Dr Anthony Anderson

Research Assistant in Music Education

School of Education and Social Work

Email:: Anthony.Anderson@bcu.ac.uk
Phone:: 0121 331 7289

Anthony taught music in schools for 16 years, during which time he was a Head of Performing Arts. He is an accredited Advanced Skills Teacher and coach, and has worked as an Outstanding Facilitator with the National College for Teaching and Leadership. He is an experienced initial teacher educator having worked in schools as a subject mentor and lead mentor across a variety of subjects.

As a former chair of the Expert Subject Advisory Group for Music, Anthony has worked closely with many organisations on curriculum development. He was lead music consultant for BBC Bitesize for many years, and also completed work on music curriculum taxonomies for Channel 4 Learning and Discovery Education. He has served as an adviser to many music services across the country, including Leicestershire Schools Music Service and Services for Education in Birmingham. Anthony has written many published materials for teachers and is a member of the editorial board for the British Journal of Music Education.

Anthony completed his PhD on music curriculum design in secondary schools in 2019 and continues to be fascinated by all things curriculum. He is currently working at the university as a research assistant in music education, contributing to a wide range of research into school and arts-based practices. He is a former post-graduate researcher and assistant lecturer at BCU. He teaches on a wide range of university programmes, including secondary and primary Music PGCE, and a variety of Masters education modules. In addition, he is external examiner for secondary music QTS at the University of Reading.

Areas of Expertise

Qualifications

Memberships

Teaching

Research

Publications

Reports and articles

Anderson, A. (2021). Topic choices: Revealing concealed processes of curriculum sequencing in English secondary school Music classrooms. 00 (1), pp. 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1002/curj.118

2019 Whittaker, A., Fautley, M., Kinsella, V. and Anderson, A. Geographical and social demographic trends of A-level music students. London: Royal College of Music. https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/7511/

Anderson A and Barton-Wales S (2019). Musical culture and the primary school: an investigation into parental attitudes to Whole Class Ensemble Teaching in the English primary school and potential impacts on children’s musical progress. British Journal of Music Education 36 (3) pp. 267–279. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265051719000366

PhD Thesis

2019: Happy accidents? Music teacher perceptions of curriculum design at Key Stage 3 in the English secondary school https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/7306/

Publications – chapters in edited books

2012 - ‘Developing Performing Opportunities’ chapter in Teaching Secondary Music edited by Price, J. and Savage, J. London: SAGE

2010 - ‘Students mentoring students: can it work in the classroom?’ chapter in Whose Music Education is it? (Ed. Finney Harrison) Matlock: National Association of Music Educators.

2009 - ‘Songs My Mentor Taught Me or Mentoring for Musical Development’ chapter in Sound Progress: Exploring musical development. (Ed. Lamont, Coll) Matlock: National Association of Music Educators.

Published reviews

2013 - Book review: Careers in Music. Matlock: National Association of Music Educators.

Research Projects as Principal Investigator

2020, Curriculum models in school practices. Investigating the telescoping of Key Stage 3 into two years and its impact on music. Funded by Birmingham City University Pilot Project Fund.

Research Projects as Co-Investigator

2021, Uprising. Improving music activities to engage young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Funded by MEHEM.

2020, Assessment in music education. Exploring teachers approaches to music assessment in the UK and Singapore.

2020, Inspiring Sounds: Research into training for staff teaching music to young people with special educational needs.

2020, Whole Class Ensemble Tuition Assessment. Research into enabling whole class music tuition and its assessment in primary schools.

2020, Listen, Imagine, Compose Primary. Research into enabling composing in a primary school context.

2018 – 2020, Voices Foundation Singing Schools Project. An evaluation of a whole-school improvement strategy through music.

2018 - 2020, Go Compose. A study considering approaches to composing from disadvantaged groups.

Conference Papers, peer reviewed

2021, July - Don’t stop the music: impacts of Covid-19 on classroom music education. An Unequal Impact? Covid-19 Research Conference. Birmingham: Birmingham City University.

2021, June - Pedagogies in a pandemic: impacts of Covid-19 on music in the secondary classroom. CSPACE (Centre for the Study of Practice and Culture in Education). Birmingham: Birmingham City University.

2021, March - Epistemic ascent in classroom pedagogies in English secondary music classrooms. RiME (International Research in Music Education). London: Royal College of Music.

2021, March - Doing music in the classroom: how activity theory can reveal hidden dynamics of curriculum design. EAS (European Association for Music in Schools). University of Education and University of Music: Freiburg, Germany.

2020, June - Tacit notions of inclusivity for music curriculum design in English classroom contexts. EAS (European Association for Music in Schools). Padova University: Italy. Paper accepted, but conference did not take place due to COVID-19.

2019, July - Frankenstein curricula at Key Stage 3 in the English Secondary School. CSPACE (Centre for the Study of Practice and Culture in Education). Birmingham: Birmingham City University.

2019, April - Happy Accidents? Music teacher perceptions of curriculum design at Key Stage 3 in the English Secondary School. RIME (International Research in Music Education). Bath Spa University.

