Teach Primary Issue 18.2

coverage as a shorthand for skills progression, focusing on completion of the curriculum in the time available as their main measure of success. Teachers were also sometimes unable to offer the required feedback and modelling due to their own level of musical confidence and skill. Often the SLT had a good understanding of their staff’s areas for development, but there was no plan in place to address these, and so the issue was likely to perpetuate. None of this is particularly surprising,of course, given that the majority of primary school teachers are not music specialists; and neither is there an easy fix for this in the short, or even perhaps long term. However, Ofsted has had a crack at some suggestions which might help. www.teachwire.net | 59 The top-level recommendations Ofsted recommends that schools take into consideration ‘precise end points in performance, composition and listening work’ when designing their curriculum. The aim here is to ensure pupils can progress step by step towards these goals, and that curriculums incrementally build ‘pupils’ knowledge of the technical and constructive aspects of music’. They also – of course – recommend that schools set aside enough time to actually deliver this curriculum successfully. In schools where music is led by a non-specialist, this process of designing a curriculum from scratch might be daunting. Ofsted clearly recognises this because one of the other recommendations is to seek expert support when designing the curriculum, and that specific support for subject leaders should be provided to ensure the curriculum ‘deliberately and incrementally teaches all pupils to become more musical.’ If that sort of support sounds like it might be out of your budget, the report is favourable about the use of schemes in primary schools when done in the correct way. So a good alternative could be to buy in an expert- created scheme. This might also help with Ofsted’s next recommendation: to implement the use of ongoing feedback and teacher demonstration to improve the technical and expressive quality of pupils’ musical responses. Ofsted noted that the use of schemes with ‘accompanying instructional videos’ was a helpful element in giving staff the confidence to model and feedback to children on how to improve their work. Additional responsibilities Outside of the curriculum, Ofsted recommends that schools should make sure that they offer extra-curricular instrumental and vocal lessons. This is also an expectation of the National Plan for Music Education (2022). In reality, with budgets in crisis, many schools will struggle to meet this recommendation. The network of local music hubs (though in flux at the moment, with a vastly reduced number of new hub lead organisations to be announced in April 2024) should be your first port of call to help you in establishing a cost-effective extra-curricular programme. Back on the last day of that Easter term, I couldn’t have thought of anything worse than having to talk to Ofsted about music. Having seen this most recent report, though, I think schools can take comfort in a clear set of guidelines that indicate precisely what the inspectorate is looking for. So although none of us wants them to come to our schools, if they do, we’ll be ready – armed with this report. TP Dr Liz Stafford is director of education consultancy company Music Education Solutions®, editor of Primary Music Magazine , author of The Primary Music Leader’s Handbook (Harper Collins), and music specialist for Kapow Primary. MUS I C S P E C I A L IN BRIEF Timetable music for an hour each week and ensure that it actually gets taught. Both Ofsted and the DfE keep nudging us in this direction, so we should probably all take note. Take a focused approach. For Ofsted, less is more. So cut down on the number of different instruments being taught, and approaches being taken, in favour of a consistent approach to the development of musical skill on a long-term basis. Take steps to upskill your staff. Whether it’s through a scheme with in-built CPD, a series of INSETs, or some kind of training programme, show them that you understand your areas for development as a school and have acted accordingly. Review your composing and improvising provision. This is the area of the curriculum that Ofsted was most concerned about in this report, so it’s likely inspectors will want to look closely at it during a deep dive.