This article considers the impact that the Swanwick-Tillman spiral article (Swanwick & Tillman, 1986) has had on contemporary thinking in music education in England. Building on a discussion concerning the antecedents of the notion of a spiral, the ways in which a generalist music curriculum can be planned and organised are discussed. Drawing…

This article, written at the time it was taking place, discusses the effects that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on music education in schools, focusing on the UK. It discusses how schools and teachers have had to make a sudden shift to a largely on-line modality, and the effects of these on teaching and learning in music. It asks questions of…

The Whole Class Ensemble Tuition (WCET) is a model of teaching and learning music which takes place in many English primary schools. It is a relative newcomer to music pedagogy in the primary school. In the groundbreaking study reported in this paper, two new models of teaching and learning music are proposed. These are (a) "Music education…

The whole class ensemble tuition (WCET) programme in English schools is a somewhat singular and relatively recent arrival onto the teaching and learning scene. It arose from a remark made by an English politician and has grown from there into becoming a regular feature in the music education landscape in primary schools. It has elements which will…

This paper explores secondary school music teachers' current practice with regard to the organisation and assessment of composing at Key Stage 4. It draws on research undertaken on a nation-wide basis in England, via the use of two online surveys and face-to-face interviews. In terms of the organisation of classroom composition, the study found…

This article reports the results of research into teachers' practices concerning the assessment of composing at Key Stage 3 in the National Curriculum for Music in England. It finds that many teachers are using NC levels for assessing individual pieces of work, a process for which they were never intended. It also finds that teachers find it…

This study addresses the baseline assessment of pupil composing competencies at age 11+. It asks whether it might be possible for these to be evaluated by the use of a whole-class listening task. A rationale for this proposal is discussed. Results from a pilot study which administered an original audiated puzzle-task to a cohort of pupils,…