News | June 2022
News from Music Mark / England
2 new plans were published recently: Wales in late May and England on 25th June 2022. You can find out more here and here.
From the National Plan for Music Education for Wales: "We will significantly increase funding by investing £4.5 million a year to deliver the key work areas of the plan. We have already invested an additional £6.82 million in 2021/22, building on the foundation of the National Music Service to buy musical instruments and digital licences. This will ensure our children and young people are able to access musical instruments across Wales."
From the National Plan for Music Education for England - "The Power to Change Lives" - : "We publish this refreshed plan, The Power of Music to Change Lives, with the clear ambition to level up musical opportunities for all children, regardless of circumstance, needs or geography. This builds on the investment of £75 million, announced in February, to boost culture and creativity outside London between 2022 and 2025. This support from the taxpayer, through Arts Council England, will generate more opportunities for people across the country, and provide better access to cultural activities, including music."
More on the NPME for England:
Summary of NPME for Hubs prepared by Music Mark – available here
Summary of NPME for schools prepared by Music Teachers Association – available here
·FAQs for Hubs from Arts Council England – available here
‘What does the refreshed NPME mean for you?’ Music Mark webinar (Wednesday 29 June!) – book here
News from FLADEM - the Latin American Forum on Music Education
International Seminar of Music Education in Latin America:
Soon, FLADEM will be celebrating the XXVI edition in presence, as it was before the pandemic and from its beginning in 1995. This seminar for music teachers from all over the continent, will be held in Costa Rica, at the city of Heredia, on July from 18th to 22th with the bold title of “Unheard-of music and pedagogies: Latin-American Music Education for New Times”. More info in Spanish here.
What is Fladem?
“The Latin American Forum of Music Education - FLADEM - is an autonomous and independent institution that currently brings together music educators from eighteen countries in Latin America. Its aims includes the constitution of a solidary and operative professional network; a strengthening movement of Latin American musical education; fand avoring the developing of pedagogical-musical proposals tuned to the realities of the different countries of the continent. Fladem was founded by four braved woman: Violeta Hemsy ( Arg.), Margarita Fernandez (Chi.), Gloria Valencia (Col.) and Carmen Mendez Navas( CR.) with the ideologic support from the Canadian composer R. Murray Shafer.
Info provided by Prof. María Inés Velázquez, President of the Argentine section of FLADEM:
News from Creative Scotland
2022 marks the 20th anniversary of Creative Scotland's Youth Music Initiative, which supports the delivery of music opportunities for children and young people in every part of Scotland. Read the Youth Music Initiative 2019-2020 Evaluation Final Report here.
A recent study commissioned by Creative Scotland looked at the current work of professional artists in health and wellbeing to understand their roles and find out how we can support them. Access the Arts and Health Wellbeing Report here!
The independent report published by Scotland's National Partnership for Culture in March 2022 features recommendations on the delivery of the Culture Strategy for Scotland and highlights that 'the two years since its publication, just weeks before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, have served to underline even more strongly the importance of culture in the life and wellbeing of the nation.’
News from the Czech Music Council
In cooperation with the Czech Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, the Czech Music Council is providing comments on the general methodology and art / music education for the new concept of the so-called Framework Educational Programs for Primary Schools.
As part of the National Recovery Plan, financed from EU funds for the following period, the Czech Music Council commented on the approved component Development of the Cultural and Creative Sector, the Artist Status Initiative (support for creative learning). This program will open as of June 2022.
Call for International Conference in Prague in November 2022 (keywords: music, brain, advocacy)
In partnership with the Faculty of Education at the Charles University in Prague, the Czech Music Council is preparing an international conference on "The Use of Knowledge about the Complex Impact of Sound and Music an Humans in the Pedagogical Process"
Summary of current research and projects
November 2022 | hybrid format
The conference theme is based on the publication "Porquoi la musique est indispensable pour le cerveaux" (Paris, 2020) and the GLobal Compact's principles on humanness and 'huamn development, well-being and health. The call for participation covers sub-topics:
How music develops brain functions in a harmonious way and thus helps the balanced development of students
How music develops brain functions in a harmonious way and thus helps to prove the learning of other disciplines
How music as a "resonance" helps the mental state of pupils and students (wellbeing)
How music helps to develop attention, emapatics, memory, structural thinking, etc.
We welcome topics and tips on experts who could contribute to the discussion.
Contact: lenka.dohnalova@idu.cz // www.chr-cmc.org
News from The Music Trust Australia
In the recent Australian national election, the 9-year long right wing government was enthusiastically voted out. It was virtuosically incompetent, anti-arts, anti-arts education. The new government is in favour of climate action, women, diplomatic coherence, government integrity. After ten days, it is showing signs of a brain and a more insightful and positive approach to the arts and possibly, to education in the arts and humanities.
The funding of education in Australia is mainly the responsibility of the six state (i.e. provincial) governments, which actually run the government education systems. The national government does not have a management role in these systems but can apply policy pressure backed by money. There are also Catholic school systems and a large number of private schools which get some government funding in addition to their private earning – much too much government funding, in the view of many, especially so given the wealth of many independent schools and the families of their students.
However, most independent schools have very well housed and resourced music programs. By comparison, the government schools’ music education programs are deeply under-funded. Their secondary school music programs are taught by musically trained teachers but primary school music is the responsibility of musically untrained generalist teachers. Many know their limitations and simply ignore music. Probably 80% of government primary schools do not have government-funded music.
The election of a new national government has again raised our hopes for funding of competent music instruction in government primary schools. This is not a story where you can expect a weekly episode but we can report any significant changes and the advocacy, if any, that caused them.
Find out more: https://musictrust.com.au/
Other News from Around the World
Considering Intersectionality: Implications for the Future of Music Education / article from members of the National Association of Music Education (US) - read it here.
Reconfiguring music education for future-making: how? , Abstract, In: Journal of Music Education Research, Pamela Burnard, David G. Hebert, Gwen Moore, 20 May 2022