Wales music education review
Music Services – someone still loves you…
Brilliant blog from Emma Coulthard, Head of Cardiff County and the Vale of Glamorgan Music Service via Music Services – someone still loves you….
Read MoreFacing up to cuts: the first crowd-funded music service in Wales?
This article was first published in Music Teacher magazine, November 2014. Download the article. Anita Holford reports on the state of play for music services in Wales, and how one music service has faced the challenges of local authority cuts head on. Being a music teacher isn’t easy at the moment, but if you’re working…
Read MorePoverty funding and music in Wales
The national newspaper of Wales, the Western Mail, recently reported that Cardiff Council was recommending schools use their Pupil Deprivation Grant (similar to the Pupil Premium in England) to replace bursaries from the music service for music lessons, which are being cut. It reported that the Education Minister, Huw Lewis, would be writing to Cardiff Council to give it…
Read MoreGuest Post: Love in a Cold Climate – re-shaping a Music Service in the age of austerity by Emma Coulthard
As a result of cuts and policy changes, what music services are being asked to deliver, on dwindling funding, has become a challenge. In Wales, where there was no Wider Opps money, no In Harmony and no Youth Music, Cardiff’s music service has had to be particularly creative, and to forge strong alliances with schools…
Read MoreCreative practitioners and communities: raising standards in Wales
What do the words ‘community artist’, ‘artist working in the community’ or ‘artist working in a participatory setting’ mean to you? It’s easier to focus on what they have in common: using their skills/artform to help other people to get actively in involved in the arts. But beyond that, there’s a myriad of different ways…
Read MorePromoting 21st century skills: education in Wales
Great blog by David Price about the different path that’s been taken in policy making and school regulation in Wales. And a striking example of students leading music learning from Willows High School. http://davidpriceblog.posterous.com/hold-the-front-page-if-you-build-a-system-aro
Read MoreApocalypse now for music education in Wales and England?
Music education in many places in Wales is in a dreadful state, and the situation doesn’t seem likely to improve any time soon. The Welsh Assembly Government’s long-awaited music education review was published six months ago now, and yet very little’s happened since. You can read more about this in my article (Music education in…
Read MoreWales: a land with less music?
Amid all the discussion and debate about the review of music education in England, there was also a review here in Wales. It was published, somewhat quietly, by Welsh Assembly Government some months ago – see my previous post, Wales’ music education review. I spoke to two of the people who were behind the original…
Read MoreMy personal wish list for music education in Wales
It’s been three months since the Welsh Assembly Government published their review of music education, and I’m just about to start talking to a few people involved in the sector to get their views. It’ll take me a while to write the article – which will be published in Sounding Board, the community music journal…
Read MoreWales’ music education review – it’s all gone quiet over here
I’m really baffled that no-one’s reporting or blogging about the Welsh Assembly Government’s review of music education. As far as I can see there was no official press release, there have been no reports in the main newspapers in Wales, and I’ve not found anything online except for a few short articles in the TES…
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