Teachers' views of the primary-secondary transition in music education in England

This article investigates the transition and transfer process from primary to secondary school in music from the teacher perspective. Thirteen secondary music teachers from 13 secondary schools throughout England were interviewed along with seven primary-school teachers representing five primary schools. This paper reports interview data from both groups of teachers, which together provide accounts of the transfer and transition process from both sides of what was referred to as 'the humpback bridge' in our previous report on the pupil data (Marshall and Hargreaves 2007). The research investigated teachers attitudes and current practice in the process of transfer and transition and explored whether or not the claims made in advance of the National Curriculum have been met through the creation of a common language and a progressive curriculum covering all ages and stages of education. Furthermore, we looked for any evidence of the continuing existence of the five approaches commonly used by secondary teachers to the introduction of music in the secondary school suggested 10 years ago by Mills (1996). Our results suggest that while some types of liaison activity between schools have increased, the majority of liaison carried out between primary- and secondary-school teachers in music specifically, tends to focus on administration of instrumental lessons. The results also suggest that, in common with findings from Mills (1996), most secondary teachers in music still feel compelled to start music in secondary school by 'starting from scratch'. However, we further suggest that far from being viewed in a negative way, this approach can be developed into a beneficial experience enabling pupils to become familiar with and confident within their new secondary environment.