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Thanks for downloading this podcast from Teacher – I’m Jo Earp. Music education is an important part of primary school. It’s got a range of benefits, of course, not only for students’ music learning, but for improving their capacity as a learner more broadly, and there are benefits for their wellbeing too. In Episode 101 of The Research Files I’m joined by Dr Rebecca Taylor, a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research. We’re going to be exploring survey data from 2 reports into music teaching and music education in primary schools – they’re all about the ‘what’, ‘when’, and ‘how’ music learning is delivered. Our chat certainly provides some food for thought in terms of what you’re doing in your own practice and maybe the supports that you need; if you’re a school leader, maybe what expertise exists within the staff and what their PD needs are. Okay, here’s our conversation – I hope you enjoy it!
Jo Earp: Dr Rebecca Taylor, thanks very much for joining Teacher for this episode of The Research Files. Now, we're going to be digging into the data from 2 reports, actually, into music teaching and music education in schools. I thought I'd give a bit of an overview before we do that. Music Education: Right from the Start – and that's a national collaborative initiative that's been led by Alberts │ The Tony Foundation – they commissioned ACER to conduct this research. The latest findings are from New South Wales, and those ones were released just last month, but there was also a South Australian report which came out in May 2024. So, before we sort of dig in further, what's the aim of this research and who's been involved in those 2 surveys to date?
Rebecca Taylor: Thanks for that. So, the aim of this study was to better understand the state of music education in public primary schools – with the aim of that to be across Australia to start off with, to inform policy and advocacy efforts to support music education. So, they wanted to look at the key characteristics of public primary school teachers who deliver music learning; the ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘how’ is music learning being delivered in public primary schools, and what are the perceived benefits of music learning in public primary schools.
So, the survey was run as a pilot and first conducted in South Australia, and so it's kind of like a proof of concept there. They used a convenience sample of teachers in public primary schools. And what that kind of means is that a link was sent out in things like newsletters, across social media, other things like that, asking teachers to take part in the survey. So, in SA there's 436 government primary schools (or they were in the year that the survey was run, which was a couple of years ago in South Australia). They had 180 teachers respond, so there was a good spread in that South Australia thing with regards to location, but a lot of those teachers that responded were music specialists or teachers interested in music, just because of the way they sent out that survey link as a convenience sample. So, people who were interested in music are more likely to respond to a survey of that kind of nature.
Learning from the South Australia approach, the Music Education: Right from the Start team – who we worked really closely with on this project and who commissioned the work – got the Department of Education also involved in New South Wales to run it in New South Wales a little bit differently. We were able to draw a sample of 100 schools, with 3 replacement schools that matched those schools; and to represent the over 1,600 public primary schools in New South Wales last year we sampled across school locations (so metro, regional, remote) as well as socioeconomic status (so high, medium, low), just to get a good representation of the type of schools that are in New South Wales. And from there we had 706 teachers respond from 95 schools – and this enabled us to say that the respondents to the survey were generally representative of the New South Wales public primary schools. A little bit different to what happened in South Australia.
The teachers that responded to the New South Wales survey were 86% female, two-thirds of them were permanent full-time teachers, 70% were general K-6 teachers, with 30% having more than 20 years of teaching experience. And I think in terms of face validity, the most interesting thing about the people that were answering the New South Wales survey was that 17% said that they were musical, 46% said they knew a bit about music and had some skills, while more than a third, 36%, said they were not musical at all. So, I think that that helps us position the responses from New South Wales and gives us that really good face validity that we had people that weren't just interested in music and music specialists answering the survey, but a good, broad range, a spread of teachers participating.
JE: So, we'll bear that in mind when we're discussing the results. And as you said there, we're focusing just on primary schools now. And from all of that, there are these 2 reports that give really rich insights into what's happening. And as usual for podcast listeners, I'll pop a link into the transcript – which is at teachermagazine.com. You co-authored the New South Wales report with ACER colleague Dr Daniel Edwards and the South Australian one, again produced by ACER, is co-authored by Rachel Felgate, Toby Carslake and Dr Tanya Vaughan. What kind of topics are covered in the survey?
RT: So, the survey lent on a 2021 paper that was released by Alberts that outlined what a quality music education in primary schools might look like, and it developed questions to determine if and how these might be met in the classroom. Now, the questions that were developed for South Australia were pretty much used in New South Wales, but wording was changed in the New South Wales survey to make it relevant to the New South Wales audience, and some of the response options and a couple of other things were changed.
