Extract
The music curriculum, along with the other arts in primary education in England, is under pressure from an increasing governmental focus on `core' subjects. Recruits to the profession are particularly important to the long-term health of music in schools. As part of a longitudinal study to evaluate the efficacy of the university-based arts courses in preparing student teachers, the author looked at the factors affecting music. In so doing it emerged that feelings of confidence were a significant feature in the profile of successful students. The findings from this longitudinal study contribute to our understanding of how students perceive their development as teachers of music and the other arts in primary schools. The subjects of this study were students following a four-year Bachelor of Arts in Education BA(Ed.) course that prepared them to teach the full range of school curriculum subjects as generalists. The analysis of a series of semi-structured interviews reveals a complex interaction between prior experience and beliefs, and the quality of school experience.
Introduction
Class teachers in English primary schools are required to teach, in principle, all the subjects of the National Curriculum. In practice this is not necessarily the case, and the government's current preoccupation with the Core subjects means that some Foundation subjects get short shrift. This is particularly noticeable in the provision of music which, although a statutory entitlement, is, in my experience, patchy in terms of:
- continuity of learning, and vulnerability to timetable pressure;
- breadth and depth of content;
- suitability of accommodation and quality of equipment and materials;
- the expertise and confidence of teachers.
Music education has suffered from a decline in support from centrally funded services. The national inspection service has acknowledged that there is a continuing need for substantial in-service training to improve the quality of arts teaching in primary schools (OFSTED, 1998). It could be said that the situation is accepted as inevitable. The training of music teachers has never been a priority for the Primary sector. The provision of general arts courses on Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes has also been very variable (Cleave and Sharp, 1986) and has suffered recent further cuts (Rogers, 1998).
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