Almost all children in England aged from 11 to 14 years are taught music by a specialist teacher. On the other hand, children aged from 5 to 7 years are nearly always taught music by their class teacher. This paper addresses the issue of how children in the intervening years, that is children aged 7 to 11 years, might best be taught. It focuses on the music teaching in ten primary schools. Of the three most effective schools in the sample, one bases its music curriculum on specialist teaching, and the other two use a system based on class teaching. In the sample as a whole, there is no clear relationship between the teachers' qualifications in music, and the quality of their music teaching.
References
1.
Barnes, L.R., & Shinn-Taylor, C. (1988). Teacher competency and the primary school curriculum: A survey or five schools in north-east England . British Educational Research Journal, 14 (3), 283-295.
2.
Department for Education and Science, (1978 ). Primary education in England: A survey by HM Inspectors of Schools. London: HMSO.
3.
Department for Education and Science, (1985 ). Curriculum matters 4: Music from 5 to 16. London: HMSO.
4.
Department for Education and Science, (1992 ). Music in the National Curriculum (England)London: HMSO.
5.
Department for Education (formerly DES), ( 1995). The National Curriculum (England). London: HMSO.
6.
Jeanneret, N. (1996). A model for developing preservice primary teachers' confidence to teach music. Paper presented at 16th research seminar of the International Society of Music Education, Frascati, July 1996.
7.
Mills, J. (1989). The generalist primary teacher of music: A problem of confidence. British Journal of Music Education. 6 (2), 125-138.
8.
Mills, J. (1994). Music in the National Curriculum: The first year . British Journal of Music Education. 11, 192-196.
9.
Mills, J. (1995a). Primary music inspected. Primary Music Today. 3, 12-13.
10.
Mills, J. (1995b). Primary student teachers as musicians. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 127, 122-135.
11.
Mills, J. (1996). A comparison of the quality of class music teaching in primary and secondary schools in England. Paper presented at 16th research seminar of the International Society for Music Education, Frascati, July 1996.
12.
Office for Standards in Education, (1994). Framework for the inspection of schools. London: HMSO.
13.
Office for Standards in Education, (1995). Music: a review of inspection findings 1993/94. London : HMSO.
14.
Paynter, J. (1993). Foreword to Mills, J. Music in the Primary School . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
15.
Wragg, E.C., Bennett, S.N., & Carre, C.G. (1989). Teachers' worries over the National Curriculum revealed. juniorEducation, 13 (6).
