Musical Futures: A case study investigation Final report from Institute of Education University of London for the Paul Hamlyn Foundation October 2011 Professor Susan Hallam Dr Andrea Creech Dr Hilary McQueen Musical Futures: A case study investigation Contents Executive summary 7 Chapter 1: Background and aims 26 Chapter 2: Methodology 31 Chapter 3: Musical Futures in the case study schools 40 Chapter 4: The music teachers’ perspective 51 Chapter 5: Students’ experiences of Musical Futures 89 Chapter 6: The perceived impact of Musical Futures on the 148 wider school community Chapter 7: Issues for Musical Futures 164 Appendices 167 2 List of Tables, Boxes and Figures Chapter 2: Methodology Table 2.1: Instruments played by music staff 32 Table 2.2 Music Teachers’ experience of working with Musical Futures 33 Table 2.3 Student participants at the three Phases of data collection 34 Table 2.4: Gender and Year Groups of Longitudinal sample 1 35 Table 2.5: Ethnicity of Longitudinal sample 1 35 Table 2.6: Type of music course taken by students in Longitudinal sample 1 35 Table 2.7: Gender and Year Groups of Longitudinal sample 2 36 Table 2.8: Ethnicity of Longitudinal sample 2 36 Table 2.9: Type of music course taken by students in Longitudinal sample 2 36 Table 2.10: Progression to music diplomas and GCSE music 37 Table 2.11 Interviews and focus groups, Phases 2 and 3 39 Chapter 3: Musical Futures in the case study schools Table 3.1: Case study schools 50 Chapter 4: The music teachers’ perspective Table 4.1: Teaching using Musical Futures (Phase 1) 52 Table 4.2: Teaching Musical Futures: School differences 53 Box 4.1: Speed of learning 54 Box 4.2: Whole class and small group work 54 Box 4.3: Engagement of all the students 55 Box 4.4: Use of friendship groups and competition 55 Box 4.5 Use of technology 55 Box 4.6: Minimalism 55 Box 4.7: Giving control to the students 56 Box 4.8: Songwriting 56 Table 4.3: Impact on teaching 71 Table 4.4: School differences in impact on teaching 72 Table 4.5: Perceived impact on students 79 Table 4.6: Differences in perceived impact on students between schools 80 Chapter 5: Students’ experiences of Musical Futures Table 5.1: Instruments played by the student participants 90 Table 5.2: Instruments played – longitudinal samples 91 3 Table 5.3: Group participation 92 Table 5.4: Students’ self rating of their level on their first instruments 93 Table 5.5: Attitudes to learning instruments 94 Table 5.6: Preferred music – Phase 1 96 Table 5.7: Preferred music – Phase 2 97 Table 5.8: Preferred music – changes over time (longitudinal sample 1) 97 Table 5.9: GCSE and BTEC students’ reflections on their musical preferences 98 Box 5.1: Phase 1 student reflections on classical music 99 Table 5.10: Student reflections on classical music, Phases 2 and 3 100 Table 5.11: Benefits of Musical Futures lessons (Phase 1) 101 Table 5.12: Benefits of Musical Futures Lessons: Gender, ability group, socio-economic group and 102 ethnicity differences at Phase 1 Table 5.13: Benefits of Musical Futures Lessons: Differences between schools 103 Table 5.14: Benefits of Musical Futures Lessons: Changes over time 104 Box 5.2: GCSE and BTEC student reflections on independent working in Musical Futures 110 Box 5.3: Issues in group work 112 Table 5.15: Students’ perceptions of their listening skills 116 Table 5.16: Enjoyment and musical self concept (Phase 1) 117 Table 5.17: Enjoyment and musical self concept: Gender, socio-economic and ethnicity differences 118 at Phase 1 Table 5.18: School differences in enjoyment and musical self concept 119 Table 5.19: Changes over time in enjoyment and musical self concept 120 Table 5.20: Interest in Music 121 Table 5.21: The purpose of music 123 Table 5.22: Student perceptions of being musical 124 Box 5.4: Examples of students’ perceptions of progress and need for improvement 128 Table 5.23: Music at Key Stage 4 and relationships with extra-curricular activity (Phase 1) 129 Table 5.24: Gender and ethnicity differences for Music at Key Stage 4 and relationships with extra- 130 curricular activity (Phase 1) Table 5.25: School differences in music at Key Stage 4 and relationships with extra-curricular 130 activity Table 5.26: Changes over time - music at Key Stage 4 and relationships with extra-curricular 131 activity Table 5.27: Attitudes towards Musical Futures Lessons: Changes over time, comparing girls and 132 boys 4 Box 5.5: Reasons for opting for GCSE music 134 Table 5.28: Benefits to other areas of schooling (Phase 1) 136 Table 5.29: School differences in benefits to other areas of schooling 136 Table 5.30: Changes over time in perceived benefits to other areas of schooling 137 Table 5.31: What students reported that they most liked about music lessons 138 (Phase 1) Table 5.32: What students reported that they most liked about music lessons 138 (Phase 2) Table 