Music for One and All? Music Education Policy in Norway and England

Music in our lives: Using the concept of “Bildung” to understand the role of music education policy in England

“…Fourth, there are a range of music agencies and programmes that provide music projects to particular groups of children and young people or in specific localities. Such schemes, however, are not universally available, and are often restricted by time-limited funding (Woddis & Nilsen, 2018, pp. 113–114).…”

“…The goals of the National Plan for Music Education thus include ensuring “consistency” across the country (DfE, 2011b, p. 8), and Music Education Hubs were established to provide broad access to music education across all schools, placing singing at the core of a school’s life, and giving all children free access to weekly instrumental teaching, in a whole class setting. The central importance of free instrumental lessons in the National Plan lies in the recognition that many children would otherwise be unable to afford or encounter such opportunities (Woddis & Nilsen, 2018). The NPME calls this “whole-class ensemble teaching” and states that it should be provided for at least a term (ideally for a whole year).…”