In 2018 Creative Scotland commissioned The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, to undertake a major examination of music education and youth music-making in Scotland. Across a twelve-month period from early 2018 to early 2019. RCS took feedback and data from a wide range of organisations and individuals to examine the current state of music education and music making opportunities for young people. It looked at 3 varied case studies, examined the impact of YMI, the schools Instrumental Music Services and explored the formal, informal and non-formal sectors of music education in Scotland. 
What’s Going On Now? built on the earlier research Whats Going On published in 2003 and examined the impact of the schools Instrumental Music Services. During the research, RCS reported to the Music Education Partnership Group, which includes representation across a wide and diverse range of partners.
There were many valid points highlighted in the report by those involved in teaching and delivering music education , such as “Bring it (music) back into the classroom in primary schools and watch the benefits spread across literacy, numeracy and social interaction.”
Some headline data included :
- In 2016/17, around 244,000 young people took part in the Youth Music Initiative, with at least 202,000 taking part in school-based activity and at least 42,000 in out of school activity.
- It was estimated that around 75,000 young people participated in music activities in the informal and non-formal sectors, an estimated increase of up to 50% since 2002-3.
Music Instrumental Services have been facing cuts in the last few years and in another of our posts we will look at the recent Parliamentary Group that looked in to this. In WGON it was noted that the average proportion of pupils receiving tuition has stayed roughly constant since 2002-3, at around 8-9%. This indicates, the report suggests, that the number of pupils receiving tuition is determined by the supply, not the demand.
Since 2003-4, the number of local authorities charging for instrumental music has risen from 15 to 25, and the average fee has risen from £102 to £220with the maximum fee increasing from £308 to £524. Around 19,000 pupils pay nothing.
The report made four significant recommendations to action:
- To TACKLE inequalities in access to music provision
- To CHANGE perceptions of music and its purpose
- To REALISE THE POTENTIALof music in the school
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To FURTHER FACILITATING Experiences and Opportunities
The YMI programme in the Borders is working with its partners and the community music groups to support improvements in all these four areas. These include Live Borders, the Music Instrument Service, SBC music teachers in our schools and the Borders Youth music Forum, Soundcycle. The full report and summary can be downloaded at the RCS website here.
