Schools

Revealed: Experts who will monitor ministers’ music education plan

Conservative peer Veronica Wadley will chair monitoring board for the national plan for music education

Conservative peer Veronica Wadley will chair monitoring board for the national plan for music education

A Conservative peer will lead a team of experts appointed by government to monitor the success of its plan to boost music education in schools.

Last year, the Department for Education published its non-statutory national plan for music education to 2030.

Ministers would “like” every school to have a “music development plan” by September 2023 at the latest, and schools have also been “asked to offer at least one hour of music curriculum a week”.

It follows the model music curriculum, published in 2021, for key stages 1, 2 and 3.

Today, government announced that Conservative peer Veronica Wadley will lead a monitoring board to “keep track of the progress in delivering the commitments in the plan”.

Wadley was the first female editor of London’s Evening Standard newspaper and is now a council member of Royal College of Music, co-founder and chair of the London Music Fund and national council member for Arts Council England.

The panel members, who are unpaid, include academy chief executives and music association leads (see full list below). Ofsted and Arts Council England will act as “observers”.

The team will meet termly, with the first meeting later this month. Terms of reference state a board will be in place until 2030, with members attending for two years at a time.

Wadley chaired the previous advisory panel for the national plan and model curriculum. Six monitoring board members also sat on the advisory panel.

Government will work with the monitoring board to create an “impact framework” to set out how to “monitor and measure” the plan’s success.

The members will “champion” as well as “challenge” the implementation of the model music curriculum.

DfE and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will “retain ultimate responsibility for decisions on policy and implementation”.

Wadley said she was “delighted” to chair the board, adding: “It is so important to do all we can to ensure that high quality music is embedded in schools and accessible to young people from all backgrounds.

“This is vital for the pipeline of talent and for the future of our great orchestras, the music industry and the wider creative industries.”

The national plan for music education monitoring board

  • Veronica Wadley CBE (Baroness Fleet) (Chair) – Council Member of Royal College of Music, co-founder and Chair of the London Music Fund and National Council Member for Arts Council England
  • Catherine Barker – Head of Music and Performing Arts United Learning and President of the Music Teachers’ Association
  • Carolyn Baxendale MBE – Head of Bolton Music Service (Greater Manchester Music Education Hub Lead)
  • Rachael Coulthard – Chief Executive Officer, The Wings’ CE Trust
  • Richard Gill CBE – Chief Executive Officer, The Arthur Terry Learning Partnership and Chair, Teaching School Hubs Council
  • Anne Heavey – Director of Insights, Ambition Institute
  • Jamie Njoku-Goodwin – Chief Executive, UK Music and National Council Member for Arts Council England
  • Gill Jones – Group Chief Quality Officer and Safeguarding Lead for Busy Bees Nurseries Limited
  • Simon Toyne – Executive Director of Music, David Ross Education Trust
  • Ed Watkins – Director of Music, West London Free School
  • Bridget Whyte – Chief Executive Officer, The UK Association for Music Education: Music Mark
  • Cassie Young – Executive Inclusion Officer, Our Community Multi-Academy Trust
  • Hannah Fouracre – Director, Music Education, Arts Council England (observer)
  • Christopher Stevens – HMI Specialist Advisor and Subject Lead for Music, Ofsted (observer)

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