Classical Music APPG: Meeting on Music Education

As Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Classical Music we held a meeting at Millbank House on 2 July 2025. The meeting chaired by Co Chair Baroness Keeley heard a presentation by Dr Adam Whittaker Associate Professor of Music and Head of Pedagogy at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Dr Anthony Anderson associate Professor in Music Education at Birmingham City University,  “A Vision for the National Centre for Arts and Music Education”, offering proposals for cost-effective and impactful solutions that could be enacted by the new National Centre.

The overview :

1. To ensure a sustained and universal music curriculum;
2. support the availability and uptake of formal music qualifications;
3. invest in high-quality reflective continuing professional development (CPD) for music teachers;
4. address the music teacher recruitment and retention crisis;
5. improve data collection for music education quality and impacts;
6. implement targeted investment schemes to address regional and socioeconomic disparities.

The Report made suggestions for the next steps:

1. To embed a research strand into the centre’s development so it is based on evaluative approaches;
2. Convene discussions between teachers and key cultural stakeholders which is inclusive, to realise untapped artistic value and possibility;
3. Developing robust ways of monitoring returns on investment to enable hubs to make the most of their grant;
4. Think about what can advance the access young people have to music in schools at all levels so that the National Centre for Arts and Music Education does not become a missed opportunity.

A discussion followed of how partners with the Government could share data on Music education and what the National Centre for Arts and Music Education would do to work with the Music Hubs. The next day 3 July 2025 there was a debate on Music Education where it was hoped more information would be provided by the Minister.

Shireland CBSO Academy in Sandwell, neighbouring Walsall and Bloxwich, is leading the way in music education with its collaboration with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. 

(Main photo by Maddy Collins-Cairns)