there, they played in youth orchestras and toured over Europe, which is exactly why I am so strongly in favour of any moves to help improve the relationship for creative artists touring in Europe.
There is more I could say—my time is up—but we must not allow music to become the preserve of the private sector. I end by saying that I hope my noble friend enjoys a long and distinguished career in the House, and that the next time we hear from her there will be much more time to hear her opinions, judgment and passion. I hope the whole House will at least agree with that. Many congratulations to my noble friend.