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Introduction
Secondary school music teachers are traditionally music graduates who have completed a one-year Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). London Metropolitan University runs such a course. However, in 1999, the University (in collaboration with Community Music) additionally established a two-year course, leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), in Secondary Music Education. This course has alternative academic outcomes; a BA for students with no previous degree or a PGCE for graduates (usually in subjects other than music). Applicants for the course must have studied for at least a year in higher education or have had professional experience equivalent to this.
One of the reasons for establishing this route was to widen academic participation, enabling people without a traditional, academic, musical background to develop a career in teaching. Another was to improve the chances of active musical participation by school pupils by increasing the diversity of the musical backgrounds of their teachers.
Widening participation
This move towards widening participation has been driven both by developments in higher education and in the school system. It has been apparent for some while that those who make use of and benefit from higher education are not representative of the population as a whole; they represent a middle class élite, while large sectors of our population have very low participation.
The Dearing Report of 1997 defined one of the purposes of higher education as:
"…to play a major role in shaping a democratic, civilized, inclusive society." (Dearing Report, 1997)
The government's response to this report included the following:
"Increasing opportunities for people to learn and widening access are at the heart of the Government's policies for creating a learning society. The Government is committed to the principle that anyone who has the capacity for higher education should have the opportunity to benefit from it…" (Higher Education for the 21st Century, March 1998)
In the context of Teacher Education, I take 'widening participation' to mean enabling and encouraging capable people from any racial, religious, economic, class or cultural background to become teachers. In the case of music teachers this can also mean removing the cultural bias implied by having a music degree. This is because most British music degrees are focused on Western classical music (although this is starting to change). There are also elements of racial, class and economic preference evident in selecting teachers from a classical background. In general, non-European families are unlikely to have in depth exposure to Western classical music and therefore people from those families will be less well prepared to take a music degree. Within British families, individuals traditionally develop a high degree of instrumental skill through one to one music lessons, which usually have to be paid for. This happens mostly in families where this is financially possible and where there is a perceived value in the practice; this is traditionally a middle class aspiration.
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