Research and resources for parents

Impact of music in schools

In a recent series of articles in Music Education UK magazine, primary and secondary heads told how music had helped with:

Attainment – raising aspirations, confidence, self-esteem and motivations and leading to increases in SAT and GCSE results among music-involved pupils
Personal/social development – helping with listening skills, team work, leadership skills and peer-based learning
Creative thinking – analysis, speculation, evaluation; providing skills and qualities needed for 21st century jobs
Inclusion – engaging vulnerable students, providing role models and a sense of direction and purpose for those not engaged in other forms of learning
Embedding learning and cross-curricular approaches – eg using rhythm to reinforce maths
School culture and marketing of the school – injecting new energy into a school, providing a sense of community and raising or even changing the school’s profile in the community

There’s plenty of research to prove this too:

The power of music – Susan Hallam, Institute of Education (2009). An academically rigorous assessment of evidence from a variety of published research reports
Wow! It’s music next – Bamford & Glinkowski , FMS/DfES (2009). Snapshot study, eight local authorities delivering Wider Opportunities programme at Key Stage 2
Music teaches skills that business leaders need – 32 CEOs interviewed for their music education stories
Case studies of the transformational power of music, Federation of Music Services

Also, various pieces of evidence from specific programmes for example:

Sing Up Programme evaluation 2007-11 Musical Futures – reports by Ofsted and Susan Hallam/Institude of Education
ImagineNation: The case for cultural learning – Cultural Learning Alliance (2011) Key Research Findings: The case for cultural learning “Using only evidence from cohort studies with large sample sizes (12,000+) and research with control groups, the CLA can emphatically say there are instrumental outcomes delivered by cultural learning and these have been grouped into five key research findings.”
Reinvesting in arts education – Winning America’s future through creative schools. President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (2011, U.S) Includes longitudinal data on students ie as pupils and beyond school education
Champions of Change: the impact of the arts on learning – E Fiske, AEP (1999)

Music education in the United States has been under threat for years and various organisations have developed some great resources for advocating music education: