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Martin Fautley

@proffautley.bsky.social
1K followers 89 following 81 posts

Emeritus Professor of Music Education, Birmingham City University.

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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Usual caveats - not my dataset, A-level only (and, no, I don't have the VQ dataset), and all numbers from Ofqual.
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
2. All A-level
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
No need to do my annual 'mess about with Excel' morning entering the A-level music data for England and getting depressed, as the Ofqual website does it all by itself nowadays. Result, still not good new for music. Screen grabs from Ofqual website. 1. Music A-level (England)
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Piece by me in which I discuss assessment in music in the Primary School. It's available at: issuu.com/primarymusic...
issuu.com
Primary Music Magazine Issue 10.2 Summer 2026
The magazine for primary music teachers, by primary music teachers.
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Have just read the Northern Ireland proposed curriculum for music and wondering if it might signal the direction for England? www.education-ni.gov.uk/publications...
education-ni.gov.uk
Subject Frameworks and Key Stage Documents
Please find below the subject frameworks and Key Stage documents relating to the Northern Ireland Curriculum Consultation.
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ISM @ism-music.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
We’re all set for @proffautley.bsky.social’s keynote! 🌟 Join us in the Keynote Theatre as he takes us through the curriculum frameworks, co-authored with @allydaubney.bsky.social and published by the ISM Trust 🎶 #MDEE26
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ISM @ism-music.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
This time next week, we'll be at #MDEE26! Join us on 13 Feb at 2.30pm in the Keynote Theatre as @proffautley.bsky.social takes us through ISM Trust’s revised ‘Curriculum for music’ frameworks, co-authored by Dr Alison Daubney We'll also be at stand B92 - come and say hello! 👋
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The UK Association for Music Education: Music Mark @musicmarkuk.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Bridget Whyte has today announced that she will be stepping down from her role as Chief Executive Officer following nearly nine years of service to Music Mark. Read more: www.musicmark.org.uk/news/bridget...
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
I like to try to listen to music when it's seasonally appropriate, which means this CD only has a fairly brief window! (However, @prestomusic.bsky.social streaming means that's not a problem!)
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Elizabeth MacGregor @ehmacgregor.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
It's arrived! Complete with brand new cover design and brilliant contributions from Anthony Anderson, Carolyn Cooke, Victoria Kinsella, John Finney, Chris Philpott, @proffautley.bsky.social, @gary-spruce.bsky.social, @kirstydevaney.bsky.social, @drannamariguddi.bsky.social, and others 🙌
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Hooray, goodbye to the wretched EBacc. Gov press release today says: "...removal of the EBacc and reforms to Progress 8 – to encourage students to study a greater breadth of GCSE subjects including the arts..."Good-oh 👍
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
👍
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Fingers crossed the EBacc is consigned to the waste bin...
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ISM @ism-music.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Read the reaction from co-authors @proffautley.bsky.social and @allydaubney.bsky.social ⬇️
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ISM @ism-music.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Since 2010, the EBacc has diminished music in schools. For over a decade, we have campaigned tirelessly for reform. The government has promised to put music back at the heart of our schools. The Curriculum and Assessment Review is the chance to prove it.
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
Strange - and worrying - that these two messages appear side-by-side in my feed this morning:
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
I really, really don't like the sound (or smell!) of this: schoolsweek.co.uk/row-over-new...
schoolsweek.co.uk
Row over new Ofsted ‘high-quality’ research checks
New inspections will judge teacher trainers down if use of 'discredited research' isn't tackled
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Listening to Ed Watkins on latest Music Teachers Association podcast talking about A-level music grading issues, I hope he manages to make waves about this, as for a while I've been fruitlessly asking about disparity in A* grades awarded between music & maths & getting nowhere! Reposting image:
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
Hmm - not so sure about the stellar, but anyway - I enjoyed your chapter Elizabeth, and the bit about language made me think again on that topic!
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ISM @ism-music.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
The ISM has long called for the reform or scrapping of the EBacc and Progress 8. These measures have marginalised arts subjects in schools. Since 2010, we've seen a dramatic fall in the uptake of music - entries have dropped by 43% at A-level and 30% at GCSE.
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The UK Association for Music Education: Music Mark @musicmarkuk.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
In the run up to our #MMConference25, Bridget's blog reflects on the past 9 Years of Music Mark Conferences! 🎤 Bridget shares the wide range of conferences we've had, from different locations across the country to going fully digital in 2020! 📽️ 🔗Read the blog: www.musicmark.org.uk/news/bridget...
Photo of Bridget Whyte, CEO of Music Mark, stood in front of some foliage. Bridget is a white woman with brown shoulder length hair and wears a black top and burgundy lanyard.
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
DfE data out today. Initial back-of-an-envelope analysis shows numbers of trainees achieving QTS in secondary music seems to be the lowest it's been for some years. Not sure what this means for the future of the profession though?
