Music Teacher Training in Wales

I. Background / Organisation

There are separate Music teacher training courses in Wales for those teaching in primary schools (children aged 4-11 years of age) and secondary schools (children aged 11-18). Trainee secondary teachers will be trained to teach either the 11-16 or 11-18 age range depending on their qualifications. For both age ranges, the most common way of qualifying is to study for a Bachelor degree for 3 years and then complete a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) one year teacher training course. However, there are some 3 year undergraduate courses that can lead to QTS, such as the Bachelor secondary education: Music course at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff and primary education courses at Trinity College Carmarthen and the University of Wales, Newport.

Postgraduate teacher training courses consist of taught programmes at the institution and teaching placements in at least two “partnership schools” where trainees have block periods of time termed “teaching practice”. Secondary teaching training courses must include a minimum of 24 weeks in schools, those for primary teacher training, 18 weeks. All lead towards Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) which must be gained to teach in a state school; increasingly non-state schools (public schools) are also requiring this qualification. There is mutual recognition of QTS between Wales and England.

Training providers in Wales award an academic Professional Graduate and/or Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) qualification with the award of QTS. The Professional Graduate Certificate in Education is the same level academically as the final year of an honours degree course (H level). The Postgraduate Certificate in Education contains some credits at Master’s degree level (M level credits) and H level credits. The number of M level credits in postgraduate awards varies significantly from one training provider to another. Many providers will give the opportunity to study for the additional M level credits required to obtain a full Master’s level qualification after the student has completed their PGCE course. Course provision also differs from one training provider to another: some providers only offer professional graduate or postgraduate courses and others offer courses at both levels. Training providers that award both a Professional and Postgraduate Certificate in Education recruit differently. Other training providers will recruit for one course and then decide whether the student should follow the professional or postgraduate route based on their initial performance. Providers can award professional and postgraduate qualifications by assessing the same course at two different levels or by setting more challenging assignments for the postgraduate award.

Another route into teaching is the employment-based route which was introduced in the 1990s to meet individual needs and to enable prospective teachers to qualify whilst working. Prior to 2007, there were two main types of employment-based routes: the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) and the Registered Teacher Programme. The latter, two year, course for students over the age of 24 enabled non-graduates with at least two years experience of higher education to complete their degree and qualify as a teacher at the same time. This is no longer offered. However, the GTP route still exists. Candidates for the GTP must be at least 24 years old and have a degree. They will train in a school for about a year, although this can be shorter depending on any prior experience they have in teaching. It is possible to train in any Welsh maintained (state) school as long as the school is prepared to employ an unqualified teacher. The school pays an unqualified or qualified teacher’s salary, depending on responsibilities and experience and the TDA pays the school up to £ 14,000 and a training grant to help meet employment costs. QTS gained via an employment-based training scheme it is recognised in England as well as Wales.

Specialist music teachers are rare in primary education. General teachers receive minimal music instruction as part of their general teacher training. Specific music modules are added to the general curriculum for some courses but this is not always the case.

The ability to speak Welsh is not a requirement for courses in Wales although it is possible to follow courses either in English or Welsh. The University of Wales, Bangor and Trinity College Carmarthen offer their primary degree schemes through the medium of Welsh as well as English; and Bangor University offers the PGCE music secondary teacher training course in both medium. The concern to promote the use of Welsh in schools has led to a “Welsh medium incentive scheme” which is aimed at trainees who enrol on Welsh-medium secondary PGCE courses; it provides financial and linguistic support to students who need additional confidence and competence training to help them teach their subject through the medium of Welsh.

Teacher training courses are inspected by Estyn, the office of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales, which is funded by the National Assembly of Wales, though it is independent from it.

The following sections describe the training route for a secondary school music teacher following the 3+1 route: completing an undergraduate study and then the one year teacher training course (PGCE).

II. Curriculum

Undergraduate Studies

Most entrants to PGCE music courses come from university courses although some have trained in the Welsh music conservatoire, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

The conservatoire offers a broader range of opportunities through studies in voice and opera, strings, woodwind, brass, percussion (including jazz percussion), keyboard, harp, guitar, composition, creative music technology, historical performance and jazz (with principal study options including saxophone, voice, trumpet, flute, guitar, piano, bass, drum-kit, and other instruments by negotiation). Applications to conservatoire courses are made through the conservatoires admissions services whereas applications to undergraduate courses are via the Graduate Teacher Training Registry (GTTR).

