Tuesday 20 December 2011
Deborah Annetts, Chief Executive of the ISM, has welcomed a recommendation from the National Curriculum review team that music remains in the National Curriculum to Key Stage 3 and remains compulsory up to Key Stage 4 within ‘the arts’.
Deborah Annetts said:
‘This is promising news for music education and the whole music profession; the review panel’s comprehensive report should be taken on board by the Government and head teachers in schools across England. Whilst there is more to do, this is an important step forward in the review of the National Curriculum.’
The report was published just weeks after the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, hinted on Music Matters on BBC Radio 3 that music would be included on the National Curriculum saying:
‘I think anyone looking at the care and dedication that has gone into the NPME, following on from Darren Henley’s fantastic work, would presume from that, that it would be eccentric of the Department for Education not to have Music enjoying a prominent place in the National Curriculum. I can’t go further than that. That’s as big a hint as I feel I can drop at this stage.’
Deborah Annetts, was interviewed on the same show just after Mr Gove, and said:
‘It’s something that the ISM has been really, really saying to Government ... music has got to be in the National Curriculum, and it sounds as if he is taking that message on board.’