APRIL 2008 MUSIC JOURNAL

Seminar Report: SPECIALIST SCHOOLS IN THE SPOTLIGHT by Callum Thomson

‘Nothing ever stays still in education’ – the opening words of Tim Daniell, the Warden of the ISM’s Music in Education Section for 2007-08 and the chairman of last month’s seminar at the University of Westminster. The day-long event, attended by around 40 participants, was an opportunity to examine some current issues in music education and ‘take stock’ of what difference they made to teaching and learning. Callum Thomson, the ISM’s Marketing & Development Manager, reports.

Specialist Schools

Musicians could be forgiven for thinking they already knew all about specialist schools – establishments like Chetham’s, St Mary’s and the Menuhin School have existed for decades, providing intensive musical training to exceptionally talented young performers. But new, government-designated, Specialist Schools have a different prime objective.

Richard Jones, from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT), explained that the government’s aim was to use specialism as a way of raising standards across the curriculum, and that all secondary schools in England would become either Specialist Schools or Academies in time. The SSAT, which is part-funded by government, helps schools to apply for and retain specialist status in at least one of twelve subject areas, including Languages, Sports, Engineering and Special Educational Needs.

Music has been on the list since 2004, and since then, 48 schools have become specialist Music Colleges (most of these have music as their primary specialism; some combine music with other subject areas). Most are in London and the South East. Music also plays a part in many of the roughly 600 specialist Performing Arts Colleges.

The government claims that by becoming a centre of excellence in one subject area, schools gain an ‘enhanced sense of purpose’. The teaching of that subject is strengthened, which in turn influences attainment in the rest of the school. Specialist schools are encouraged to take a flexible approach to teaching their specialism, allowing students to follow courses at their own pace, and lead the way in the use of ICT in learning. In addition, specialist schools must develop links with local businesses, community groups and other schools to provide vocational training, share their expertise and spread good practice.

Some of the requirements specific to Music Colleges are to:

• encourage a lifelong passion for and appreciation of music
• promote enjoyment of many different musical forms
• become local hubs of expertise in music education
• work with local primary schools to support access to instrumental and vocal tuition
• enable students to work with professionals involved in music
• provide a varying and continuing programme of musical performances.

Naturally, Richard was keen to outline the benefits to the school of attaining specialist status. Chief among these was the extra money it brought: an additional £129 per pupil per year. Two thirds of the funding must be spent on developing the specialism; the remainder should finance the school’s projects in its community. Critics of the Specialist Schools programme have pointed to this extra funding, rather than specialism itself, as the main reason for the schools’ academic achievement, which is well above the national average.

Looking forward, Richard Jones envisioned Music Colleges ‘breaking the mould’ of music education in the UK, removing barriers between class teaching, instrumental teaching and ensemble work (intriguing many participants), and bridging the divide between music-making inside and outside schools.

Becoming a Specialist Music College

For those inspired to embark on the Specialist School route, Paul Parker and Roger Evernden were on hand to share their experiences. Their schools had been in friendly competition to become the first specialist Music College: Paul, Music College Director at Northampton School for Girls, won – but Roger, then Deputy Headmaster at the Judd School in Kent, followed close behind. Roger and Paul each gave a short talk before taking part in a group discussion.

Schools have to submit a lengthy ‘bid’ to apply for specialist status. The first stage is to audit their current provision and devise a School Development Plan to set out targets for four years. They must also raise at least £50,000 in sponsorship, which is then matched by government.

Roger Evernden devoted one day a week for one year to prepare, consult on and write the Judd School’s bid. As well as setting clear goals for developing music as a specialism, he built relationships with local businesses to raise sponsorship, and identified community groups who could benefit from the school’s community projects. Roger advised applicants to take account of government themes (e.g. the Music Manifesto) when setting priorities.

Paul Parker compared his current role as Music College Director with his former post as head of the Music Department. Music now gets more money, more staff and more status within the school ... Paul still gets no lunch break!

Paul and Roger both explained how the extra finance can help. As well as capital investment (recording studios, extra teaching space), additional staffing has been critical. Roger’s school now employed a gap-year student every year to take care of the distracting tasks that eat up teachers’ time, like mending keyboards. Paul has initiated sustainable music programmes in local primary schools, like whole-class guitar teaching, rather than one-off experiences like masterclasses or recitals.

The discussion that followed threw up some surprises. Roger Evernden warned that it was wrong to assume that Specialist Schools must already have a strong track record in music – in fact, he said, those starting from a lower base will be able to demonstrate improvement more easily! Furthermore, it emerged that becoming a specialist Music College may actually dent a school’s exam performance in the subject, since raising the profile of music will often encourage a much greater uptake of GCSE Music from less able students.