There are currently eight Welsh Universities which offer undergraduate Bachelor courses which include music; the courses are so different in their focus and design that it is impossible to present a picture of the main curriculum areas. All are listed below with links to the websites where one can see the make up of the curriculum for each course:

· Bangor University offers 17 courses in: Creative Studies and Music, Cymraeg/Music, English and Music, History and Music,LLen Gymraeg a Llen y Cyfryngau a Cherdd, Media Studies and Music, Music (2 courses), Music and Creative Writing, Music and Film Studies, Music and History & Welsh History, Music/French, Music/German, Music/Italian, Music/Spanish, Religious Studies/Music, Welsh History and Music.

· Cardiff University offers 16 courses in: Cultural Criticism/Music, Education/Music, English Literature/Music, French/Music (4 Years), German/Music (4 Years), Italian/Music (4 years), History/Music , Mathematics/Music, Music (2 courses), Music/Philosophy, Music/Religious Studies, Music/Social Philosophy & Applied Ethics, Music Sociology, Music/Welsh Physics and Music.

· The University of Wales Institute, Cardiff offers Music Production and Technology, as well as the 2-year Bachelor Secondary Education Music course mentioned previously.

· The University of Glamorgan, Cardiff and Pontypridd offers 15 courses in: Cerddoriaeth Boblogaidd - Cwrs Dwyieithog, Creative industries (Music Technology) (2-year course leading to foundation degree), Drama and Popular Music (2 courses), English Studies and Popular Music, Film Studies and Popular Music, Film Studies with Popular Music, Media Production and Popular Music, Media Production with Popular Music, Music Technology (3 or 4-year course), Popular Music, Popular Music with Drama, Popular Music with Film Studies, Popular Music with Media Production and Technoleg Cerddoriaeth - Cwrs Dwyieithog.

· The University of Wales, Newport offers Creative Sound and Music (2 courses)

· Glyndwr University, Wrexham offers Studio Recording and Performance Technology.

· Swansea Metropolitan University offers Music Technology.

· Trinity College, Carmarthen offers 2 courses: Cerdd a’r Cyfrngau, Cerddoriaeth Broffesiynol.

Curriculum: PGCE

There are currently four music PGCE secondary level teacher training courses in Wales, offered at two institutions: a Music only teacher training course at The University of Wales Institute, Cardiff and three at Bangor University. The single subject programme is a Music bilingual teacher training course. Music can also be taken as a joint main course with the Outdoor Activities teacher training course. The latter is also available bilingually.

There is no prescribed curriculum for teacher training courses although providers must ensure that trainees are supported in achieving all the standards set out in DELLS Information Document No 21-06 which are required before they can be recommended for qualified teacher status (QTS). The current standards are grouped together under the following main headings:

S1. Professional values and practice

S2. Knowledge and understanding

S3. Teaching:

S3.1. Planning, expectations and targets

S3.2. Monitoring and assessment

S3.3. Teaching and class management

This competence-based curriculum allows a PGCE training institution flexibility in how they organise their training provision. As long as each trainee spends 24 weeks in at least 2 schools, the university can organise the timing and length of each, as they choose.

Since most students arrive at PGCE courses with very limited or no knowledge of and experience in education, the main focus of the studies is on pedagogy, although the requirement of subject competence means that weaknesses in subject knowledge and skills must be addressed. Due, both to the increasingly culturally diverse population and to the musically pluralist nature of society, courses include input on a range of musical traditions. Amongst the most commonly found are gamelan; samba; bhangra and West African drumming traditions. It is still the case that the majority of those choosing to train as music teachers come from a western classical music background.

At Bangor University, a dissertation module, one of three modules within the course, is offered at Master’s level. The module provides an opportunity to research a school, curriculum or education based topic which is of interest. Trainees who successfully complete this module at Master’s level gain 30 credits towards a full Master’s degree (which requires 180 credits). The course at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, is a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and all assignments gain credits at Master’s degree level.

III. Learning and Teaching Approaches

Undergraduate Studies

A wide variety of learning and teaching approaches are used and again these vary from course to course, depending on the nature and focus of each. Since the majority of courses are very practically based, the use of workshops and peer-led group exercises is widespread.

PGCE

Within university PGCE programmes, there is usually a mixture of lectures, smaller group seminars and workshops and individual work and trainees are prepared for their teaching in school through use of micro-teaching. In most institutions, students are expected to develop the subject skills and knowledge they identify as weak through personal study.

The lengthy periods of teaching in schools allow concentrated time, with the support of school teachers, for the development of practical aspects of teaching. Inevitably, subject skills development also occurs within the school situation, such as the development of conducting skills.