But the survey focused on 8 key areas. So, we wanted to know what the respondent characteristics and demographics were – so, the who that was answering the survey. We asked questions about school facilities – so, where is music being taught, what type of instruments, and the types of support that was available. There were a lot of questions on Initial Teacher Education, looking at how much music was taught during universities – so, at the time what they found useful, and any other training they've completed since that time. How confident teachers were to teach music and any professional learning that they'd completed since their university degrees. What type of music education was occurring in their school – so, how was music taught at the responding teacher school? How often? Who was teaching the music? Whether it was in the classroom or a specialist music teacher.
A series of questions were asked about the nature of their music teaching – so, that's the type of music that's taught, the activities you used, including whether they were integrating music with other subjects, and the types of assessment they were using. And the perceived benefits of music – so, teachers were asked to say how much they agreed with a series of statements on the perceived benefits of music and music education, and this included some open-ended responses about what the teachers thought that students might see as a perceived benefit to music, parents and the community, the teachers themselves and the principals for the schools. And obviously they were all from the teachers’ perspective. As well as student responsiveness – so, a series of statements are also asking about how responsive students are to music and the types of outcomes they see in parallel with music education.
JE: So, there's a lot that's covered there. Teacher published an infographic on some of the findings from the New South Wales research in relation to professional learning supports. Again, I'll pop a link into the transcript, or you can just head to teachermagazine.com and click on the infographics tab for that. Those findings did highlight an issue with confidence in delivering music education, didn't they? And it's clear that teachers also want a bit more professional learning and support in this area, including that external expertise.
RT: So, let's start with a positive in New South Wales – more than 4 out of 5 teachers that responded were happy to teach all the curriculum subjects, that was 83%, while in South Australia it was 65% of responding teachers. However, when asked to rank all 13 Australian curriculum subjects in New South Wales only 5% of the responding teachers put music as a subject they were most confident to teach, with nearly 7 in 10 putting music into position 8 to 13 of all subjects they were most confident to teach. In South Australia, where it would seem we had a lot more music specialists, or those interested in music, responding, just under a third of all responding teachers put music as a subject they are most confident to teach. It shows how the different samples were drawn and who was answering those things.
So, in order to understand why teachers may or may not be confident, they were asked about professional learning, which is something you just asked about. Obviously, it's one way to support a teacher to feel more confident in their music education or teaching music. In New South Wales, 72% had not accessed professional learning focusing on music during their teaching degrees – so, that's over 7 in 10 teachers. The opposite of those answering from South Australia, where 80% of responding teachers had access to professional learning, so almost opposite numbers. Again, a reminder, we had over 700 responses from teachers in New South Wales coming from [a sampled school], compared to those from South Australia, who were the music specialists.
And again, in New South Wales, more than 4 in 5 teachers said they did not have access to high quality professional learning, and more than 50% of those teachers responding did not know who provided in-school professional development and support for teaching music. And I think for all teachers to want to teach music and be able to teach it confidently, they need the right supports in place, such as good professional development, to allow them to facilitate music in their own classroom. And so, this kind of data can be used to help drive policy and program development, to provide equity in music education to all the students.
JE: So, the New South Wales survey, one of those findings was that 73% of teachers preferred using pre-recorded music lessons over leading their own. Can you take us through some of the findings then on the nature of music teaching?
RT: So, of those teachers responding to the survey in New South Wales, 32% reported teaching music regularly, and of these they used activities like movement and dance, listening to music and singing. We also found in New South Wales that 45% integrate music into other curriculum areas, while in South Australia that was 71% of teachers integrated music into other curriculum areas; 44% of teachers find it easier to teach music when it is linked with other subjects, while in South Australia again that number was higher, 51%; and in New South Wales 42% linked music with other subjects in their teaching (for example, topic work), while in South Australia those numbers again were high with 61% linking music with other subjects in their teaching.
JE: What did the research say – I'm interested because it's across that primary level – what were the findings on how often students were actually being taught music, and did you find any differences there by year level or, you know, indeed across the 2 states?
RT: Yeah, so in New South Wales when teachers were asked about how often music was taught, it was most often reported as occurring for one hour of the day – so, 73% of teachers said that they taught music for one hour of the day; on one day of the week, so, 85% of teachers who were responding said it was only taught [on one day of the week]; and during only one term of the year by 50% of teachers, although a quarter also reported that music was taught during all four terms of the year. In South Australia we had some pretty similar numbers, so like New South Wales most of their music classes lasted up to one hour in South Australia (70% reported that) on one day of the week, again 69% really close to the numbers in New South Wales, while in contrast (and this is where it's a little bit different), more than half of the responding teachers, so 56%, said that music was taught for all 4 terms.
