Leadership guide – headteacher or governor

Introduction

The KS3 music programme of professional development is a subject-specific element of the Secondary National Strategy’s provision of guidance for schools and teachers. It aims to meet an essential part of the Government’s Music Manifesto which states:

‘Working together we will create a music education system where ongoing, high quality continuing professional development is available to classroom teachers, support staff, LA Music Services and community musicians and delivered locally, regionally or nationally’.

The programme represents the Strategy’s contribution to the delivery of the manifesto by providing professional development materials that align with the Strategy’s underlying principles of teaching and learning. The focus is on improving the quality of teaching and learning, in order to support and lead to improved standards of attainment in KS3 music classrooms for all pupils.

The materials of the programme are based upon those used in the Strategy’s KS3 music pilot. This took place in five local authorities and forty schools during 2005, and the feedback from the participants who rigorously trialled the materials has informed the final versions of the programme.

Evidence of the pilot’s progress and impact was gathered over the course of the year: you can see and hear pupils’ and teachers’ reactions here. The final report was able to state that the overall findings were:

‘Over the course of the year, teaching and learning has improved significantly in pilot classes. Standards as judged by teacher assessments have improved and progress in learning has been quicker and more secure. Teachers have been motivated by their involvement in the pilot and have developed leadership capacity. Pupils have been engaged in musical learning more effectively. Pupils value the pilot approaches highly and music is now a more popular subject.’

You could now:

• learn how the programme meets current national perspectives on music at KS3 by reading more;
• develop your understanding of how Senior Leaders can support the CPD programme by reading more;

• explore further the supporting resources for this unit, including relevant effective practice materials and the archived version of the Leadership guide  378kb from the 2006 DVD.