Focus

The materials together constitute a professional development programme for secondary music teachers. They should be used in conjunction with a school’s CPD programme and linked to its self evaluation and improvement plan. They should also be used to support a long-term CPD programme for individual music teachers, addressing both personal and departmental needs.

In order to identify how the materials can best meet the needs of teachers, the first part of the programme is a self-review process, matching teachers’ evaluation of their current practice against the aims of the materials. From this, a route through the materials can be devised that best meets the needs of the individual teacher.

Overall, the principle focus of the materials is on:

• an approach to planned learning for pupils at KS3 based on the development of their musical understanding through a practical engagement with music;
• the development of a range of teaching strategies to support that planned learning.

School improvement

The key messages of the materials sit within the overall teaching and learning principles of the Secondary National Strategy. The Strategy is an important part of the agenda for transforming secondary education. It aims to raise standards and provide schools with support to meet the Government’s targets by:

• improving the quality of teaching and learning;
• promoting inclusion and tackling underperformance so that all pupils make good progress;
• strengthening the whole curriculum so that pupils may improve their learning skills;
• supporting school leaders in their use of the Strategy to bring about whole school improvement.

Along with the rest of the Strategy, the materials are underpinned by a set of teaching and learning principles that apply to all subjects and all projects. These principles are to:

• set high expectations and give every learner confidence they can succeed;
• establish what learners already know and build on it;
• structure and pace the learning experience to make it challenging and enjoyable;
• inspire learning through passion for the subject;
• make individuals active partners in their learning;
• develop social skills and personal qualities.

So while this is a music programme, it is rooted in the principles of school improvement and cross curricular learning. It therefore builds on all the other work of the Secondary Strategy, and in particular the materials Pedagogy and practice: teaching and learning in secondary schools.

Document LG4  43kb provides a pictorial diagram and explanation of this relationship created by one teacher who has used the programme; and Document LG3  126kb lists all the references within the programme to the Pedagogy and practice materials.

SLT role

Part of the Strategy’s publication Leading and coordinating CPD in secondary schools (DfES 0682-2004) explores what senior leaders might do to build capacity for CPD within a school. Listed in Activity Resource LG5 are the main propositions for effective development of CPD, with a suggestion of how senior leaders can implement each proposition within the KS3 music programme.