By Mary Ward
Thousands of children are leaving primary school with no formal music education as schools cut back on band programs and teachers struggle to find time to include the arts in classroom lessons.
Submissions to a parliamentary inquiry on arts and music education and training in NSW have called on the state government to mandate hours of music instruction and introduce music accreditation for primary music teachers.
These describe a “crisis” in schools where access to the curriculum depends on the enthusiasm of individual principals and teachers.
Kids playing in the Sydney Youth Orchestras at Santa Sabina College Strathfield, from left, Charlotte Gresham, Dylan Chappel, Xander Brennan, Patricia Mundine, Madeleine Vohland, Ava Tu and Joshua Ahn.Credit: Steven Siewert
“You can have one person pushing it, but as soon as they leave, the impetus goes,” said Dr Anita Collins, a music education consultant and advocate.
In its submission, Sydney Youth Orchestras said it had experienced an increase in demand for its programs from children whose school bands stopped during the pandemic and did not recommence.
CEO Mia Patoulios said it was the result of music teachers retraining after losing work in the pandemic, as well as significant investment by Sydney Catholic Schools in its new Amadeus music program, which has pulled music teachers away from contractor work at public schools.
“About a third of our kids come from public schools, and when you look at the number of kids who are in the public school system, that percentage should be much higher,” she said.
“We are also seeing very few kids from western Sydney, which, given the number of kids that live there, just doesn’t stack up.”
The NSW government is in the middle of a parliamentary inquiry into arts and music education, promised before the 2023 election.
Arts Minister John Graham and Education Minister Prue Car have committed to conducting a survey of music education in public primary schools.
The “Music Education: Right from the Start” campaign, organised by the Albert family philanthropic group, is calling for 50 per cent of NSW public primary schools to provide a quality music education by the start of the 2027 school year, increasing to 75 per cent in 2029 and all schools by 2031.
The campaign is also asking for the NSW Education Standards Authority to create an accreditation for primary music teachers
Campaign head Emily Albert said a quality music education needed to be consistent, and delivered by trained teachers.
“A lot of schools have music in one term, but then rotate that through with art, drama,” she said.
“If you are going to get the researched benefits of music, it needs to be ongoing. It is like trying to learn a language one term of the year, and then expecting to come back the following year and pick up when you left off.”
Albert said music education could be provided at very little cost.
“Voice, for example, is a great instrument. When I was going through school, we all had a recorder in our hands, and that is another low-cost option for schools to provide valuable music education,” she said.
Several submissions raised concerns about the lack of music training and teaching time provided to primary school teachers. The NSW chapter of the Australian Society for Music Education said hours of music education needed to be mandated for primary school students, with lesson content delivered each term.
Queensland requires music specialists to work in schools to teach music, but in NSW primary music education is overwhelmingly provided by generalist teachers.
A review led by Dr Collins and published by Alberts last year found the average time spent on music education in Australian primary education degrees had declined from 17 hours in 2009 to eight hours in 2022.
In the past five years, South Australia and Victoria have each committed millions of dollars to improving music education in public schools.
Collins said NSW teachers were not prepared to incorporate music into general lessons, comparing it to “asking teachers to teach algebra when you haven’t taught them how to add”. She said there were several benefits of having music in the classroom.
“Music is a tool that sets children up to have the best cognitive function,” she said.
“But at the same time, it also mediates and supports children who are having difficulties due to trauma and other issues.”
Patoulios said primary school was critical for teaching music.
“Statistically, if they don’t start to learn an instrument by 11, they never will,” she said.
“It is fair to say the system is in crisis.”
Education minister Car said the new K-6 Creative Arts curriculum, released last week, contained explicit content ensuring all NSW students have an equal opportunity to develop skills in visual arts, music, drama and dance.
“We look forward to the insights gathered from the parliamentary inquiry into arts and music education and training,” she added.
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