In the past few days I have been transported back some thirty years. And, as a result, sadly reflected on how little things really change. Let me explain.
Last week one of the regular Guardian columnists, Michele Hanson, wrote a rather tongue in cheek critique of the government’s policies towards the teaching of music in schools (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/sep/24/cant-imagine-michael-gove-dancing?INTCMP=SRCH). Hanson always writes in a humorous manner but invariably makes telling points. As I read her column I nodded in agreement, but since I retired from teaching several years ago could not really comment on the veracity of all of her points. However, she must have touched a nerve for in yesterday’s Guardian no less a personage than our Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove felt it necessary to respond in a letter to the paper (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/sep/28/every-child-can-discover-music). The phrase "Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much" sprang to my mind as I read!
Gove assured Hanson they he and she where “singing from the same hymn sheet”. He went on: “Our National Music Plan gives all young people the opportunity to learn a musical instrument for at least a term, to sing regularly in choirs and vocal groups, and to play in ensembles and perform. It is simply unfair that, for so long, the joy of music was the preserve of those whose parents could afford it. Under this government every child, regardless of background, will have an equal opportunity to discover music as an essential element of a rounded education, and a vital part of life.”
It all sounds wonderful and maybe it is. Maybe I’m being unreasonably cynical but as I read his words I was taken back to a night thirty years ago, which, in its way and coincidentally, had been recalled to my mind by a phone call from Kate, my daughter, on the very evening that I read Hanson's article.
My daughter and family live in Altrincham and our eldest granddaughter, Sophie, is coming to the point where selecting a suitable secondary school for her is a big decision waiting to be addressed. Unfortunately the area's secondary education provision is blighted and skewed by the existence of a number of highly selective secondary schools - both denominational and otherwise - and system of 11+ exams. Although Sophie is a bright lass the future is, because of this selective element, uncertain as to where she will end up when she leaves her primary school in eighteen months time. In short, the educational well being of the majority of youngsters in the Altrincham area is happily sacrificed to satisfy the needs of the minority of academically gifted youngsters. I could bang on about the educational and social immorality of 11+ selection but will leave that for another blog – be warned! But when my daughter rang I was somewhat heartened. The previous evening the family had visited one of the non-selective local secondary schools (Altrincham College of Arts) for an open evening and had enjoyed the event enormously – Sophie coming away keen to sign up for this school. My daughter and husband were also impressed – especially so since the Headteacher was anxious that parents didn’t just believe what he said about the qualities of the school but should visit in the working day to see the school at work, “warts and all” . He had also been clear about the school’s weaknesses as well as its strengths, its expectations of pupils as well as its ambitions as a school - Kate felt it was open and honest and so was understandably relieved that this seemed to offer a good option for Sophie’s secondary education – and, I must, admit, so too were we.
But it all took me back thirty years.
Thirty years ago Pat and I had a similar situation in regard to Kate, Sophie’s mother. At 11 she had a choice of two schools to go to – both comprehensives – RC and WB. Years before WB had been the area’s traditional grammar school – and indeed, even today, almost half a century after it was last a selective grammar school, it still retains a bit of the old kudos. Parents with social aspirations for their children choose WB and say “Oh, my Johnny goes to the grammar school, you know!”
One winter evening Pat and I went to an open evening for prospective new pupils at WB. We sat in the hall with a couple we knew – both teachers (as were Pat and I) – but Paul had moved on, he was now a school inspector for Nottinghamshire. By chance, their daughter, Claire and our Kate were both fairly talented musicians – Claire a violinist and Kate a flautist and subsequently both played in the county’s youth orchestra together so we were both quite interested in the musical opportunities that might be available at the school.
The Headteacher of the time, standing on the stage with the full majesty of his senior staff sitting behind him, all capped and gowned, extolled the virtues of his school. He spoke about its proud heritage as an ex-grammar school and held out the prospect of all children having a future of glittering academic prizes. It was inspiring stuff. And then he came to musical opportunities. “All children” he said “will have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument” – this was Mr Gove thirty years ahead of his time!
