International Conference on the Role and Place of Music in the Education of Youth and Adults; Music in education; 1955

Ahic education in the cutriculrim

In small schools, where the groups of pupils under one teacher vary

widely in age, the scheme must of necessity be flexible. Older pupils

may be induced to share in musical activities suited to younger children,

e.g. the dramatization of nursery rhymes and folk songs. Occasionally,

a part of the time may be given to sight-reading or to more advanced

aural training after the younger children have been dismissed. On the

whole, a lower standard of attainment in aural training and sight-

reading would be expected in one-teacher and two-teacher schools.

In conclusion the musical welfare of the rural schools is in the hands

of the individual teachers. It is obvious, then, that the best way of

ensuring that music will be correctly taught is to see to it that the

teachers receive adequate instruction and practice in the teaching of

the subject when they are at the training colleges. The appointment of

specialist supervisors may usefully supplement the daily teaching, but

experience seems to indicate that it is not altogether satisfactory or

desirable that the teaching should be wholly carried out by visiting

specialists.

MUSIC IN RURAL SCHOOLS

IN ENGLAND AND WALES

by

H. Watkins SHAW, Senior Lecturer, Worcester Training College for Teachers

First, it is necessary to explain two small points of detail in which the
educational system of England and Wales differs from that of Scotland.
In England and Wales, a course in music forms no necessary part of a
teacher’s training. Although some training colleges endeavour to pro-
vide an elementary course in music for all students, others treat it
purely as an optional subject, to be taken by those best fitted by inte-
rest and previous musical education.
Another difference lies in the fact that no particular time to be spent
on music in any type of school is prescribed by the educational system