Grunge and rap to feature in new lesson aids for music teachers in England

Any teacher who likes to sing along to Nirvana will soon be encouraged to get their pupils rocking to the Seattle grunge sound of the 1990s in lessons.

Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and other 90s bands could be included in the new lesson aids for teachers being issued by the Oak National Academy, the government-backed creator of curriculum resources for England’s schools.

The new English resources for secondary schools will also study a more diverse selection of works, including Andrea Levy’s award-winning novel Small Island, while the history curriculum includes units on “interpreting the British empire”.

Oak National grew out of online lessons developed for schools doing remote learning during the Covid pandemic, but has since bloomed, with the Department for Education (DfE) offering model teaching plans and other classroom resources such as slides, quizzes and worksheets, with the aim of reducing teacher workload.

In preparing its pop music resources to match the secondary school music curriculum, a spokesperson for Oak National said, “we decided to look in detail at some specific styles rather than take a generic approach, so we have looked at 80s pop and disco, 90s grunge and contemporary rap, for example”.

“Grunge was not only really popular in the 90s, it was influential both socially and musically,” the spokesperson added, with the impact of Nirvana and their lead singer, Kurt Cobain continuing to be felt in the following decades, despite his death in 1994.

The model curricula will also keep purists happy with detailed strands on the western classical tradition and music from other cultures, as well as music from influential video games, allowing teachers and schools to choose the repertoire they want to cover in class.

“We’ve tried to offer a diverse and balanced range of different styles covering different eras of music and show them an example of how we think they work together,” the spokesperson said.

The new English literature curriculum includes the work of Black British author Winsome Pinnock, whose play Leave Taking has this year been added to the GCSE syllabus, alongside more traditional choices such as Chaucer and Shakespeare, as part of an effort to ensure Oak’s English curricula represents the diversity of modern life.

In history, teachers will be able to access resources on controversial debates over decolonisation and perceptions of the British empire, with topics including “imperial decline” and “imperial anxiety and celebration of empire”, as well as commemoration and contestation of the British empire.

Matt Hood, the chief executive of Oak National, said: “We have selected topics that, when taken together, give pupils a rich understanding of the world and allow them to participate as educated citizens in modern society.”

Hood says allowing teachers to freely choose high quality resources reduces their workload, and so boosts happiness and retention. But some school leaders are more critical, saying that the DfE’s investment in Oak is misplaced.

Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said “the jury is still out” on Oak’s usefulness. “In reality, many schools and trusts have developed their own curriculum resources for their contexts, and it is hard to see exactly where Oak fits in.

“Moreover, Oak won’t be enough to reduce the workload pressures that are driving people out of teaching. Only the government can do that by improving education funding, addressing teacher shortages, and reducing the punitive nature of inspections and performance tables.”