Now this was something that, as a teacher in the area, I knew something about – and so did Paul and Helen, our neighbours. Nottinghamshire policy at the time was to “test” all children with a short test of musical ability and potential – the ability to tap out a rhythm, to sing a note in a given scale, to discriminate different sounds etc. Those who showed some musical potential and who "passed” were then given the opportunity to go a little further. That was the “opportunity” – to take a five minute, pre-recorded test and only then, if you passed, could you access the next stage. Indeed, at my own primary school, Ernie Nurse the elderly violin teacher who visited the school each week to give violin lessons to a number of lucky pupils had just resigned and taken early retirement in protest at the system which, he felt, discriminated greatly against those children who had no previous musical background – but who might have benefited from being introduced to the world of music. Ernie knew, as we did, that those who were doing well at “the test” were those children who were already receiving private music instrumental lessons arranged by their parents. For the rest, musical “opportunity” remained a five minute pre-recorded test - quickly taken and soon forgotten. I had no doubts that my own daughter – and Paul’s daughter Claire – would do well at “the test” – they were already learning an instrument, they knew about rhythms, scales, keys and being able to follow a musical sequence – but I could think of many children in my own class at the time for whom this would be all new and as a result they would be disadvantaged.
Don’t get me wrong. As a teacher I was well aware that there was a limit to resources and it simply wasn't practicable for every child to learn an instrument. I still believe this to be the case – the pressure on resources and time, the curriculum, teacher availability and expertise etc. dictates that choices – many of them economic rather than educational - inevitably have to be made. What I was uncomfortable with was the clear “economy with the truth” – there were parents sitting in that hall that night who were clearly thinking – “Great, my Jimmy or Mary will get the chance to learn the trumpet or the cello or the piano – all for free. What a great school.” And I wondered what other little economies with the truth we had been told amongst the grandeur of that school hall with its panelled lists of past prize winners and alumni, house cups and school trophies. Claire’s mother was even more incensed than I. Paul, as a school inspector responsible for the school in which we now sat as parents, had to keep a low profile but Helen had no such inhibitions. At the “Any questions” session she challenged the assertion and asked for clarification of the system of this “music for all”. The answer was fudged and even more economical with the truth but because of Paul's professional position Helen did not pursue it. We all left the meeting unconvinced and feeling that perhaps we had not been treated honestly.
Needless to say Kate (and Claire) went to the other school (RC) – the "bog standard comprehensive". No grammar school tradition there, but there was openness and honesty. We were told clearly there would be a test to access instrumental teaching and that this was backed up by a strong music department which catered for all children. And so it proved – Kate did “pass the test” and was offered the chance to learn the cello, which she took to like a duck to water and still plays cello in a local orchestra. To coin a phrase “we all lived happily ever after.” But, of course, many children who could and should have benefited from a musical opportunity were denied it simply because at the point of the test they were simply not good enough.
To return to my earlier comment about the skewed system of 11+ selection operating in the Altrincham and other such areas - it is a sad indictment of all selection in education that a few lucky souls benefit but very many more do not. It’s the most one sided lottery in the world. If it was being sold at a pound a ticket like the National Lottery no one would buy – so long are the chances for most to succeed! But for many areas of our country - Altrincham and Kent for example - the electorate still seem to tolerate or even want it. They support a system that potentially disadvantages their own children if their child is not "good enough" to "pass the test" – it's like turkeys voting for Christmas!
So when Kate rang the other night and was clearly enthusiastic about the school they had found and felt that not only was it “right” for Sophie but that they had been dealt with openly and honestly I was pleased that maybe, just maybe, pockets of educational integrity are still alive and well in some schools and within some far flung outposts of the education system.
