New research has revealed that Australian universities have drastically reduced music education training for generalist primary teachers.
The Fading Notes report is a collaboration between The Tony Foundation and music learning expert Dr Anita Collins and reveals that the time and value dedicated to music education within primary teaching degrees is at an all-time low.
The report is based on the views of 36 music lecturers, representing 73 per cent of those delivering primary teaching degrees, combined with analysis of published information from 49 universities.
In the past 14 years, the survey reveals, Australian universities have cut music education training for generalist primary teachers in half, leaving them poorly equipped to meet the requirements of the curriculum.
Quality of music teaching training continues to diminish
In 2009, graduate teachers spent an average of 17 hours in music education training. By the end of 2022, this had fallen to just eight hours. Within the cohort of graduate teachers entering primary schools from the universities surveyed, just four per cent have any specialisation in music education. Finding from the Fading Notes report also showed that only one in five student teachers observe a music class before having to teach one themselves.
Across the country, the amount of hours devoted to music education training varies wildly, with Tasmania and Western Australian universities allocating 12 hours of tuition to musical education – a figure nearly double that of universities in Victoria (6.06) and the ACT (6.5).
Co-author of the report, Dr Anita Collins, is a long-time advocate for the benefits of learning music in improving language learning and literacy for young children and is calling for for the benefits of music education to be recognised by universities, researchers, government, the industry and students.
Currently, an estimated 70 per cent of Australian primary school children don’t have meaningful access to classroom music education. Although many Australian Catholic and independent schools offer more inclusive music education, the majority of public schools across the nation provide just one hour each week to learning music.
