Motion 36
Value Music Education
“That this Congress understands the value of music education, and the contribution of those musicians and teachers who deliver it inside and outside school.
“Too often when local authority budgets are under pressure, cuts to music services are considered, putting highly qualified, experienced musicians at risk of unemployment, ensuring that their pay lags behind inflation and sends a message that music education is not valuable.
“Over the last 20 years funding for the Youth Music Initiative (YMI) has fallen from £10m to £9m, and over the same period the MU freelance teaching rate has doubled. This means that less work can be delivered through YMI, which plays a crucial role not only providing high quality musical experiences to children and young people, but also supporting the grassroots music ecology by providing regular, fairly paid work to musicians with portfolio careers.
“Congress understands that access to music making in school impacts positively on school learning outcomes overall. Learning a musical instrument and experiencing high quality participatory music making should be available to all school students in Scotland, not depending on the local council area where they happen to live and not to be the preserve of those who can afford to pay for it.
“Congress calls on the STUC to:
- lobby Government to properly fund music education and ensure that funding delivered through the Scottish Government and councils rises in line with inflation;
- lobby Government to ensure that YMI is a targeted beneficiary of the £100m promised by ScotGov and that YMI funding is returned to the real terms level it enjoyed in 2003;
- lobby Government to recognise the particular challenges in rural communities where travel costs between schools are higher; and
- stand with the Musicians’ Union where jobs and careers are threatened by cuts to music services.”
Mover: Musicians’ Union
RSS