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
From 'The Times' obituary of Ozzy Osbourne: "...given that his only accomplishment at school had been to appear in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, he resolved to become a singer..." Wow! (Just thinking of the parts he could have played 🤔)
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nancyevans.bsky.social @nancyevans.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
24 composing challenges for young people this summer. Unleash their creativity! resources.bcmg.org.uk/creating-mus...
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Splendid - Jolly well done Elizabeth!
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Good-oh! Thanks Lucy 👍
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Guessing you've seen the resources Ally Daubney & I wrote for the ISM? www.ism.org/advice/ism-c...
ism.org
ISM Music Curriculum | Independent Society of Musicians
Explore curriculum frameworks from the ISM trust, designed to support music education and provide valuable resources for students and teachers.
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Yup. Still a thing, Keith, I'm sad to say. Hand me the ramipril...
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
2/2 ...maths (say) 4hrs/week, and music 1hr/week, then in 6 weeks the kids will have had 24hrs maths vs 6 hrs music. So to be coherent, either maths should have an 'assessment lesson' every 6 days, or music should have one every 24 weeks. But I hear so often that this doesn't happen!
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Been thinking again about where schools have a requirement for 'assessment lessons' in music, and how this fits with notions of coherence/consistency. If a school has requirements for an assessment lesson every six weeks: if said school has 1 hour lessons, teaches ... 1/2
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
In recognition of it being the centenary of the birth of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, am listening to his versions of BWV56, 4, and a personal favourite, BWV82. Ahh....
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Bound to...!
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
This piece from @drlizstafford.bsky.social gets a hooray from me for dissing the "music is a universal language" nonsense! 👍
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
This Music Teacher article makes for sobering reading "Nearly half of the teachers reported a decline in extracurricular music participation over the past five years. The story is the same for instrumental lessons, with 45% noting a drop". Article at www.musicteachermagazine.co.uk/content/news...
musicteachermagazine.co.uk
Music teachers sound the alarm on declining access and support - Music Teacher
The survey 'Growing Musicians, Shaping Lives’, conducted by magazines Music Teacher and Gramophone, reveals stark warnings about declining student participation, underfunded programmes, and widespread...
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Lots of fascinating things in this piece from @drlizstafford.bsky.social as well as quite a lot of food for thought re the future of music education in England
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Tonight seems to be a night for Fischer-Dieskau and BWV 82 - Ich habe genug
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Oh, that again. Fair enough - you get cross - me, I'll just reach for my blood pressure pills!
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Brilliant news!
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Wondering what the genesis of that tweet (or whatever we call them now!) was? 🤔
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Composing at Key Stage 2: the LICP legacy: www.musicteachermagazine.co.uk/content/feat...
musicteachermagazine.co.uk
Composing at Key Stage 2: the LICP legacy - Music Teacher
Used to leading and assessing creative education projects, Richard Barnard was a composer on the award-winning Listen Imagine Compose Primary. Here he describes his new role at Bristol Beacon, integra...
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Hooray - as Geoff says; "The arts must be brought back from the curricular margins, and the EBacc measure that consigned them there needs to be scrapped." In music ed some of us have been saying that for a good while!
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
I know it sounds pedantic to privilege the verbal form, but in music classroom terms, I think using the word "composing" matters in the school classroom, as I explain in www.musicteachermagazine.co.uk/content/qa/q...
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
That sounds very interesting Elizabeth!
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
👍 Thanks Liz!
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Nice piece in Music Teacher Mag in which I am interviewed about being honoured with the lifetime achievement award for music education. Trouble with being interviewed is you can’t edit what you said –anyway here is what tumbled out of my mouth! www.musicteachermagazine.co.uk/content/qa/q...
musicteachermagazine.co.uk
Q&A: Professor Martin Fautley - Music Teacher
If anyone knows the challenges facing music education, it is professor Martin Fautley. After more than 40 years as a practitioner, researcher and teacher trainer – which led to his receiving the Music...
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Yay - that figures heavily in my current thinking on quality - you'll see why...😜
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
My immediate thoughts are that we need to know more about what will happen when they start digging into subjects in more detail. As ever with music, I hope that people who actually know about curriculum and assessment are asked, not just big names who have opinions, but are not “knowledge-rich”!
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
I see we are to get a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education. This could be interesting, although I have no idea what it will be, or what it will do?
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Happy Birthday, The Mikado! 14/3/1885 First performance. Picture from last week's show by Birmingham Savoyards at the Old Rep in Brum.
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Martin Fautley @proffautley.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
👍
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