Waddell (1978)

Notes on the text

Part I

Preliminary pages Contents, Membership
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Educational matters
Chapter 3 Structure of the examining system
Chapter 4 Cost
Chapter 5 Conclusions
Appendices

Part II

Preliminary pages Contents, Membership

Report of the Education Study Group (ESG)

Glossary, Introduction
Chapter 1 Feasibility of common exam system
Chapter 2 English
Chapter 3 Mathematics
Chapter 4 Science
Chapter 5 History
Chapter 6 Geography
Chapter 7 Modern languages
Chapter 8 Classics
Chapter 9 Commerce
Chapter 10 Social science
Chapter 11 Religious studies
Chapter 12 Craft design and technology
Chapter 13 Technical drawing
Chapter 14 Home economics
Chapter 15 Needlecraft and dress
Chapter 16 Art
Chapter 17 Music
Chapter 18 Further work
Appendix A List of witnesses
Appendix B Questions
Appendix C Statistics
Appendix D Joint examinations

Report of the Cost Study Group (CSG)

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Costs in 1976
Chapter 3 Costing a common system
Chapter 4 Changeover costs
Annexes

Report of the Steering Committee established to consider proposals for replacing the General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level and Certificate of Secondary Education examinations by a common system of examining

Chairman: Sir James Waddell CB

Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Education and Science and the Secretary of State for Wales by Command of Her Majesty July 1978

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1978
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

Part I: Cmnd 7281-I
Part II: Cmnd 7281-II

Part II - ESG Report

Chapter 17 Music
[pages 71 - 72]

Introduction

245. Music provides both an important interest and satisfaction to many young people. It is also an art form which is ephemeral and intensely personal. Recently, there have been encouraging attempts to approach the teaching of music in new ways which bring as many aspects of the subject as possible within the compass of large groups of children of differing abilities and interests. This is a difficult enterprise practically because there remain particular problems of resources, such as the availability of instruments and practice rooms, and others relating to the place of music in the curriculum. To these problems must be added the intrinsic difficulty of catering for very wide differences in skills and abilities which are themselves often hard to define for assessment purposes.

The evidence

246. One joint examination was mounted and offers the main evidence. Discussions were also held with the consortium and subject interests.

Table 16

The ability range

247. The small number of entries in the first years covered the ability range unevenly, with few high ability candidates and uncertainties about the appropriateness of entries from some centres. Although numbers have not risen, the form of the examination has become more familiar to teachers; no more can be claimed than that enough candidates of differing abilities were entered to give useful information.

The syllabus and objectives

248. The central aim of the first draft syllabus was 'to provide opportunities for pupils of varying abilities to take an active part in performance, instrumental, vocal or both, and also develop their understanding and enjoyment of the subject'. Although ambitious in the above sense, the syllabus was traditional and academic in conception. All candidates were at first required to have been involved in ensemble playing and were examined in musical literacy and practical musicianship of a simple kind, and in musical knowledge. This common core element was thus largely preoccupied with literacy and aural skills, with little emphasis placed upon deeper musical understanding or the ability to explore materials. Despite the first stated aim, it proved very difficult to provide suitable opportunities for performance as a common element. Candidates were in addition asked to choose two options from a list comprising performance, harmony, musical form and history, musical composition and individual study, and only limited numbers of candidates, often the more accomplished, took advantage of the performance option.

The examination and the ability range

249. The inherent difficulty of the task led to a broad examination with many components and there has been adjustment and revision of some sections. Although teachers appear to have been satisfied with much of the assessment, some sections failed, even after improvement, to stretch the ablest candidates, and there were problems of discrimination particularly for the high ability pupils. On the other hand, other sections remained too difficult for the least able.

250. Throughout, difficulty was experienced in equating performances in the different optional studies; for example, the harmony paper always emerged as more difficult than others, although the options were not designed on a basis assuming inherently different difficulty. There were also considerable variations in the take-up of the different options, which persisted throughout the study. Despite these problems, it proved possible to award grades in an acceptable manner.

Extension

251. The cost of examining music in a way such as the scheme used, making much use of external examiners to assess practical musicianship and performance skills, is necessarily high, and this could be an important consideration for general extension. However, these problems are already encountered to some degree in current CSE examining in particular. It might be possible to explore alternative approaches, making greater use of teacher assessment for some elements.

Conclusion

252. The evidence from the single joint examination, which has catered for a very small number of candidates, is too slender to allow a general conclusion as to the feasibility of examining music within a common system. The problems inherent in the desire to assess high level performing skills and to achieve a proper balance between the various aspects of musical learning suitable for different pupils have been highlighted; they do not all appear to have been solved satisfactorily in this joint examination. However, a broader basis for the teaching and assessment of music can be discerned in some current practice, especially CSE work, and this may be developed more widely in the future. There is a need for further discussion and development to attempt to identify more clearly the aims and objectives of music teaching across the broad band of ability with which a common system would be concerned, and possibly to consider other approaches to assessment than those used in this study.