Cooking the Books Is there really a shortage of qualified music teachers, asks Susan Collins? The number of trainee music teachers is on the rise. According to the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), 659 new music teachers are being trained this year, up from 626 last year. However, music (along with seven other subjects) has now been classed as a Secondary Shortage Subject by the Department for Education and Skills and the TDA. So why is there this perceived shortage?

Music has been classed as a Secondary Shortage Subject thanks to some very complicated formulae involving national vacancy figures and the number of teachers recruited, based on a projection of future workforce requirements. However, the shortage hardly constitutes a national emergency: yes, the vacancy rate is double the national average but that's still only 1.4 per cent. But it's enough for the government to have started throwing money at the subject in order to reverse the shortage. Training grants of £9,000 have gone down well with this year's cohort of PGCE students in England (£7,200 in Wales ) and the thought of a £2,500 ‘Golden Hello' (known as a teaching grant in Wales ) at the end of the first successful year of teaching is a nice incentive, even though it is taxable. Even after a year of earning, all teachers are glad of some extra cash for a holiday or replacement car.

However, this clearly isn't enough to entice some musicians into the profession. One reason cited by music graduates is the perception that they will spend all of their time on ‘crowd control' rather than making use of their musical skills. Newspapers are full of eye-catching headlines about the deterioration of behavioural standards in schools. Barely a week goes by without news of problem pupils, lack of discipline and bullying hitting the press.
But is it really that bad? Like all other teachers, music teachers do spend some of their time dealing with poor behaviour but this is eclipsed by the rewarding aspects of the job: the satisfaction gained from seeing pupils perform as an ensemble, mastering their first keyboard piece, or experiencing a ‘light bulb' moment when they finally grasp a difficult musical concept.
Far from abandoning their hard-earned skills as musicians, the best teachers are able to spend the majority of their time helping pupils to make music. Leading extra-curricular choirs, orchestras and bands (unpaid, alas) is one of the most rewarding aspects of music teaching, enabling pupils to gain skills outside the classroom which will remain with them for life, and giving the teacher a chance to interact with pupils on a less formal basis.

Dimitra Kokotsaki, who runs the PGCE in secondary music at Durham University, suggests that potential trainee teachers ‘often feel that secondary age pupils are not particularly interested in music lessons and do not understand the relevance of music teaching'. How can these negative perceptions of music teaching be overcome? To some extent it is already being tackled. The broadening of the curriculum has given teachers the freedom to include pop and rock as a route towards other genres and styles of music. This has sparked interest in the subject in many more pupils. So often at parents' evenings I hear the same refrain: ‘I wish music lessons had been this much fun when I was at school – I might have taken the subject further.' Hopefully, increasing numbers of our current students will want to carry forward the baton of music education, thanks to the inspiring teaching they are receiving at the moment.

But to return to the question: is there really a shortage of music teachers? Some would say not. In certain areas of the country, the scarcity of music jobs is depressing. Nicola Pittaway is one of 15 PGCE music students studying at the University of Wales , Bangor : ‘You hear about this supposed shortage of music teachers and assume it'll be easy to secure a post but it's proving difficult for people on my course, many of whom want to stay in the area. By April, only two jobs had come up in North Wales , with virtually the whole group chasing each position. In this area, the demand simply isn't there.' It seems there is a correlation between proximity to higher education institutions running PGCE courses and competition for jobs. Kokotsaki agrees. ‘I don't feel there is a shortage of secondary music teachers – it sometimes seems that there are not enough jobs available!' Sue Berry, acting head of Manchester Music Service, has little trouble recruiting peripatetic music teachers. ‘ Manchester is a hub for musicians of all genres who are often looking for part-time teaching work. I receive at least two CVs a week.'

But this is not the case in all parts of the country. It will be little surprise to hear that London seems to have the most difficulty filling music posts. Nigel Marshall, a senior lecturer at Roehampton University , says from personal experience that ‘schools are finding it impossible to get music teachers. Down here, we often have jobs which can't be filled – schools are prepared to take on my KS2/3 students before they finish the course and secondary schools take them on even though they have no experience of KS4 and beyond, frequently saying, “We will get you trained – just come!'''. Money must be one of the explanations: even with the London weighting, a teacher's salary falls well short of the real cost of living comfortably in the capital. In Tower Hamlets some schools share a music teacher across a pool of primary schools, a pattern which is being repeated around the country in places such as Norfolk and Lancashire.

It seems to me a basic human right to have the chance to express yourself creatively; a shortage of music teachers denies our children this right. After all, music isn't a subject that should be studied only by the privileged few. Every child is musical to some degree: put on a piece like the William Tell Overture and watch those smiles appear. What other subjects give children the same opportunity to experience the pleasure of performance, the emotion of listening to the classics, or the satisfaction of composing something new?

Every school needs a music teacher, and recruitment difficulties anywhere in the country need to be met with swift action. The word needs to be spread that teaching music is an enjoyable and fulfilling profession – and the financial rewards need to be raised accordingly.

Training & Development Agency - www.tda.gov.uk
Department for Education & Skills - www.dfes.gov.uk
Graduate Teacher Training Registry - www.gttr.ac.uk