A quality music education should not be the preserve of the rich

As Principal of the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) and Chair of Conservatoires UK, I welcome the new Labour government’s plans to prioritise performing arts provision in state schools and support children to study a creative or vocational subject until they are 16.

The RNCM is one of the world’s leading and most progressive conservatoires – proud to be elite, but very far from being elitist – and so we applaud Keir Starmer’s stated mission “to ensure all children are supported to be creative and reap the practical, emotional, and social benefits that come with it.”

The emergency facing us, though, is more urgent than what is happening in the workplace. The RNCM currently teaches over 900 students from 60 different countries and, just 10 years ago, around 65 percent of our students were from the state school sector. Like other conservatoires, we have seen this number noticeably decline in recent years.

A Times article published in May levelled criticism for this at conservatoires, but we cannot be held accountable for the continuing underinvestment in music education in state schools that has persistently eroded the pool of home applicants from which we are able to draw.

An impact on the pipeline

It is not entirely clear whether Labour can reverse what it calls the “Conservatives’ creativity crisis” with its planned changes to the VAT rules, either. As of 1 January 2025, private schools will have little alternative than to increase their fees to mitigate the 20 percent additional VAT liability they will face.

These include the UK’s world-renowned specialist music and dance schools, where a majority of students are in receipt of capped Music and Dance Scheme bursaries – so not children from wealthy backgrounds able to pay additional fees. These students are critical to sustaining the pipeline of diverse talent in the UK conservatoire sector and we would argue that they need some form of exemption. Smaller independent schools which currently offer music scholarships to talented children otherwise unable to afford to attend may well also be unable to sustain these schemes for much longer.

As an institution, the RNCM has always been committed to removing the barriers – actual and perceived – that any young person may face in accessing a quality music education. Our award-winning RNCM Engage programme reaches many thousands of school age children each year, offering them inspiring music-making opportunities at all stages of their development. This includes our introductory Young Explorers days, an annual children’s opera, instrument-specific youth projects, a Young Artists initiative for aspiring popular music performers, an individualised pathfinder programme, and the activities now running under the umbrella of RNCM Engage Cumbria. We also have a Junior RNCM, which alone welcomes 200 talented young musicians from across the north of England to the college every Saturday. Most of these activities are free at the point of access, or offer generous bursary support to those enrolled.

Widening participation

The criteria for anyone wishing to apply for entry to our undergraduate programmes of study – in classical and popular music – are ability and potential, determined via a rigorous live audition process and grades and not where an applicant comes from. A contextual approach to auditions, with targeted support to mitigate the costs of attending where needed, ensure that no applicant is disadvantaged due to their background.

Many of those who come to study with us are in receipt of scholarships and means-tested bursaries to support them through their studies, helping with tuition fees and living costs. We genuinely believe that a diverse student population in which everyone belongs and is respected enriches the experience for all those in our community. This is central to our culture and values and one of the key factors that makes the RNCM such a special and inclusive place to study.

Sadly, whatever we do, the playing field will never be levelled unless there is a real and renewed commitment to providing adequate and sustainable funding for music education in our state schools and across England’s music education hubs, which complement work done in the classroom.

In parallel with this goes a commitment to attract, train and retain the specialist teaching workforce required to deliver the government’s ambitions. Without this, many deserving young people will never have the opportunity to realise their musical talent, or to experience the sheer joy of participating in music. While our investment in pre-tertiary music education is significant, this is not our core business, and our resources are finite. We are, therefore, heavily reliant on fundraising to support this essential work. There is no way we can compensate for inadequate funding and provision for music education in state schools and music education hubs.

The effect of government rhetoric

The RNCM is fortunate to fill all of its undergraduate places upfront, but we are still one of many conservatoires in the UK that is experiencing a steady decline in applications from home students. We are all concerned that the situation will only worsen over time as the obstacles to entry become ever greater, not just amongst harder to reach socioeconomic groups, but also in the diverse communities we are actively trying to reach.

A very worrying rhetoric has emerged that it would be cheaper to eliminate music from schools completely, leaving young people to study it as if it were a hobby in their own time. This is accompanied by the equally concerning perception that conservatoires and professional performing organisations can do this work better than schools and offer greater value for money to the taxpayer – a very slippery slope, and clearly not the case.

We punch well above our weight, but we cannot be expected to compensate for the former government’s indifference to the performing arts and its lack of willingness to recognise that it is the right of every child to have music in their life – nor the unintended consequences of well-intentioned policies from the Labour government.

It all starts at school

The most important intervention to address inadequate access to a quality music education would be to reform the national curriculum so that all children (irrespective of the type of school they attend) have the opportunity to study music as an academic subject in its own right – at school and in complementary music education hubs, led by inspiring specialist teachers. Conservatoires and professional performing organisations can then step in to enrich this work in a targeted and meaningful way.

The one place all children are meant to be is at school, and this may well be the only place where many are exposed to music. Our role as conservatoires is to collaborate with others to support progression so that further study at a conservatoire is something to which all of those with ability and potential can aspire. When they gain a place to study with us, our job is to ensure we continue to provide an outstanding, relevant, and nurturing education and training experience in an environment where students can flourish as individuals and secure successful and fulfilling careers on graduation.

Of course, excellent music education for all will only be feasible if there is a sustainable pipeline of highly trained, dedicated, and inspiring specialist teachers. There has been a substantial ongoing reduction in PGCE places since 2011, with the Department for Education’s accreditation review in 2022 resulting in a number of PGCE programmes closing.

Thousands of training places have consequently been lost at prestigious UK universities that have been producing world-class teachers for decades. Whilst we are fortunate at the RNCM to co-deliver an award-winning, long-established specialist PGCE programme, and to have recently launched an innovative new Master of Education, we are simply unable to train the number of specialist teachers we would wish to – let alone the numbers the sector desperately needs.

The lifelong impact of music

So, why does all of this matter? Extensive studies have repeatedly shown that studying music has a life-changing impact on young people’s educational attainment, health and wellbeing, and future prospects. Our students are powerful exemplars of this, possessing a blend of specialist, applied and transferable skills that are seen as significant attributes by any employer, especially in the growing creative, digital, and AI sectors that will be key drivers of future economic growth.

We see just how transferable these skills are in the range of fields that our students move into following graduation. Many will, of course, go on to work as leading musicians, but their impact can be seen in education, the community, in healthcare settings, the charitable sector, broadcast media, and much more. Contrary to what might be perceived, the UK’s world-leading conservatoires have exceptional graduate employment statistics – compelling evidence of the transformational impact a high-quality music education can have on the future lives and prospects of those who study with us.

Music – the experience of it, as a learner or a listener – brings joy and lifelong fulfilment. Now more than ever, we need to champion and be proud of our world-renowned arts and culture sector. Sadly, we are constantly being undermined in this effort. Former education secretary Gavin Williamson said the decision to fund STEM subjects at a significantly higher level than the performing and creative arts would establish “a much stronger alignment with the economic and societal needs of the nation.”

This is clearly at odds with the data, which demonstrates the significant economic impact our industries continue to make to GDP and the positive impact of music on society – not to mention a reductive assessment of the motivations behind our educational choices.

Ultimately, gaps in pre-tertiary music education, steep funding disparities, continuing cuts to higher education funding, and a lack of specialist teachers may make the idea that music is just for the privileged few a self-fulfilling prophecy.