Keeping the music scene alive in school

If you went to school in the Netherlands at any point in the last few decades, there's a strong possibility that music didn't feature highly in your education. To say it fell out of fashion is an understatement – it fell off a cliff. But recent research indicates that music education can help improve a wide range of cognitive and social skills. So music is back on the agenda, and Méér Muziek in de Klas has played a big role in its renaissance.

Founded in 2015, it exists to offer a high-quality music education to all primary school children in the Netherlands and to anchor music firmly in the education system. It does this by raising awareness, developing expertise and infrastructure, improving teaching methods and materials, and forging collaborative networks between different communities – private and public – at the local, regional and national levels.

Highlights so far have included creating the Platform of Ambassadors for Music Education; increasing awareness through contests, television shows, the Christmas Show and a large-scale campaign to activate primary school teachers, parents and school leaders; introducing Music University Days – free workshops helping primary school teachers host accessible music classes; and starting the programme Méér Muziek in de Klas Lokaal which improves collaboration and mentoring in regional education.