Kent Music School
Quality Assurance
Kent Music offers a unique service that is highly esteemed for its quality. Whether you have lessons in school, or attend one of our out-of-school Music Centres, it is our teachers that make us special.
Kent Music requires and maintains the highest possible standards in its staff. All have been selected by interview and auditioned by senior staff. They are chosen for the particular specialist skills they bring to the musicians of Kent. Teachers are regularly monitored to maintain standards. In-service training sessions are provided on a regular basis.
For students, We are particularly aware of the importance of linking our work with that which takes place in the classroom. Teachers assist in preparing students in instrumental and vocal lessons as a part of work which is currently topical in their classroom studies.
Many Kent Music students are entered for examinations through the various examination boards. We monitor these results to ensure that high standards are maintained. It should, however, be stressed that examinations are by no means compulsory, nor are they necessarily beneficial for all students and are entirely discretionary.
For schools and parents
Before deciding upon instrumental or vocal teaching for your school or your child, it makes good sense to be satisfied with answers to certain key questions from any potential provider.
We suggest that you should ask the following questions and compare their answers with those of Kent Music before making your choice.
1. Quality of teaching
When and how is the teacher observed teaching by senior specialists? How is the quality of teaching assessed and shared with the teacher and standards thus improved? There is a need for the peripatetic teacher to feel part of a team, well-supported and advised. Regular monitoring visits help achieve this integration and also contribute to improving standards of teaching. The "lone" teacher does not have this advantage. Kent Music teachers provide in-depth, written progress reports for all pupils once yearly. There are also parents evenings organised during the Summer term to provide parents with the opportunity to meet with their child's Kent Music teacher to discuss progress.
2. Auditioning and qualifications of teachers
Does the provider audition its teachers - or, if the provider is a private teacher, has a specialist heard that teacher play? To teach an instrument successfully you have to be able to play it competently. Learning with a teacher who is only a grade or two ahead of the pupil may result in the pupil not learning to play the instrument correctly and giving up in frustration. It is important that an organisation auditions and interviews its teachers. Private teachers should be auditioned by a specialist able to judge instrumental/vocal competence. Kent Music auditions its teachers as well as interviewing them. They are auditioned on each instrument they wish to teach by senior staff.
3. Professional development of teachers
How much contact does the instrumental/vocal teacher have with other teachers to share skills, and how up-to-date are they in their awareness of teaching methods? Kent Music teachers form part of a network of over 300 teachers who meet regularly to share ideas and learn from each other. They are provided with in-service training by visiting specialists of national repute in their respective fields. Kent Music helped formulate the curriculum document "A Common Approach - a framework for an instrumental and vocal teaching curriculum" as the basis of its teaching. This curriculum, produced by the Federation of Music Services (FMS) and National Association of Music Educators, has now been endorsed by the Government Advisory Committee on Culture and Creativity in Education and is rapidly becoming the standard curriculum document for music services. Kent Music regularly trains its teachers using widely-respected practitioners which keeps them involved with national and international developments in music education.
4. Wider musical opportunities to encourage progress
Does the provider offer children musical activities over and above the weekly, lesson to enable them to use their new skills to the full? Ideally, children need more than a weekly music lesson to keep their enthusiasm and develop their skills. They need to rehearse and perform with others in orchestras, bands, choirs and other ensembles. Kent Music offers a unique range of activities forming a ladder of opportunity for all pupils - music centres in all parts of Kent and Medway provide ensemble activities, residential music summer schools at Benenden School every July, prestigious County Groups and the Kent Music Academy for the most committed and talented young musicians.
5. Commercial interests
Are there any commercial interests involved, such as the provider selling instruments in addition to tuition? Kent Music does not recommend that beginners purchase an instrument. Time is needed to establish whether a child is suited to a particular instrument. It is unfair to parents to urge them to buy an instrument at considerable expense that may not be used by their child beyond the preliminary stage of learning. Kent Music has no commercial interests and does not sell instruments, but we do offer a highly competitive instrument hire scheme at far below market hire prices using our own instruments and those of KCC - about 3,000 instruments in total. For example, the cost of hiring a cello for a term is about 25% of the commercial equivalent and we give the first term's hire free. Our advice is "hire first - buy later".
6. Mixed instrument groups
Does the provider teach mixed instrumental groups? If you are offered group teaching involving children playing a mixture of different instrumental families taught by one teacher, remember that the teacher is most unlikely to be a specialist in all of them. If this is the case, some children in the group will be learning from an expert and some will not. The latter will be learning (or perhaps not learning!) from a teacher who knows little of the instrument they are playing. Kent Music for sound educational reasons, does not teach mixed instrumental groups with only one teacher unless that teacher has satisfactorily auditioned in all those instruments taught. We also offer team-teaching of large mixed instrumental groups involving two expert teachers working together.
7. Child protection
Does the provider offer and require Child Protection guidelines for its teachers? Does the lone private teacher know about child protection? Have they received enhamnced C.R.B. (Criminal Records Bureau) clearance? This is a vitally important area for consideration where close proximity between teachers and pupils is involved, sometimes in one-to-one situations. Kent Music is an experienced employer with an excellent track record of care and co-operation with its local education authority partners (Kent County Council & Medway Council). Kent Music Child Protection guidelines have been developed jointly with KCC and Kent Music staff have received child protection awareness training from the KCC Education Child Protection Officer. Kent Music acts responsibly with regard to Child Protection and all staff are checked through the enhanced C.R.B. disclosure process.
8. Membership of FMS
If the provider is an organisation, is it a member of the Federation of Music Services (FMS) ? FMS demands high standards in terms of the professionalism and ethics of its 137 member music services nation-wide. It is regarded by the government and the music profession as the national voice of music services with the greatest concentration of knowledge and expertise in this field of education. Through its large membership it represents the interests of 500,000 pupils and 10,000 teachers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Kent Music is an active founder member of FMS, with staff regularly playing a leading role in its national initiatives.