12th December 2012 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Arts councils and teachers in the UK have recently expressed outrage at the lack of focus on art and music in the new school curriculum. The subjects are no longer compulsory and many schools are dropping the subjects and cutting after schools programmes. In recent years, whilst requests for tutoring in core subjects have gone up, requests for music and instrumental tuition are in decline.
Whilst schools provide computers, books and science equipment for students, they expect them to buy their own musical instruments and pay for lessons in school. Renting a musical instrument can cost up to £200 a year, and is far beyond many parent’s reach. In 2001 the government launched a failed attempt to ensure that primary school children would have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, but the finding was cut after a year, after which time parents were asked to pay for the instruments.
As education cuts continue to bite, parents are focussing more and more on providing home tuition in the core subjects to combat rising class sizes and increasingly competitive university application procedures. This means that the focus has been taken off music, and fewer children than ever have the opportunity to learn an instrument and go on to take A’ level music.