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Model curriculum has potential to reverse decline in GCSE music take-up

Art, Drama & Music Extra curricular Resources and projects Legislation and guidance Curriculum
With music up-take declining at GCSE and A level, the DfE’s new Model Music Curriculum for key stages 1, 2, and 3 can help schools to emphasise the practical craft of music-making, says Chris Cobb


We can recall the mis-judged “Fatima” advert last year suggesting that a ballerina should retrain in cyber, so it is pleasing to finally see the Department for Education’s launch of a new curriculum for music in schools reasserting the importance of arts subjects in a broader educational landscape (DfE, 2021).

I am proud that the panel of music experts behind the new curriculum included contributions from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) and delighted of the direction now set-out to provide young musicians with routes for progression.

The new Model Music Curriculum (MMC) has the potential to reverse the recent decline in take-up of music in schools and, in due course, increase the currently miniscule numbers of pupils taking music at A level.

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