We consider it vital that our children learn the ‘three Rs’at school. Why should we care about music?

International and Australian research shows learning music can make significant differences to children’s abilities. Children who are active music-makers are more likely to have improved maths and language performance, better reasoning capacity and problem-solving skills. Their memory is more likely to improve, as are their social and team skills. Learning music can even help children develop healthy decision-making patterns, for life.

For example, a landmark, long-term study in the US, ‘Champions of Change’, tracked 25,000 high school students over ten years.

It showed that those students with sustained participation in school-based music activities not only performed better academically than their non-musically active peers – regardless of the income status of their families – they were also less likely to use alcohol, drugs or tobacco. They were better able to cooperate with their peers and were more self-directed. The effects were strong for all economic groups, but even stronger for lower income students. At-risk kids were often helped by these programs. Through their musical involvement they tasted success, came back to school, and in many cases began to achieve academic success too.

Read a full account of ‘Champions of Change’ research here.

Most children want to learn music at school (‘Australians’ Attitude to Music,’ 2007), it’s really good for them, but many schools are not able to provide their students anywhere near an adequate music education. Indeed many parents and educators are asking which subjects to drop, to help them meet the challenge of the ‘crowded curriculum’. The answer is: leave music in! And have lots of it!

We don’t have to put forward arguments for literacy and numeracy programs in our schools. We understand as parents and teachers that those subjects are integral to our children’s education. We’d be letting our children down if we weren’t teaching them how to read, write and count. Well, our children deserve an effective music education, too. It’s a life skill that facilitates self-expression, social skills, self-discipline and, often, heart-swelling joy.

Lobby for more music in YOUR school
Get a music program into your school, or improve the one you already have. If you are a parent or a teacher, this kit helps arm you with arguments to strengthen your case. Make music count at your school! The kit is available as a series of PDFs. It can be viewed in 7 separate parts or viewed consecutively using the links embedded in each document. Adobe PDF reader is required to view this kit. To download the kit select from the links below:

What's inside the kit

Why music education is important

Music makes the difference

Your school music program

Talking about music education

Being an advocate for music education

Resources

Music education in Australian schools. What do we know?

Seares Report
The Seares Report: ‘Augmenting the Diminished’ (DEST, 2005) outlines the current state of music education in Australia. It makes many recommendations about stemming the decline in the status and provision of music education in Australia’s schools. Released in November 2005, the report follows a federally-funded national review into school music education during which submissions were sought from the public. There were almost 6000 received, at least 4300 of which were from 'Music. Play for Life' supporters. This was an unprecedented public response to a national enquiry and demonstrates the passionate support in the Australian community for ALL Australian schoolchildren having the opportunity to learn music at school.

Read the National Review's key messages here

National Music Workshop
As part of the Federal government's initial response to the Seares Report, a National Music Workshop was convened in Melbourne, in August 2006. It brought together key people and organisations involved in music education to come up with an action plan for implementing the report's recommendations. Funding for ‘Music. Count Us In’ is one of the federal governments’ early responses to the Workshop recommendations and is aimed at helping to raise the status of music in schools. Like the Seares Report, the National Music Workshop Report recommended that steps be taken to elevate the status of music in schools, as a priority.

Parent groups support more music in schools
"The 6,000 public submissions to the 2005 Review of School Music Education
give a loud, clear message. Parents across Australia are expecting and
demanding music as part of their children's school education! There is
widespread community support for music as an integral part of young people's
development.

ACSSO, the national public school parents' representative body, strongly
supports "Music. Count Us In". This promotes music education as a
continuous, sequential and developmental process, as the National Review
recognised and recommends.

This national initiative to engage and involve parents and families in the
music program in their school - and encourage them to lobby to get one if
none exists - gets our full support."

Terry Aulich
Executive Officer, Australian Council of State Schools Organisations
Find out more about ACSSO here

Music in schools is good for business!
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) recently lent its support to the campaign for more music education in schools. In its ‘Skills for a Nation: A Blueprint for Improving Training and Education Policy 2007 – 2017’ it made fifteen recommendations for improving children’s education in the primary years. Here’s number 11: ‘There should be an opportunity for all students to learn a musical instrument in primary school.’

A Principal's view
One Principal’s insight into the frustrations of a crowded curriculum, a stretched budget and an unsatisfactory music program:

“As the Principal of a smaller primary school, enrolment 250 students, I often think of the Bible story The Loaves and the Fishes. I wish that I had the power to do with my school budget what Jesus did with this bread and marine life. Unfortunately I can’t work miracles and my school budget only stretches so far.

When I conduct enrolment tours for families one of the first questions I am asked is,: “Do you have a music program?” I answer that my class teachers teach singing in their classrooms, that our LOTE specialist incorporates the Creative Arts into her programs and that in Years 3 – 6 we have a user-pays Piano Program and Instrumental Music Program. I also add that my budget does not allow me to have the full range of specialist programs. Parents are usually satisfied with this but I am not.

My teachers are enthusiastic and committed and do their best to provide a comprehensive curriculum that caters for the diverse needs of our students. The one area that we agree needs more emphasis is music. My teachers sing with their students, they occasionally utilise musical instruments in their rooms, they sometimes organise in-visits with a music focus. What they don’t do is teach music in a sequential manner, they don’t teach music literacy and children do not make their own music. My staff tell me they feel inadequate and lack the confidence to do much more than teach songs. They also believe that the core subjects, as well as everything else we have to teach stops them from doing more in the music area…’

Louise is Principal at Mentone Primary in Melbourne. She is the recipient of a Victorian Department of Education High Performing Principal Award. Her area of study is access, equity and provision of a sequential, developmental music program in small to medium sized primary schools, with a focus on participation, engagement, extension and excellence.