Using a large data set for research in music education: Music in years 10 and 11

The regime of regular inspection of all maintained schools in England by the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), which is a non-ministerial government department, has led to the development of a large data set with potential value to researchers. Aggregation of the data it contains yields a robust evaluative description of music education in the maintained schools of England, and provides some insights into trends over time. There is also the scope for researchers to zoom in from the national level of the data set and examine the characteristics of some strategically-chosen individual schools in greater detail. This paper illustrates this two-stage approach with an investigation into the participation in music from age 14, when music is no longer part of the National Curriculum. First, the national data set is used to establish a robust overall picture of relevant aspects of music in schools in England. Second, the research on an individual school that has systematically increased the participation in music using strategies that other schools could replicate.