Created on: 12 Feb 2025
The EIS will tomorrow (Thursday) stage a protest against planned cuts to Instrumental Music Tuition in Stirling schools. The demonstration will be held outside Stirling Council Headquarters, Old Viewforth, from 0900hrs on Thursday 13 February.
The demonstration has been organised by the Stirling local association of the EIS, and will bring teachers, parents and supporters of instrumental music in schools together to fight the council’s planned quarter-of-a-million pounds cut to the Instrumental Music Service in Stirling’s schools. If allowed to proceed, the cuts would cut more than half of the instrumental music teachers currently working in Stirling schools, with serious implications for the staff concerned and hugely damaging consequences for young people learning music in Stirling.
A public consultation on the cuts has referred only to a “£250,000 review of instrumental music”, without making clear the scale and impact of the job and service cuts being proposed. The EIS believes that Stirling Council must be honest about their plans, and about the damage they will do to the instrumental music service in Stirling’s schools.
Commenting, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, “Music is an essential part of the school curriculum, and one that offers a vast array of opportunities to young people. The opportunity to develop their musical talents, either through instrument or through voice, is something that many young people in our schools absolutely cherish. In addition to developing their talent, learning music also builds young people’s confidence and can have a strong positive impact on achievement, including attainment. It is, therefore, a matter of deep concern that instrumental music provision continues to be under budget-driven threat in some parts of the country, including the current threat in Stirling to remove more than half of the staff working in the Instrumental Music Service.”
Ms Bradley added, “Music is not an add-on, or an extra-curricular activity, it is a core element of the school curriculum. The EIS strongly opposes any cuts to instrumental music provision, such as the proposals that are currently being pursued in Stirling, which would reduce the number of staff working in the Instrumental Music Service from twelve down to just five – a cut of more than 50% in the current level of provision in Striling’s schools. This would have serious implications for schools, for Instrumental Music Teachers and, most importantly, for young people who deserve equal opportunity to learn instrumental music. The EIS in Stirling is making a stand against these damaging cuts, and will continue to fight to protect instrumental music in Stirling’s schools.”
Read the EIS Music Charter, which sets out the importance of instrumental music.
Demo: 0900hrs, Thursday 13 February, Stirling Council HQ, Old Viewforth, Stirling