In the last decade, to keep abreast of curriculum changes in schools, technological skills – both generic and music specific – are seen as essential skills for all classroom music teachers and students are supported, either through university-based workshops or through work in schools to develop skills in sequencing, multi-track recording and score-writing using Sibelius and to develop knowledge and understanding of the pedagogy surrounding the use of music technology in the classroom. Indeed, two of the QTS specify ICT skills acquisition:

S2.5 They know how to use ICT effectively, both to teach their subject and to support their wider professional development;

S3.3.10 They use ICT effectively in their teaching.

IV. Assessment / Examination

Undergraduate Studies

These vary according to the focus and nature of the course even in relation to entry requirements. The majority of courses designate a certain number of credits to each course rather than expressing weighting in terms of ECTS.

PGCE

Entrants to Initial Teacher Training courses must have the capability to meet the required QTS Standards by the end of their course and must possess the appropriate personal and intellectual qualities to be teachers. Most often students must hold a first (Bachelor’s) degree, preferably in music, but they can enter the course with another degree provided that they demonstrate strong musical skills. All prospective secondary school teachers, whatever subject they wish to teach, must also have at least a ‘C’ grade at General Certificate in Education (GCSE) in English and mathematics. Primary students must also have science at this level. Training providers will also check that students have met the National Assembly for Wales’s requirements for health and physical capacity to teach and applicants must disclose previous criminal convictions and undergo a criminal record check. Selection procedures vary from course to course but always include an interview to determine suitability for teaching.

During the course, a system of continuous assessment is employed. Students must satisfy their assessors in practical teaching. There are coursework assignments that have to be completed but there are no written examinations. Assignment requirements and assessment tools vary from institution to institution and some courses offer some student choice. Courses which certify at Master’s level can decide on how many credits to allocate to PGCE assignments. These are generally worth 20 credits (a full Masters requires the attainment of 180 credits). To be awarded Qualified Teacher Status trainee teachers must demonstrate that they have achieved the statutory standards specified in the DELLS Information Document No. 21-06 “Becoming a Qualified Teacher” and its supplementary guidelines. The student is then known as a Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) and they must pass the first year of full-time teaching in a school - by continuing to demonstrate all the Qualified Teacher Status standards - before they become completely qualified. During this year, senior managers in their school support and map their progress.

V. Current and Future Challenges

1) Perhaps the main challenge for teacher educators of music is the wide range of music degree courses from which the prospective teacher trainees graduate. Trainees arrive at a teacher training course with very varied music skills and also different gaps in their subject knowledge and skills. For example, one trainee might complete their undergraduate degree in classical music, another in popular music and another in music technology. Those involved in technology-based courses – and even those on more ‘traditional’ courses - may not have developed key skills required for work in schools, including instrumental and vocal performance and conducting, aural and harmony. Even students completing the same type of undergraduate degree will not have covered the same areas of study owing to the large amount of choice that is offered on most undergraduate courses and their modular nature. This sets up difficulties for both the teacher educators and for the trainee music students themselves. Those leading a teacher training course may be aware of their students’ individual areas of weakness but in what is already a very short, intense course there is limited time to address these divers needs in organised tutor-led sessions. The difficulty for the students is finding the time to further develop their areas of weakness further when the course is already very demanding in terms of teaching and written – often Master’s level – assignments. Indeed, many educators and students feel that 38 weeks is a very short time to develop teaching skills, even when trainees have a high level of competence in relation to subject skills and knowledge.

2) At the outset of their music degrees, most students may be completely unaware of the musical requirements for entering a PGCE course. As such, for most, it is only in the last year of their degree when they apply for a teacher training course, that they become aware of their gaps in knowledge and skills – and this is rather late for skills – such as aural – which require development over a long period of time. Many educators believe there is a need for undergraduate course to clarify the requirements of teacher training at the very beginning of the first year, to enable students who know they want to enter the teacher profession to be informed of “important” modules to cover during their music course.

3) In those institutions where only Master’s certification is possible there is a challenge for music teacher educators in creating appropriate assignments. On the one hand, these assignments should focus on supporting the development of the practising teacher, yet being certificated at Master’s level there is a requirement that literary skills are strong; the combination of strong musician skills and competence in written expression is not always found in good music teachers. As such, there is a real likelihood that, with the introduction of the Master’s accreditation, students who are excellent musicians and teachers might still fail their teacher training course on the basis of weak written assignments.

4) Owing to the very small amount of time allocated to the development of musical and music pedagogical skills in generalist primary school teacher training courses, many primary school teachers lack the expertise and/or the confidence to teach music well.

5) The increasingly diverse nature of the curriculum for music and the emphasis on informal and non formal modes of learning demand that teachers are able to act as a resource and mediator or coordinator of children’s music learning. Training courses need to incorporate this by enabling trainees to have experiences in out of school music learning contexts. This may challenge the structures and modes of assessment that are currently in place.

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