A teacher in Nottingham City has become one of the first in the country to gain a prestigious new qualification for music teachers.
Lucy Kerslake, one of three teachers in the East Midlands to complete the qualification, has recently gained a regular post with Nottingham Music Service.
The three graduates, including one from Nottingham Music Hub beat strong competition from around the country. Nottingham Music Hub is part of the Music Education Hubs of the East Midlands (MEHEM) and is the local centre for the Certificate for Music Educators (CME) course.
The Certificate for Music Educators (CME) has been created following a national review of music education by Darren Henley, currently CEO Arts Council England. The course was designed to help create a new ‘in-service’ professional development route for the large numbers of music teachers in the country with no music education training.
Lucy said: “Gaining the CME gave me a boost with my musical teaching career; it provided me with the skills and understanding necessary to be a more confident practitioner in the classroom. I am much more positive about applying for musical teaching roles with the experiences I had through my CME course”.
Councillor David Mellen, Portfolio Holder for Early Intervention and Early Years, is also on the Board of Trustees at the Nottingham Music Service, he said: “This is great news for Nottingham Music Hub and I congratulate Lucy on gaining her qualification.
“The Hub’s aims are that all children and young people in Nottingham should a rewarding and inspiring experience of making music with others. We are passionate about giving children and young people life enhancing and confidence-building experiences that will equip them with perseverance, self-belief and a life-long love of music.
“Children and young people from all backgrounds should have the chance to participate in musical learning, and having good quality and well trained teachers are an important part of this.”
The CME course is for anybody working in the field of music education and is designed to complement and work alongside learners’ regular work. It consists of a mixture of face to face courses, mentor support, coursework and assessment and covers areas such as planning and leading musical learning, behaviour management, equality, diversity & inclusion and safeguarding.
Ian Burton, CEO of Nottingham Music Hub and chair of the local CME board, said: “Many of those working in the music education sector do not have any formal teacher training, and the CME fills an important gap by providing an in-service route to help develop skills, knowledge and understanding of the complexity of music education. We have seen the growing confidence and skills of our CME cohort in Nottingham, and will be looking for all new staff without a formal music education qualification to gain this new Certificate”.
Chris Walters, Head of Music Qualifications at Trinity College London, who validate the CME nationally, said: “I am delighted with how the East Midlands CME programme is developing…congratulations to the first three learners to complete this qualification. We’re looking forward to seeing many more music educators in the region benefit from it in the future.”
Vicki Brown, lead assessor for the MEHEM consortium, said: “It has been a thoroughly rewarding experience for senior staff from across the music education hubs to design and implement this exciting new course, and it has been gratifying to see the impact it has had on the first cohort of learners, and especially how they have become much more reflective in their own practice.’
The East Midlands course is full for this current year, but those interested to start next September should see https://www.mehem.org/cme/ or contact Trinity College London for a list of other centres offering the course.
Find out more about the Nottingham Music Hub here – https://www.nottinghammusichub.org.uk/