For both South Australia and New South Wales, music was mostly taught across all year levels, although small proportions of teachers in both states identified different combinations of year levels that music was taught in. One thing to note that could lead to improvement in New South Wales, just over a quarter of teachers responding to the survey noted that they built on skills and knowledge developed in previous years – so, only 25% of teachers responding said they built on this music program from previous years. And that's kind of one of the things that definitely came out in the Alberts research that said that was required for a quality music education – this sequential sequence of music, a bit like we do in maths, how we would build on that type of stuff, but that's not what's happening in music, in general.
JE: But it's encouraging to hear that it's certainly taking place across the age groups there and it's taking place regularly. I'm here with ACER Senior Research Fellow, Dr Rebecca Taylor, and we're just starting to build a picture of what's happening in primary music education in New South Wales and South Australia. We're going to add to that picture after the break, when we'll be exploring the different types of programs being offered and some of those teacher views on the benefits of music education for students.
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JE: Welcome back. Dr Rebecca Taylor, as we spoke about before the break then, the research from you and your ACER colleagues has shown that there is a slight issue there with confidence in terms of teachers delivering music education, and definitely a need for professional learning supports as well. I suppose that could be a barrier to delivery, and that would be a real shame because music education has got so many benefits for students, hasn't it?
RT: Yes! I'd like to start with a quote that we received from one teacher about her principal's perception of music education... ‘Our principal deeply values music education. She leads by example, embedding music education in our programs across the year with the highlight being our whole school Musical, which each year has 100% student engagement and participation. Through the leadership of our principal, our staff, students and parent community grow to understand the importance of music education, and through this leadership music education is a constant and valued part of our school culture’.
So, as we spoke about before, in early May we launched the ACER Primary Teachers Survey on music education at Homebush West Public School. They have a fabulous program that's been headed up by their principal of 20 years or so, Estelle Southall. So, in the kindergarten years they come in and they learn the glockenspiel [and boomwhackers] after that they progress through a different instrument each year – so, that includes recorder, strings, other things like that. They've had students enter the school with no English but go on to become fantastic musicians, as music is a universal language.
So, the launch which the Music Education: Right from the Start team organised, saw the New South Wales Minister for the Arts move through Homebush West Public School to the sound of originally drums, being played by a band from the local boys’ high school, they went through then to a recorder ensemble, and then a strings ensemble, both being played by Homebush West Public School students. We then moved to a choir of girls who were singing, from the local girls’ high school. One of the things that was lovely to see, they cleared the stage out and a young autistic boy came up with his music tutor and they had the drums set up on the stage and he played a piece of music that he had composed by himself.
And it was really lovely to see the process of music being celebrated. So, not just the polished product, but also that kind of process and how you know everyone can get to music from different levels; so yeah, not just the glitz and glamour, which was really lovely. But I think the launch showed this pocket of greatness – teachers have been supported at that school to be confident and provide a fabulous music education for their students. The survey results in New South Wales show this is not happening across the board, and this is an area of improvement that can be made to enable all primary school teachers to have confidence and the right support to teach all students music.
JE: It's always really good to hear about excellent practice in schools, and from what you said as well and the initial quote as well, what's coming through to me is the importance of having that leadership there as well, really supporting it and driving it because we know that teachers can do a lot, but they certainly can't do it on their own; you need a strong leadership team that's pushing that as well, so that's good. It's important to point out then that those positive aspects, they're not just happening in those music lessons. As you said, there are other things going on. You've got that wellbeing aspect, but also just the positive impacts on other subject areas, other skills, lots of things going on there isn't there?
RT: Yeah, well we found that 77% of respondents from New South Wales felt music was ‘important’ or ‘very important’ to students’ educational experience. So, that's a really positive thing in itself. And there were a series of questions that we asked the teachers about whether they agreed with a series of statements about other benefits. And we found that nearly all respondents – so, more than 90% – either ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ that music education improved cognitive connectivity and efficiency. And so, what that kind of means is that they were saying that it enhances the way the brain processes and connects information; so, helping the students to think more effectively, make stronger connections between concepts. So that's that cognitive connectivity and efficiency (it's a bit of a tongue twister!).