But, I wonder, is the wonderful picture painted by Mr Gove in his letter to the Guardian also open and honest. I don’t doubt his sincerity and maybe, like the travelling medicine man of the old American Frontier - peddling his fake elixirs, nostrums and cures to unsuspecting pioneers - he honestly believes in what he is selling. But sadly I fear that the reality is less sincere. I am worried that when he talks of the wonderful musical world on the horizon, his “music modules”, his “music education hubs”, his “Harmony” scheme for the poorest areas, his “National Music Plan” and the rest that perhaps like that Head thirty years ago he is being a bit economical with the truth. It sounds wonderful but will the reality be rather different? I'm much more minded to think that it is yet another educational sound bite – academy status, OFSTED, SATs, learning pathways, directors of learning..........and wait for it..... a new one..........read this week in a letter to my daughter in law from the Headteacher of the small village infant school near Reading which my grandson attends. The school now does not now have a Headteacher......it has an “Executive Headteacher”. Just like ICI or Microsoft or some other global enterprise this little school has an "Executive". Golly gosh, I wish I had reached that pinnacle in my career to be an "Executive" Headteacher, not a common-or-garden Headteacher or Headmaster - how impressive is that! That would have given me some clout - for example,when the two year 6 kids came round each Friday morning to collect the week's staff coffee money they would have scribbled at the side of my name in their little "Bijou" Spelling/Tables book (fresh from Nottinghamshire County Supplies and purloined from the school stock room): "Executive Headteacher: Paid 50p"! What power! I would have felt a real Educational Authority! But then again, perhaps "Executive" headteachers have leather bound coffee money books or even digital records - and maybe they use bone china cups and saucers rather than mugs free from the local garage!
No, it is all words and political mumbo-jumbo posing as educational intellectualism - jargon and manipulation. And, as with all words, the devil is in the detail. I wonder if Mr Gove’s “Music Hubs” and his “musical opportunities for all” really mean what they imply that everything in the educational garden is blossoming. Just like the poor folk and the frontier pioneers were taken in by the smooth talking "Doc Gove and his travelling medical show" and bought his fake brews, so the words will impress the gullible and the those with little knowledge but who simply want the best for their children. The modern day Doc Gove peddles his educational panaceas, cures and elixirs to the unsuspecting and gullible parents of the country, labelling each potion with half truths and wonderful sounding jargon - and each a toxic brew! An “Executive Headteacher” or a “music hub” or an “equal opportunity to discover music as an essential element of a rounded education” or an "academy" rather than a bog standard school is clearly, in the immortal words of Sellars and Yeatman, "a good thing". But I wonder what they all mean, are they actually better, are they honest, are they what they say “on the tin”.......or are they just jargon, a dubious bit of merchandising - the educational equivalent of the double glazing salesman with his foot in your door - his promises easily uttered and soon forgotten as you sign on the dotted line. Half promises, worthless warranties and unsubstantiated assertions that will mean leaky windows within weeks of fitting - or in music education terms will they be failed and forgotten opportunities and promises that never quite did lead to the Berlin Phil or the Abbey Road Recording Studios or the lifetime of joy annually singing or listening to the Messiah or weeping when one hears the opening bars of Bach's St Matthew Passion or to enjoying a mean saxophone in some smoke filled jazz den! I would love to believe you Mr Gove - that a musical nirvana or paradise is on hand for our nation's youngsters - but I don't somehow see it. What I do see is political double speak, half baked ideas and yet more examples of educational bandwagons and ego trips rather than political and educational integrity. But then, what do I know - I was never an "Executive" Headteacher! Maybe had I reached that status and level of insight I would have been able to recognise the Emperor's new clothes for what they were - grand and of fine cut, made of the finest and richest materials, exquisite shades and hues, skilfully stitched and decorated - in fact all that we would hope for in our education system. As it is, all I see is a naked King Michael of EBaccland shambling along devoid of his clothes, devoid of ideals and aspirations, devoid of ambition for the young of his country.
And, thinking of EBaccland, how, might I venture to ask, does this latest bit of educational jargon and government speak, soon to replace GCSE, fit in with the "rounded education" that King Michael mentions in his letter to the Guardian? EBacc appears not to include music at all! How can that - the omission of music - I wonder, be equated with a “rounded education" - the thought of it would have been bizarre to the ancient Greeks like Plato and Aristotle or to the great educational philosophers of the past few hundred years - Rousseau, Dewy and the rest. For a discussion of terms like "rounded education" is also a debate about the nature, philosophy and ethics of education, a debate clearly not, I conclude, on the educational agenda of any political party in contemporary Britain, and far beyond the interest or understanding of our current underwhelming and philosophically challenged Secretary of State for Education, Doc Gove, peddler of myths, quick fixes and fake remedies - all washed down with an unhealthy measure of half truth and toxic elixirs!
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