| Drake Music receives Esmee Fairbairn Foundation grant for Curriculum Development Initiative | Christine Janssen, 31 Jul 2009 |
| We are delighted to announce that the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation has awarded Drake Music £84,750 to expand and develop its Curriculum Development Initiative over the next three years. The funding was awarded through Esmee Fairbairn Foundation's 'New Approaches to Learning' strand. The CDI has been running since January 2008, led by Doug Bott and Jonathan Westrup from Drake Music SW. The overall aims of the CDI are to broaden access for disabled students to the music curriculum in general, and to accreditation in music in particular. Despite progress in recent years, significant barriers remain for many disabled students who want to participate or gain accreditation for their achievements in music. This is particularly true for students with physical disabilities. Our work will include: • identifying barriers to accreditation at KS3/4 and producing accessible, reusable teaching and learning resources for both GCSE music and our own NOCN music course; • building partnerships with examination boards (to produce benchmark procedures for increasing access), teacher training providers (training sessions for PGCE music teachers) and government (lobbying for more statutory funding); • disseminating these resources to schools and relevant organisations across the UK to increase the numbers of disabled musicians taking accredited courses in music. For more information, please contact Jonathan Westrup or Doug Bott on 0117 353 3614 | |
