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How is information and communications technology (ICT) used to promote musical learning by pupils aged eleven to fourteen, i.e. pupils in Key Stage 3? Inspectors from the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) visited 52 schools in England, and inspected 161 Key Stage 3 music lessons that made some use of ICT. This article describes the characteristics of the good teaching found in 106 of those lessons, and discusses some issues concerning the use of ICT in classrooms.
The support of the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) in providing part of the funding for this inspection project is gratefully acknowledged.
Introduction
ICT in Key Stage 3 music lessons
There would be little point in writing this article if there was anything esoteric about the use of ICT in Key Stage 3 music lessons, or if its effective use was already widespread. ICT, used well, promotes higher attainment in music, although Rogers (1997) reported that it took time for some improved teaching styles brought about by increased provision of ICT to have a marked impact on pupils' attainment in music. The use of ICT in Key Stage 3 is a requirement of the National Curriculum for music in England: a requirement that is likely to become more pressing as technology develops, but which many schools find difficult to meet. Salaman (1997) reported examples of teachers using electronic keyboards during Key Stage 3 in a manner that is clearly not effective, a finding that is also supported by inspection evidence.
There is also evidence that many teachers use ICT very rarely in Key Stage 3, or not at all. Many teachers obtained ICT equipment with Key Stage 4 pupils in mind, and are uncertain how to use it to promote musical learning with the generally larger and more mixed ability classes that they teach in Key Stage 3. Many computers languish beneath dustcovers during Key Stage 3 lessons. Many keyboards that are used simply as electric pianos have potentially valuable advanced features that are rarely utilised. The headphones that are associated with much of the music teaching that is supported by ICT transport pupils into a world where they could concentrate on their work, but sometimes do not.
This article forms part of OFSTED's commitment to improvement through inspection. It aims to disseminate some good practice in the use of ICT in Key Stage 3 music lessons, and is intended to help secondary music teachers who are planning how to improve their use of ICT to promote musical learning in their classrooms. It does not address questions such as which resources schools should purchase, or precisely what teaching methods they should use. Rather, it shows, through examples, that there are several `correct' answers to these questions, and that approaches which some teachers eschew may promote learning effectively in other hands.
We focus on the use of ICT in music lessons. However, while the use of ICT during Key Stage 3 is a requirement, and sometimes the most effective route to some specific musical learning, it is important to emphasise that much worthwhile learning in music takes place without the use of ICT. There is no expectation, nor would it be sensible, for music teachers to use ICT continuously during Key Stage 3. There are many aspects of the National Curriculum programme of study that can be taught effectively without the use of ICT, and some aspects which could not be taught through the use of ICT alone, as pupils in Key Stage 3, like pupils in Key Stages 1 and 2, also need to use and listen to acoustic instruments and the voice.
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