It’s true that the Department for Education, via Arts Council England (ACE), funds music education hubs in England (MEHs). In theory the hubs ‘ensure that every child aged 5-18 has the opportunity to learn a musical instrument (other than voice) through whole-class ensemble teaching programmes for ideally a year (but for a minimum of a term) of weekly tuition on the same instrument.’
But in reality, that means just one term of instrumental tuition for every child during 13 years of their schooling in a whole class setting, on an instrument not of the child’s choosing.
Most hubs do provide three terms of tuition, but after that if a child wishes to carry on, parents have to pay. The continuation rate is around 29% which is not bad, but most likely reflects the proportion of parents who understand how great music can be for kids and are able to pay for lessons – and who probably would have done so anyway, regardless of the one to three terms of whole class teaching. Arguably, the children that are missing out are likely to be the ones that need free tuition the most, because their parents cannot afford lessons or don’t want to pay for them.
The government response is technically correct, but what its funding provides is just not enough.
