Exam results released yesterday have revealed that fewer than 5,000 students in England took A Level Music in 2023 – a decline of 46% since 2010.
Music is not alone. Across the board, in colleges, secondary schools and primary schools, arts education has seen significant declines.
The percentage of children receiving Dance education in England has declined by 45% at both primary and secondary levels. General provision of music education has declined by 36% in primary schools, and 20% in secondary schools.
Other A Levels with fewer than 10,000 enrolments in England include Drama, Spanish, French, German, other Modern Languages, and Classics.
The data shows significant regional disparity. For the academic year 2021–22, many local authorities showed no entrants to A Level Music in state-funded schools and colleges. In that year, there were no music students recorded in Middlesborough, Portsmouth, Barnsley, and South Tyneside. Some, such as Southampton and Hartlepool, show only a single entrant.
There were 109 entrants to A Level Music in the whole of the North East. By contrast, the South East saw more than five times that number.
Even within larger cities, regional disparities appear. In London, there were 494 entrants to A Level Music in state-funded schools and colleges. Yet there were no entrants recorded at all in Waltham Forest, while Hackney and Hounslow both recorded 3 entrants only. Kingston upon Thames, Bromley and Camden each recorded around ten times as many entrants.
These findings were reflected by the 2022 Independent Society of Musicians report Music: A subject in peril? which found that many secondary schools in England were unable to offer music as a subject. In some cities and areas, provision was simply absent.
The ISM’s Chief Executive, Deborah Annetts said that the “drop in uptake of A Level Music since 2010 is truly devastating.” She added: “The evidence is now overwhelming that the government needs to reform accountability measures in England which are marginalising arts subjects in our schools. All students deserve access to high-quality music education.”
These yawning regional disparities cause degradation within music study in Higher Education, and within the music profession itself. HESA has found that arts subjects lag behind other courses in numbers of students from ethnic minorities.
14% of Music students in Higher Education are from ethnic minorities. The figure is similar, 13%, for Drama and Art. This is significantly lower than the UK average of 26% enrolment of ethnic minority students.
The degrading situation of music education can be placed within a context of wider austerity in arts spending. The Campaign for the Arts has found that spending on culture and related services by English local authorities has declined by 50% in real terms since 2010. Wales and Scotland have seen similar declines, of 36% and 33%. The Music Venue Trust also found that between 2007 and 2015, 35% of grassroots music venues have closed.
Even with support from the Culture Recovery Fund, the effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic on arts professions were profound. As a sector, music, performing arts and visual arts saw a 26% decline in numbers of jobs between 2021 and pre-pandemic levels. For young people wishing for a profession in music, the situation across the UK is increasingly bleak.
