Music Hub Investment Programme: what you said

The Music Hub programme is changing to realise the ambitions of the government’s National Plan for Music Education, The power of music to change lives, which was informed by the opinions and experiences of over 5,000 parents, teachers and children and young people. We asked the music, education, creative and cultural sectors for their feedback so we could deliver the government’s vision in the way that was best for children and young people.

How did the findings impact the Investment Programme?

All your ideas and feedback from our January 2023 survey and focus groups were analysed by independent facilitators. Based on this feedback, we worked with the Department for Education to share proposals for new Music Hub areas. We asked for your thoughts on the proposals through a survey in March 2023.

Find out more >

Watch the video below from the Department for Education’s Assistant Director, Stefano Pozzi, and our Director for Music Education, Hannah Fouracre, to learn why we did the January consultation, what we did, who took part, what we asked, and what we learned.

You can find more details about our January consultation below.

Watch the video with BSL captions >

Download the transcript >  (DOCX, 26 KB) (DOCX, 26 KB)

What were the January 2023 survey and focus groups about?

The Government’s National Plan for Music Education sets out an ambition for there to be fewer, more strategic Hub Lead Organisations working across larger geographic areas.

Read the rationale > 

The Department for Education has confirmed that it intends for these new areas to be decided before the application process opens. In December 2022, we published the Department for Education’s ‘guiding principles’ for creating these new, larger geographic areas for Music Hubs:

• New hubs will be more consistent in terms of size, coverage and good quality provision
• They will cover multiple Local Authority areas
• Geographic areas will be prescribed (or agreed) prior to the application process
• Prescribed geographic areas will not be determined by current arrangements. They will be informed by open and objective consultation and evaluation
• One organisation will be appointed to lead the Music Hub as Lead Organisation in each prescribed geographic area.
• Fewer Hub Lead Organisations (HLOs) does not mean fewer organisations being involved with Music Hub partnerships. HLOs will become more strategic, working with (and funding) Music Hub partners to design, develop and deliver appropriate provision and support for children, young people, schools and other partners in their Hub area/s.

Our January consultation asked you to consider three example ways of creating the new Music Hub areas based on these principles: a regional, sub-regional, and more locally nuanced structure.

To help our collective thinking, we borrowed example structures from other sectors to act as a starting point for conversation – they’re not an exact fit for music education and were not intended to be.

The example structures are: 

1. Methodology 1: Arts Council England Bridge Organisation areas  

An England-wide regional network of 10 organisations that connect the cultural sector and education sector so that children and young people can have access to great arts and cultural opportunities.  

2. Methodology 2: Maths Hubs 

A collaborative England-wide network of 40 Hubs, each locally led by an outstanding school or college, to develop and spread excellent practice for the benefit of all pupils and students.  

3. Methodology 3: Teaching school hubs  

An England-wide network of 87 centres of excellence for teacher training and development, focused on some of the best schools and multi-academy trusts in the country. 

Our Director for Music Education, Hannah Fouracre, wrote a blog expanding on the purpose of the example structures, what we hoped to learn through our January consultation, and how collaboration is key in helping all children and young people discover the power of music.

Read the blog >

In January 2023, we asked for your feedback on the Department for Education’s guiding principles and these example methodologies through a survey and focus groups.

The aims of our survey and focus groups were to:

• consider different methodologies for prescribing new geographies for Music Hubs
• draw out and understand what the implications might be for transition, mobilisation, partnership development, governance, access and engagement
• explore the Department for Education’s guiding principles for new Music Hub geographies

During our January consultation, we did not aim to:

• agree a single ‘preferred’ geographic option
• debate about the use of prescribed geographies in the Music Hub Investment Programme. The focus is on exploring different methodologies and understanding the implications of each approach

You can download a Word Document version of our January survey here.

We won’t take into account participants’ consultation feedback during the Investment Programme application process to ensure a fair investment programme can be delivered for all applicants.

Who took part in the January consultation? 

We wanted everyone working to ensure children and young people can discover the power of music to have the opportunity to take part in our January consultation. That’s why everyone could take part in our open-access survey.

We also held six focus groups: a digital focus group, and one for each Arts Council Area. The focus groups covered the same content as our survey.

It was key to make sure our focus groups represented everyone working within and beyond the music, education, youth, creative and cultural sectors, in every part of the country. We invited people to register their interest in taking part via an online form. Using that information, we worked with our independent focus group facilitators to create balanced and inclusive focus groups that were representative of the geographic makeup of the country, the type and focus of organisations working within music education, and stakeholders from throughout the music, education, youth, community, creative and cultural sectors.

We received 286 responses to our survey, and 139 people attended our focus groups.  

What did we learn? 

The document below shows what people thought about each of the example methodologies. It also details the number of each type of organisation that took part and their current engagement with Music Education Hubs.

Download the findings >

If you would like this document in a different format, please contact musichubs@artscouncil.org.uk

Watch the video below from the Department for Education’s Assistant Director, Stefano Pozzi, and our Director for Music Education, Hannah Fouracre, to hear more about what we learned.

Watch the video with BSL captions >

Download the transcript >  (DOCX, 26 KB) (DOCX, 26 KB)

You can reflect on the focus group conversations by reading their anonymised transcripts:

• North focus group transcript >
• North focus group transcript – large print >
• Midlands focus group transcript >
• Midlands focus group transcript – large print >
• South West focus group transcript >
• South West focus group transcript – large print >
• London focus group transcript >
• London focus group transcript – large print >
• South East focus group transcript >
• South East focus group transcript – large print >
• Digital focus group transcript >
• Digital focus group transcript – large print >

If you would like these transcripts in a different format, please contact our Customer Service team.

How did the findings impact the Investment Programme?

All your ideas and feedback from our January 2023 survey and focus groups were analysed by independent facilitators. Based on this feedback, we worked with the Department for Education and Arts Council England sharedto share proposals for new Music Hub areas. We asked for your thoughts on the proposals through a survey in March 2023. 

Find out more >