Pre-read portal

1. Attracting people into music teaching

This addresses the front end of the pipeline: why musically active young people do, or do not, see teaching as an attractive career, and how institutions can change recruitment, perceptions, entry requirements and early experiences of teaching. This is particularly interesting because some research is moving beyond simply documenting falling recruitment and identifying specific points at which potential music educators are lost.

• Germany — MULEM-EX: Musiklehrkräftemangel – eine explorative Studie (2024–25)
  Published by: Bundesfachgruppe Musikpädagogik; research involving multiple German universities, including Universität Koblenz.
  An unusually substantial project comprising 71 quantitative and qualitative sub-studies, examining why fewer young people choose music teacher education. It identifies two particularly actionable areas: access/admission processes and the orientation and content of music-teacher degree programmes. Universität Koblenz
  MULEM-EX project and publications – Universität Koblenz

• England — Music Teacher Training and Workforce Need (2026)
  Published by: UK Department for Education. Official data show that postgraduate music teacher-training recruitment increased from 238 trainees in 2023/24 to 369 in 2025/26, but this still represented only 65% of the estimated need. The data highlight the continuing challenge of maintaining a sufficient pipeline of new music teachers and the importance of both recruitment and retention in workforce planning.

UK Department for Education – Teacher Demand and Postgraduate Trainee Need 2026/27

2. Redesigning music-teacher education

A second approach is to ask whether the way music educators are prepared needs to change. This includes bringing pedagogy more centrally into conservatoire education, aligning training with the actual careers graduates enter, strengthening school–university relationships, and preparing educators for a profession increasingly characterised by portfolio careers, diverse learners and changing technologies.

• Singapore — Courage to Create: A New Music Education Degree in Instrumental and Vocal Teaching (2024)
  Authors: Ernest H. C. Lim, Rebecca Y. P. Kan and Nellie S.-R. Seng; Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Singapore.
  One of the strongest examples for your symposium because it examines an actual redesigned programme, rather than merely recommending reform. A new BEd in Instrumental and Vocal Teaching was established within a conservatoire environment to address the mismatch between traditional performance degrees and the reality that many music graduates subsequently work as teachers. MDPI
  Courage to Create – full open-access study

• Portugal — O Ensino da Música no Sistema Educativo Português (2026)
  Published by: Conselho Nacional de Educação / Portuguese National Education Council.
  A major national examination of general, specialised and vocational music education. Its recommendations include strengthening teachers' musical preparation and specialist support, increasing collaboration between generalist and specialist teachers, and addressing recruitment structures for music education. Cnedu
  Portuguese National Education Council – Technical Report
  National Council Recommendation on Music Education

• South Africa — The Need for Training Music Educators in South African Public Schools: Lessons from Choral Competitions (2026)
  Author: Ntshengedzeni Evans Netshivhambe, University of South Africa.
  Particularly interesting because it starts from a different delivery environment. Many public schools lack formally trained music educators, while the enormous South African Schools Choral Eisteddfod already involves teachers, conductors and pupils in musical activity. The research asks how existing structures such as this could contribute to strengthening educator training. Taylor & Francis Online
  The Need for Training Music Educators in South African Public Schools

• Australia — Understanding the Delivery of Music Learning in NSW Public Schools: Primary Teachers' Survey (2025)
  Authors: Rebecca Taylor & Daniel Edwards, Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER); published by Alberts / Music Education: Right from the Start. The study examines how music is delivered in NSW public primary schools and identifies significant gaps in teacher preparation and support: 82% of respondents answering the ITE questions considered their music preparation inadequate, highlighting the potential role of better initial training and professional learning in expanding workforce capacity. ACER Research Repository

Full 2025 research report – ACER

3. Creating alternative and requalification pathways

If existing routes cannot produce enough educators quickly enough, countries and institutions are experimenting with ways of bringing musicians, career changers and existing practitioners into education through pedagogical qualifications, bridging programmes, internships and other routes. The central issue is not simply lowering barriers to entry, but designing alternative pathways that maintain pedagogical quality and professional standards.

• Switzerland — Fachkräfte an Musikschulen / Music-School Workforce Initiative (2025)
  Published/developed by: Verband Musikschulen Schweiz (VMS), working with the Konferenz Musikhochschulen Schweiz (KMHS).
  A particularly useful practical example. Following evidence of difficulties filling positions in music schools, the sector has been working on responses including pedagogical requalification for conservatoire graduates without a pedagogy master's, continuing professional development and stronger internship/observation links between higher music education and music schools.
  Swiss Association of Music Schools – Fachkräfte an Musikschulen

• United States — Music Teacher Licensure in the United States: A Policy Analysis (2025)
  Authors: Stephanie Prichard & Justin Caithaml; Arts Education Policy Review.
  A national analysis of state music-teacher licensure requirements, examining differences in certification, examinations, performance assessment and reciprocity, and considering how licensure requirements may create barriers or inequities in pathways into music teaching. Taylor & Francis Online

Music Teacher Licensure in the United States: A Policy Analysis

• United States — The Workforce Entry and Teaching Responsibilities of New Music Education Graduates (2025)
  Author: David S. Miller, University of Kentucky; published in the Journal of Music Teacher Education.
  Uses longitudinal administrative data to follow music-education graduates into the workforce and examine whether they actually become teachers and what they teach once they enter. It is particularly useful for thinking about the transition between qualification and actual workforce participation. University of Kentucky
  University of Kentucky – Workforce Entry and Teaching Responsibilities study

4. Retaining and sustaining the existing workforce

Recruitment alone cannot solve the problem if educators subsequently leave. This strand therefore shifts attention from “How do we get more people in?” to “What makes them stay?” It encompasses induction and mentoring, working conditions, professional identity, remuneration, workload, career development and the sustainability of portfolio careers. For policy, this distinction matters enormously: increasing training places has limited effect if attrition remains high.

• United States — The Retention and Attrition of Early-Career Music Teachers: A Survival Analysis (2025)
  Author: David S. Miller, University of Kentucky; published in Arts Education Policy Review.
  One of the strongest recent studies in this category. It tracks 6,430 early-career music teachers and examines when and why they leave public-school music teaching. The study points towards interventions around mentorship, compensation, resources and early-career support rather than treating recruitment as the whole solution. University of Kentucky
  David S. Miller – University of Kentucky research profile and study

• Australia — Teaching Music in South Australia: Final Report (2026)
  Authors: Marion McCutcheon, Janet Fulton, Stuart Cunningham, Scott Brook & Jee Young Lee; published by the University of Canberra as part of the ARC Linkage Project New Approaches to Measuring Australia’s Creative Workforce: Beyond the Census. University of Canberra Research Portal. The study examines musicians working in education in South Australia, including income, career trajectories, portfolio work, professional identity and employment in schools. Notably, 50% of respondents identified as both musician and teacher, and 79% said teaching had always been part of their music practice—making it particularly relevant to discussions about sustainable musician-educator careers and alternative workforce models. CreateSA

Full report – Teaching Music in South Australia (PDF)   University of Canberra research page

• England — Teacher Demand and Postgraduate Trainee Need: Music (2026)
  Published by: UK Department for Education.
  The official model explicitly incorporates retention alongside recruitment. The latest projection puts the future music-teacher leaver trajectory at 8.8%, illustrating why workforce planning needs to consider exits from the profession alongside the number entering training.
  Department for Education – 2026/27 workforce projections