Ninety-six per cent of teachers responded to say that it decreased stress and anxiety, and I don't think that's that surprising. I've got 3 young boys, and I know at home at dinner time when everything's turning to rubbish, I will often put music on in the background just to calm us all down. So, it's not surprising that that practice of music can also help to decrease stress and anxiety. Ninety-five percent of respondents in New South Wales said it enhanced engagement, wellbeing, personal social learning, again, amazing; 94% agreed that it improved learning capacity. It improves self-regulation, again maybe not surprising; it improves social skills and personal wellbeing; they agreed that economic, cultural and social benefits were valid for the whole community – so now we're not just talking about the students, but the community at large – and that there was increased school status and cohesion.
So, these results were also seen in the South Australia survey. I don't have the numbers for those in front of me, but across the board they loved music education and it's probably not surprising they were agreeing with those statements. But I think it's important to see that music education is just a tool that both students and teachers can use to enhance learning across the curriculum, not just in music education.
JE: People can't see because we're not videoing this one, but we've both got smiles on our faces because I love talking about this kind of thing, because you do think back to, you know, your own experience at school with picking up a different instrument and just having a play. There's that expression there, there's a bit of freedom, a bit of creativity, and all of those skills are transferable to other parts of the curriculum as well. Before we finish, then, I want to take a little bit of time to celebrate the different kinds of programs that are happening. You mentioned a few there at the launch school, but the various ways that teachers and schools in the survey said they were providing opportunities for students to access and engage with music – both in lesson time and also those extra-curricular opportunities as well. What was going on?
RT: So, as you said, a nice way to finish. So, teachers from New South Wales responded that they like to integrate music with dance, drama, media or visual arts – so, more than 50% of the teachers responding said that that was how they integrated music; 41% of teachers who responded in New South Wales said they had choral and vocal music programs; and 37% had instrumental music programs at their school. And so, they're probably, some of them would be within school time and some of those would be external people coming in to teach.
Many teachers reported that they used music in their classroom by facilitating students to respond to music, as I said before, through movement and dance – so, two-thirds of the teachers responding said they used that; they listened to music in class, 66% reported that; they used singing, more than 50% do that – and I think that's a lovely way to think about music within the class is just kids singing in class; 44% play musical instruments; and just under a quarter we're composing music.
And, as I mentioned earlier at the launch, we saw proof in the pudding. All students should have the right to a quality, sequential music education and the data highlighted by the survey on primary teachers in both New South Wales and South Australia on the ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘how’ music is taught can now be used to drive that policy and program development and make sure that all students are getting access to a music education within their own school.
So, you know, we talked about that confidence of teachers and professional learning and providing that to everyone. So, in South Australia at the launch, the Minister [South Australia’s Minister for Education, The Hon. Blair Boyer MP] announced the allocation of $7.5 million [AUD] to expand music education, directing that towards acquiring additional musical instruments, providing extra training, upskilling non-specialist teachers to become music teachers, and improving accessibility to music through dedicated spaces within schools. While at the launch in New South Wales, the Arts Minister [The Hon. John Graham MLC, NSW Minister for the Arts, Music and the Night-time Economy] committed to developing a 10-year music education plan to build on the high-quality offerings in the public education system.
And I know from speaking to the Principal at Homebush West Public School, Estelle, she was really keen to be able to take her program and what had been developed within the local community – so not just at Homebush West but in that whole area – out to other schools and provide that training and the professional learning things so that all schools could have access to that quality, sequential music education.
JE: Yeah, we know that sharing of what you're doing, you know, and sharing your practice and sharing your expertise with others is a great way of supporting colleagues and schools in your local area as well. As I say there, there are 2 reports there – there's one for New South Wales and one for South Australia; so much information in there to look at, so I definitely recommend teachers, and school leaders of course, taking a look at that. I feel like those insights are also a really good prompt as well for just those staffroom conversations with colleagues. So, thinking about your own practice, thinking about your own skills and also your professional learning needs too. And there's probably some great pointers in there about the types of programs that you could offer your students as well. Rebecca, thanks so much for expertly guiding us through that and for joining us on The Research Files.
RT: Thanks so much Jo for having me.
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References
Felgate, R., Carslake, T., & Vaughan, T. (2024). Music Education: Right from the Start – Primary Teachers Survey – South Australia. Australian Council for Educational Research. https://research.acer.edu.au/tll_misc/45/
Taylor, R., & Edwards, D. (2025). Understanding the delivery of music learning in NSW public schools. Primary teachers' survey New South Wales. Alberts. https://research.acer.edu.au/tll_misc/49/