2018, July - Music in the secondary school classroom: developing methodologies to acknowledge tacit teacher practices in curriculum design. CSPACE (Centre for the Study of Practice and Culture in Education). Birmingham City University.

2017, July - What factors influence teacher planning of the KS3 Music curriculum in high schools in England and how do teachers sequence musical knowledge for musical understanding? Poster presentation. CSPACE (Centre for the Study of Practice and Culture in Education). Birmingham City University.

2017, April - In what ways do music teachers plan the sequencing of musical knowledge for musical learning in the lower secondary school in England and why do they make these choices? RIME (International Research in Music Education). Bath Spa University.

2017, April - In what ways do music teachers plan the sequencing of musical knowledge for musical learning in the lower secondary school in England and why do they make these choices? ISAME (International Symposium on Assessment in Music Education), Birmingham City University.

Papers and research presentations by invitation

2021, June Challenging curricula: issues and ideas for Key Stage 3 Music. Birmingham Music Teachers' Conference. Birmingham: Services for Education.

2021, March Research starting points in Music education. Uprising Project Partners Forum. Music Education Hubs East Midlands.

2021, February Curriculum models in school practices. Pilot Project Symposium. Birmingham: Birmingham City University.

2020, November Wrestling the leviathan: managing the monster of literature review. Post Graduate Researcher Thesis Coaching. Centre for the Study of Practice and Culture in Education forum. Birmingham City University: Birmingham.

2020, September Developing understanding in curriculum design in the secondary music classroom. Leicestershire School Music Service Executive Group. Leicestershire: Leicestershire County Council.

2020, September Enabling students to represent complex ideas in pictorial form. PhD Supervisors Community of Practice. Birmingham: Birmingham City University.

2020, August What is musical learning? London: London Music Masters

2020, May Thinking in pictures: finding patterns in your data and conceptualising themes in pictures and diagrams. Post Graduate Researcher Thesis Coaching. Centre for the Study of Practice and Culture in Education forum. Birmingham City University: Birmingham.

2020, April Who am I again? Pursuing a part-time doctorate or at a later stage in your career. Post Graduate Researcher Thesis Coaching. Centre for the Study of Practice and Culture in Education forum. Birmingham City University: Birmingham.

2020, March Research dream: rethinking curriculum through a post-doctoral lens. Centre for the Study of Practice and Culture in Education forum. Birmingham City University: Birmingham.

2020, March Five reasons why music curriculum design is harder than you think. Public seminar at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire: Birmingham.

2020, February Key Stage 3 curriculum design and subject leadership. Birmingham Primary and Secondary Music Education Conference: Birmingham.

2020, January Curriculum design: challenges or choices? Leicestershire Music Educators Conference: Woodhouse, Leicestershire

2020, January Curriculum making. Solihull Music Hub Teacher Network. Park Hall Academy: Castle Bromwich.

2019, November Music curriculum: perspectives and pathways. Wolverhampton Music Service. Wolverhampton: West Midlands.

2019, September What is musical learning? London Music Masters. King’s Place: London.

2019, June - Music curriculum: by design or benign? Music Summit, North West Midlands Music Hub, Keele University.

2019, June - Composing and progress in classroom music during Key Stage 3. Kent Music, East Malling: Kent.

2019, May - Music hub governance: an analysis. Leicestershire Schools Music Service Executive Sub-committee: Leicester.

2019, April - Building a curriculum: perspectives from music education. Seminar. Centre for the Study of Practice and Culture in Education: Birmingham City University.

2019, February - What you need to know about research. Music Educators Conference, Leicestershire Schools Music Service: Leicester.

2019, January - Music teacher resilience. Music Educators Conference, Services for Education: Birmingham.

2018, March - Music as education. Westminster Education Forum, London.

2017, November - Music GCSE comparisons. GCSE Music conference, Leicestershire Schools Music Service, Leicestershire.

2017, October - In what ways do music teachers plan the sequencing of musical knowledge for musical learning at Key Stage 3 and why do they make these choices? Erasmus presentation, Birmingham City University.

2017, June - Curriculum design: is it important in a musical classroom? Fairfax Academy Trust music subject leaders day, Sutton Coldfield.

2017, June - Curriculum design: messy or method? Services for Education curriculum design day, Birmingham.

2017, March - Thinking about progress in GCSE Music. Sefton Music Service, Sefton.

2016, November - GCSE Music: an analysis of the changes. GCSE Music teachers conference, Leicestershire Schools Music Service, Leicester.

2015, November - Curriculum planning for musical learning: an impossible dream? Music teachers conference, Leicestershire Music teachers conference, Woodhouse, Leciestershire.

2015, January - The Key Stage 3 curriculum: planning and sequencing for musical learning. Solihull Music Service, Solihull.

2013, February - Creative music teaching at Key Stage 4 and 5. Music teachers conference, Leicestershire Schools Music Service, Woodhouse.

2012, September - Creating an inclusive school concert. National Association of Music Educators Conference, Stone.

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