5.33: What students reported that they most liked about music lessons 139 (longitudinal sample 1) Table 5.34: What I would like to change about music lessons (Phase 1) 141 Table 5.35: What I would like to change about music lessons (Phase 2) 142 Table 5.36: What I would like to change about music lessons (changes over time) 143 Table 5.37: Type of musical activity out of school, amongst students who discontinued school music 143 lessons Table 5.38: Reasons for discontinuing school music lessons 144 Table 5.39: Musical influences on students 145 Chapter 6: The perceived impact of Musical Futures on the wider school community Figure 6.1: Knowledge of Musical Futures amongst non-music staff (Phase 1) 149 Table 6.1: Awareness of Musical Futures amongst non-music staff 149 Table 6.2: Perceived impact of Musical Futures across the school (Phase 1) 150 Table 6.3: School differences in perceptions of impact on students (Phase 1) 150 Table 6.4: Perceived impact of Musical Futures across the school (Phase 2) 151 Table 6.5: Perceived impact of Musical Futures across the school (Phase 3) 152 Table 6.6: Perceived impact of Musical Futures across the school (changes over time) 153 Box 6.1: Themes emerging in interviews with Senior Managers 159 5 I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like music. You can’t not like it. (Musical Futures student) 6 Musical Futures: A case study investigation Executive summary KEY FINDINGS Methods: The research was carried out over a three year period, in seven case study Musical Futures Champion Schools1 based on key questions agreed with the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Musical Futures team. The research methods included questionnaires, individual interviews, focus groups and observations. Students, music staff and members of senior management participated in the research. The first Phase of data collection took place during the academic year 2008/09, with subsequent Phases of field work undertaken during 2009/2010 and 2010/2011. 1. What are the perceived strengths associated with Musical Futures, amongst SMT, staff and students? Key findings: Strengths of Musical Futures related to breadth, inclusivity, interest and motivation, quality of work, critical skills, instrumental skills, progression, professional development and satisfaction. Overall, Musical Futures was found to contribute to: Greater engagement with and take-up of music; Developing a range of skills for learning; Developing performance skills; Supporting the school ethos; A sense of pride with regard to student achievements in music. Teachers reported that Musical Futures: allows for greater emphasis on popular music; introduces new ideas into the classroom; develops interest in many musical genres; produces high quality work; is exhilarating; is inclusive; can work with classes of all sizes; allows teachers to assess the work of individuals more easily; allows for the implementation of formative assessment procedures; includes opportunities for peer assessment; contributes to the development of students’ listening and critical skills; supports the development of instrumental skills amongst students; contributes to enhanced student confidence and self-esteem; 1 Schools where Musical Futures has been adopted and applied in innovative ways: see http://www.musicalfutures.org/ChampionSchools 7 Factors that contributed to the success of Musical Futures were: opportunities for autonomous learning; practical music making (including performance); working in groups and learning from each other; engaging in creative tasks; developing listening skills through working with music students had chosen. 2. What are the perceived challenges associated with Musical Futures, amongst SMT, staff and students? Key findings: Overwhelmingly, there was a positive response to Musical Futures amongst teachers, staff and senior management within the case study Champion Schools. Where there were difficulties these were often related to initial anxieties about Musical Futures that were 2 3 resolved with the support of the Musical Futures resources , CPD , support from senior management and sheer enthusiasm of the students. A persistent challenge found in the case study schools was that ‘Musical Futures’ was frequently interpreted as a proxy for ‘band work’. Despite the fact that an exclusive focus 4 on band work has never been advocated by Musical Futures many teachers, in responding to their students’ interests, focused on band work. While this emphasis on pop and rock bands may have represented an effective response to the principle that Musical Futures should be personalised to meet the individual needs of students in those specific schools, in other contexts a focus on band work may not meet the needs of all students and indeed may exclude some. This is a theme that recurred throughout the research.