Creativity is at the core of the new KS3 music curriculum, along with more autonomy and flexibility for schools in the way they teach.
These are some of the changes in the revised national curriculum for September 2008. The new curriculum is largely similar to the old one, reinforcing the importance of active performance, composing, and listening with an integrated approach, but there are some interesting additions.
Creativity is now one of the five key concepts at KS3. "You will find the word creativity in the old curriculum but you've got to look really hard," says Dr Jonathan Savage, a senior music education lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University who has critiqued the curriculum. "But now it's right there as a key concept, and teachers are charged with making the curriculum as creative as possible."
Other changes include a greater emphasis on the use of music technology, for performance as well as composition, and the requirement for children to be able to access music inside and outside of the classroom.
The curriculum explicitly states that children should have the opportunity to work with a range of musicians in the classroom, whether that's amateur or professional musicians, community musicians, instrumental teachers or even talented parents.
"Many teachers already do this, but now it's part of the statutory requirement," notes Jonathan. "Pupils need to be hearing live music in the classroom. That's a nice new focus I think."
The new curriculum formally recognises ideas the Music Manifesto has long promoted, saying that: 'positive interaction with music can develop pupils' competence as learners and increase their self-esteem' and that 'music can influence pupils' development in and out of school by fostering personal development and maturity, creating a sense of achievement and self-worth'.
The changes in the music curriculum come as part of a wider package at KS3. One of the broader themes is giving schools a greater degree of autonomy and a less prescriptive curriculum, which enables teachers to work to the needs of their students. This also gives room to reconsider the role of the teacher - as in the Musical Futures model of teaching for example, where the teacher's role is more of a facilitator.
The importance of cross-curricular working is also emphasised, in collaboration with other teachers and in relation to other subjects. This includes bringing in some of the big cross-curricular themes such as identity and cultural diversity, enterprise, and community participation.
According to Jonathan, feedback from teachers has been largely positive. "I think most music teachers would say this isn't anything new. Good music teachers have never felt prescribed to by the national curriculum," he says.
"Unlike some other subjects, where you're told not only what you've got to teach on a particular day but how you've got to teach it as well, we've got a really privileged place in music. We're told in general what the content of the curriculum should be, we've now got this message that you can tailor it to where your particular pupils' interests are and you can choose from a range of teaching styles and approaches to deliver it. We've got a tremendous freedom and a tremendous opportunity to do some really good work in schools."