2. Submission to the Victorian Education Department
• sMAG (School Music Action Group) represents the principal professional music educator organisations in Victoria -- the Association of Music Educators (Victoria), the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Society for Music Education, the Association of Directors of Music in Independent Schools.
• sMAG assumes that ACARA is responsible for the development of curricula for each art form, including Music, as part of the new Australian [School] Curriculum and that state and territory education authorities are responsible for the implementation of The Arts Learning Area in Victorian schools.
• sMAG recommends that, in order to ensure the effective implementation of The Arts as part of the new Australian [School] Curriculum, Curriculum Officers should be appointed for each of the arts areas, including Music, to facilitate the implementation of The Arts Learning Areas in government schools; Arts Curriculum Officers should also be appointed to facilitate the implementation of The Arts in Catholic Education Office schools.
• sMAG recognises that there is a shortage of appropriately qualified and experienced music educators at all levels of schooling but particularly at the primary school level
• sMAG has identified the single most significant impediment to the supply/provision of music teachers in the primary school sector as being the current requirement for full primary teacher registration for music specialists wishing to teach as a registered primary teacher. Primary music specialists must, in order to fulfil teacher registration requirements, be qualified to teach all subjects of the primary curriculum.
• sMAG strongly recommends to the Victorian Institute of Teaching through the Victorian Education Department that a special category of teacher registration be established to enable the provision of quality music teaching by specialist music educators from Years P to 12; the same principle could be appropriate for specialist teachers in other arts discipline areas.
• sMAG urges the Victorian Government work to implement the recommendations outlined in the Victorian Music Workshop Report (2007) which is the Victorian response to the National Review of School Music Education (2005) and the National Music Workshop (2006).
• sMAG (School Music Action Group) represents the principal professional music educator organisations in Victoria -- the Association of Music Educators (Victoria), the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Society for Music Education, the Association of Directors of Music in Independent Schools.
• sMAG assumes that ACARA is responsible for the development of curricula for each art form, including Music, as part of the new Australian [School] Curriculum and that state and territory education authorities are responsible for the implementation of The Arts Learning Area in Victorian schools.
• sMAG recommends that, in order to ensure the effective implementation of The Arts as part of the new Australian [School] Curriculum, Curriculum Officers should be appointed for each of the arts areas, including Music, to facilitate the implementation of The Arts Learning Areas in government schools; Arts Curriculum Officers should also be appointed to facilitate the implementation of The Arts in Catholic Education Office schools.
• sMAG recognises that there is a shortage of appropriately qualified and experienced music educators at all levels of schooling but particularly at the primary school level
• sMAG has identified the single most significant impediment to the supply/provision of music teachers in the primary school sector as being the current requirement for full primary teacher registration for music specialists wishing to teach as a registered primary teacher. Primary music specialists must, in order to fulfil teacher registration requirements, be qualified to teach all subjects of the primary curriculum.
• sMAG strongly recommends to the Victorian Institute of Teaching through the Victorian Education Department that a special category of teacher registration be established to enable the provision of quality music teaching by specialist music educators from Years P to 12; the same principle could be appropriate for specialist teachers in other arts discipline areas.
• sMAG urges the Victorian Government work to implement the recommendations outlined in the Victorian Music Workshop Report (2007) which is the Victorian response to the National Review of School Music Education (2005) and the National Music Workshop (2006).
