Assessing the impact of neo-liberal educational policy on local authority music services 1988-2011

Local authority music services have held a central place in our music education landscape for many decades. Nonetheless, this provision has always been a non-statutory responsibility and local levels of opportunity have varied in response to prevailing economic and political climates, along with broader developments in educational policy. Throughout music services’ existence, concerns have been raised that some groups of pupils have been less able to access and sustain engagement with the instrumental tuition on offer. Historically, for instance, primary learners were less able to participate due to a focus on older pupils.

This paper will explore the impact of two key policies enacted during the 1990s. Both were part of broader educational agendas regarded as strongly ‘neo-liberal’. The ramifications of both are still highly pertinent today. Firstly, the 1988 Education Reform Act led to extensive rationalisation and reorganisation: 'Local Management for Schools' and the granting of permission to charge for non-statutory activities meant that music services had to adapt to a newly-marketised operating context. Whilst evidence suggests that some services were able to extend their reach to greater numbers of schools and more diverse groups (particularly primary pupils), others were deemed ‘economically unviable’ and closed. Further services reduced provision or introduced higher charges to parents.

Subsequently, as part of its wider educational and cultural policy agenda the New Labour Government introduced the ‘Music Standards Fund’ from January 1999. The intention was to ‘protect and expand’ remaining music service provision. My research suggests that in some ways, and in some places, music services were successful in applying the fund to address some long-standing hidden barriers to participation. Yet whilst the numbers of pupils participating increased overall, largely due to a mass-engagement scheme for Key Stage 2 pupils (‘Wider Opportunities’), other persistent inequities in young people’s opportunities to access and sustain engagement with this provision remained.

This paper will consider what lessons might be learned from the implementation of both policies in the contemporary era of ‘Music Education Hubs’ – the successor organisations to local authority music services.