Curriculum

Undergraduate Studies

Most entrants to PGCE music courses come from university courses although some have trained in the English music conservatoires. Traditionally, students attended conservatoires to concentrate upon their performance skills on ‘conventional’ instruments or using the voice but today, whilst a focus can still be on develop performance skills, there is a broader range of opportunities. The following list identifies the 7 English conservatoires and indicates some of the less ‘traditional’ areas of main study that they now offer:

• Birmingham Conservatoire: Jazz, electric guitar;
• Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London:Jazz, composition, electronic music;
• Leeds College of Music: Jazz, music production;
• The Royal Academy of Music, London;
• Royal College of Music, London;
• Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester: Conducting, composition, popular music;
• Trinity College of Music and Drama, London: Jazz, Indian music (including sitar, tabla, mridangram), musical theatre.

Applications to conservatoire courses are made through the conservatoires admissions services whereas applications to undergraduate courses are via the Graduate Teacher Training Registry (GTTR).

The UK central organisation through which applications are processed for entry to higher education, states that there are currently 1,355 English undergraduate courses which include music; these are so different in their focus and design that it is impossible to present a picture of the main curriculum areas. The following indicate the categories of study: Audio Music Technology, Applied Music, Contemporary Music, Creative Music, Electronic Music, Live, Live Music, Music, Music Acoustics; Music and Audio Technology, Music Education, Music Management, Music Marketing, Music Multimedia, Music Design Technology,  Music Performance Management, Music Production, Music Recording, Music Systems Engineering, Music Teaching, Music Technology Systems, Performance Studies, Popular Music Performance, Popular Music Studies. Other categories follow with links to the website where one can see the make up of the curriculum for each:

• Actor Musician;
• Band Music 2 (Music Broadcasting);
• Commercial Music;
• Creative Music Technology (and Film Studies);
• Digital Music (Digital Music and Computer Games Design);
• Folk Music;
• History of Music (Music with Political Studies);
• Music Composition (Music Composition and Contemporary Practice);
• Music Industry Management (Music and Management Sciences);
• Music Performance (Community Arts/Music)
• Music Studies;
• Music Technology (Music: Creative Music Technology);
• Music Theatre (Performing Arts/Musical Theatre);
• Popular Music;
• World Music (Popular and World Music).

A large percentage of undergraduate courses, whatever the subject focus, are now modular in form. As such, that some music courses offer the opportunity to study an education module, although many do not.
Curriculum: PGCE

There is no prescribed curriculum for teacher training courses although providers must ensure that all trainees attain each of the Qualified Teacher Status standards set by the Government’s Department for Education.

These are organised into three interrelated sections:

• Professional Attributes - these outline the values and attitudes expected by anyone qualifying to become a teacher;
• Professional Knowledge and Understanding – these indicate the requirements of trainees in terms of subject and pedagogical awareness and understanding of how children develop and progress;
• Professional Skills – these outline requirements related to planning, teaching and assessment.

This competence-based curriculum allows a PGCE training institution flexibility in how they organise their training provision. As long as each trainee spends 24 weeks in at least 2 schools, the university can organise the timing and length of each, as they choose.

Since most students arrive at PGCE courses with very limited or no knowledge of and experience in education, the main focus of the studies are on pedagogy, although the requirement of subject competence means that weaknesses in subject knowledge and skills must be addressed. Due, both to the increasingly culturally diverse population and to the musically pluralist nature of society courses include input on a range of musical traditions. Amongst the most commonly found are gamelan; samba; bhangra and West African drumming traditions. It is still the case that the majority of those choosing to train as music teachers come form a western classical music background.

Curriculum

Music teacher training for elementary schools (primary education) and general secondary schools (secondary education I) at teacher training colleges

In general, trainee primary school teachers do not specialise in particular subjects: the teacher teaches every subject. Trainee general secondary school teachers must choose two subjects. The first must be German, mathematics or English. Students are free to choose the second from all the other subjects, including music.

To gain admission to both courses students must have attained the academic standard required for university entrance (the Matura in Austria) or have passed an examination entitling them to study at university. In addition, they must pass an entrance examination (to determine their suitability). Courses last six semesters with a total of 180 ECTS credits being awarded for the completed course. Before they can graduate, students must have written a dissertation for their bachelor’s. Graduates are awarded the title “Bachelor of Education”. A particular feature of courses at teacher training colleges is the high proportion of practical training (see table 2 & fig. 1).