Lack of training hampers infant school music

6th February 2009

Music is the "poor relation" in the infant school curriculum because many primary teachers do not know how to teach it, according to a new study.

A survey of infant teachers in 116 primary schools revealed that many have never been trained to teach the subject. Almost four in ten cannot read music, and some do not even feel confident enough to sing in front of a class of 4-year-olds. Even teachers who play an instrument are often unsure about how to introduce music to young children, says the report, from the Institute of Education, London and sponsored by the EMI Music Sound Foundation (EMI MSF).

Pressures to improve maths and English results also mean that music is being squeezed out of the school day. And so much of the remaining time available for the subject is dedicated to "window dressing" activities such as Christmas concerts that schools often fail to cover the music curriculum for 4 to 7-year-olds (key stage 1).

But even a day of training can dramatically improve teachers' confidence and ability to teach music. The teachers surveyed took part in a training day given by EMI MSF, with topics including helping children to sing, developing a sense of beat and action and movement songs. Ninety-eight per cent of the teachers agreed that the training had improved their music teaching four months later, with pupils enjoying music lessons more and having more positive attitudes towards music.

But the course proved most beneficial to teachers with previous musical experience or training, with others needing further support. Teachers said that they would have valued a follow-up session to reinforce what they had learnt.

However, even if more time was available, music education in England's infant classes would still be uneven. The survey revealed a shortage of musical instruments in many of the schools, with one box of percussion instruments for an entire infant department being the norm.

Most schools had a piano but often there was no one on the teaching staff who could play it. Fewer than one in four of the teachers who took part in the survey played an instrument.

Some children are luckier and have teachers who are expert musicians and give them ample opportunities to sing or play an instrument. However, they are in a minority: many are taught music by teaching assistants while their class teachers prepare lessons or mark work.

"We found the quality of music offered to key stage 1 to be extremely patchy," says Professor Sue Hallam, who led the survey team. "Some of the secondary school heads of music who were involved in this study were shocked when they observed the range in the quality of what is happening in music in their feeder primary schools.

"If the quality of a child's music education depends on whether he or she has a classroom teacher who happens to have some basic musical expertise, this is inequitable."

The study highlights previous research revealing that music has proven benefits for children's personal and social development. Singing helps young children with language development. Learning to play an instrument has demonstrable effects on intelligence, and, when children play music together, teaches them about group working.

But, says the report, music needs to be taught regularly to produce these benefits: "Musical skills need to be reinforced with young children, ideally through a great deal of repetition and every day. However, the pressure to deliver on the core subjects means that teachers find it difficult to incorporate daily musical activity into their classroom routines."

The report calls for further investment in specialist support for classroom music and suggests that one trained infant teacher could pass on the knowledge to their colleagues.

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