The afternoon sessions addressed music education at the beginning and end of a pupil’s school life. John Arkell, Head of Academic Music at the independent Oundle School in Northamptonshire, was recently appointed Principal Examiner for Music A-Level at Edexcel. However his new job did not prevent him setting out the case for an alternative to the qualification, currently in the process of being accredited by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

The Cambridge Pre-U

John explained that Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) had devised its ‘Pre-U’ qualification in response to universities’ dissatisfaction with A-Levels as a way of measuring students’ ability. CIE’s main aims were to design a curriculum to recognise students’ wide range of individual interests and abilities, as well as to provide the depth and rigour required for a university degree course.

Anecdotal concerns about the ‘dumbing down’ of the A-Level are expressed every year around results time – but John claimed he, as one of the contributors to the Qualification and Curriculum Authority’s Review of standards in A-Level and GCSE Music (1985-2005), had been able to quantify it.

The QCA’s report examined A-Level syllabuses over two decades, and one of its conclusions was that there had been ‘a lowering in the overall level of demand’ in certain areas – the level of aural perception skills had fallen, musical techniques in harmony and counterpoint were being marginalised, and detailed analytical study of set works had been lost. In addition, requirements for extended writing had been reduced. John Arkell argued that the changes to A-Level criteria, being implemented from September 2008, did little to address these concerns.

The Cambridge Pre-U aimed to restore many of these components, while retaining the core requirements of A-Level. Students would be assessed in four areas:

Listening, Analysis and Historical Study
Prescribed historical topics and set works (e.g. Modernism in France / Rite of Spring), in addition to students’ own choice of topics and pieces, assessed by a 3-hour externally-marked exam.

Performing
Performances internally assessed throughout the course via recordings and logs, plus a 15-20 minute recital and viva assessed by a visiting examiner.

Composing
Harmony exercises within two genres (e.g. Chorale and Classical String Quartet) assessed both throughout the course and in a 2-hour exam, as well as a ‘commissioned composition’ using a given musical form or stimulus.

Personal Study [the principal distinguishing component from A-Level]
Students choose to extend their study in one of the areas above: either a 3,500-word Dissertation, an Advanced Recital (30 minutes at Grade 8+ standard) or Free Composition (two pieces). Alternatively, students can produce a Music Technology project (one arrangement and one composition).

In outlining the Pre-U’s requirements, John Arkell lit the blue touchpaper and retired, sparking an impassioned debate.

Whilst some participants hailed a return to traditional musical education and a raising of standards, others were concerned that efforts to widen the scope of and access to music would be negated if the Pre-U gained influence. The unashamed bias towards Western Classical music, with no mention of World music or Pop and only a fleeting reference to Jazz, was seen by some as a retrograde step, by others as a refreshing improvement. One participant described the Pre-U as a ‘stake through the heart of music education, setting it back 20 years’, insisting that universities should expand their musical horizons rather than force students towards a narrow and outdated model of music education. There were also pragmatic concerns about the ability of some teachers to teach the Pre-U’s more demanding syllabus.

After a heated debate about ‘dumbing down’, it was only fitting that our last speaker should treat us like 5 year-olds (in the best possible way). The effervescent Rebecca Duckworth, Ely Cathedral’s singing animateur, demonstrated her work with junior-school children in Cambridgeshire.

Choir Schools Outreach

There are currently 21 choir schools across England who work with primary schools in their area to increase the numbers of children singing. Another aim of these partnerships is to unite cathedrals with their surrounding music services and communities. Whilst some of the schemes have been running for up to eight years, a number of them have been absorbed into the government’s National Singing Programme (Sing Up).

Choristers visit primary schools and give joint concerts; Saturday junior choirs like the ‘Ely Imps’ have been established; and animateurs like Rebecca Duckworth have been appointed to work in primary schools. Rebecca visits fifteen schools in her area ten times each throughout the academic year, working on the basics of voice production and singing.

With all participants on our feet, Rebecca encouraged us to listen and then use the different areas of our voice in a call-and-response game, asking ‘Have you brought your quiet voice?’. ‘Yes we have, yes we have,’ we replied, pianissimo. As it turned out, we had brought our loud, high, low and annoying voices too. This progressed to our ‘singing’ voice, which introduced pitch with so-mi.

After acting as guinea pigs for several very enjoyable games, Rebecca showed how the school pupils reacted in a DVD recording. The children responded just as quickly and musically as the seminar participants, and had just as much fun. We were also shown the cathedral choristers visiting the school, inspiring the younger children with their polished performances of more complex songs.

By the end of their first session, the children – many of whom had not sung in a group before – were singing a simple round. Our session finished in the same way, with the group dividing in two to give a bravura performance of ‘Bravo, Bravissimo’, which was a fitting exclamation of thanks to Rebecca for an invigorating final session.

At the end of an illuminating and varied day, chairman Tim Daniell thanked all the speakers and participants for contributing to the seminar. He also expressed a wish to be a child again, so he could experience some of the exciting recent developments in music education!

Links:
Music Journal Index
Subscribe to Music Journal
Join the ISM
Home