# data[].attributes.body
Student population reduction ALBANY

# data[].attributes.headline
Cost - financial, time, parental involvement deficit ALBANY

# data[].attributes.subject
Cost - financial, time, parental involvement deficit ALBANY

# data[].attributes.body
If the school doesn’t value music, students quit and numbers drop

# data[].attributes.headline
Disengagement from parents - first generation music families - how can we influence? Australia’s Got Talent/reality TV ‘overnight success’ talent myth effect ALBANY

# data[].attributes.subject
Disengagement from parents - first generation music families - how can we influence? Australia’s Got Talent/reality TV ‘overnight success’ talent myth effect ALBANY

# data[].attributes.headline
If we don’t justify our existence, our jobs are at stake 

# data[].attributes.subject
If we don’t justify our existence, our jobs are at stake 

# data[].attributes.body
Funding

# data[].attributes.body
quality of some music programs and lack of willingness to support instrumental programs

# data[].attributes.body
Increasing costs of purchasing musical instruments impacts retention

# data[].attributes.headline
Non-supportive, disinterested or un-educated school admin

# data[].attributes.subject
Non-supportive, disinterested or un-educated school admin

# data[].attributes.body
Depth of our service can provide confusion

# data[].attributes.body
Mutliple Platforms across schools eg Connect, compass, seqta etc....

Related to communication to parents also

# data[].attributes.body
other stressors and priorities such as NAPLAN, sport, swimming programs

# data[].attributes.headline
School based interruptions - extra curricular etc

# data[].attributes.subject
School based interruptions - extra curricular etc

# data[].attributes.headline
Number of schools to travel to in a week

# data[].attributes.subject
Number of schools to travel to in a week

# data[].attributes.headline
We don’t always have the ability to collaborate with fellow staff members like school staff do 

# data[].attributes.subject
We don’t always have the ability to collaborate with fellow staff members like school staff do 

# data[].attributes.body
IMSS is losing broad relevance as it has less success and retention in lower socioeconomic schools. There is a risk it will flourish in high socioeconomic areas and gradually disappear from struggling areas

# data[].attributes.body
The expenses required for families. Economic cycle is a threat to student participation in our program

# data[].attributes.body
Can IMSS model sustain the growth of WA and decentralisation. Can it be consistent?

Financially

Resources

Expertise

Supports

# data[].attributes.headline
The relevancy of what we provide is a threat. We can be seen to be losing relevance 

# data[].attributes.subject
The relevancy of what we provide is a threat. We can be seen to be losing relevance 

# data[].attributes.body
Can consistency between Instrumental Learning areas and Musical contexts and socio - economic contexts?

# data[].attributes.body
Teacher burnout, administrative load particularly when working across multiple schools. Increasing variety of platforms that have been mandated by different schools

# data[].attributes.headline
Buzzwords and interpretations of this. E.g. does student voice = kids (only) do what they feel like. Resilience = don’t push the kids (at all)? 

# data[].attributes.subject
Buzzwords and interpretations of this. E.g. does student voice = kids (only) do what they feel like. Resilience = don’t push the kids (at all)? 

# data[].attributes.headline
Lack of parental understanding of what is required/involved both positives and negatives. Competition with ‘values’ often inherent in schools… ALBANY

# data[].attributes.subject
Lack of parental understanding of what is required/involved both positives and negatives. Competition with ‘values’ often inherent in schools… ALBANY

# data[].attributes.body
Multiple platforms for attendance, communication and reporting and the technical and workload issues this raises. Duplication of work due to multiple platforms that don’t interact with each other.

# data[].attributes.headline
Insufficient time to manage disparate abilities/prior learning especially transition between yr 6-7

# data[].attributes.subject
Insufficient time to manage disparate abilities/prior learning especially transition between yr 6-7

# data[].attributes.headline
The drive for NAPLAN results could be a threat. 

# data[].attributes.subject
The drive for NAPLAN results could be a threat. 

# data[].attributes.body
however, the data could be used to prove the relation between stem subjects and music learning, to justify the need for music

# data[].attributes.headline
Vision and understanding of music by school leaders  (eeek) ALBANY

# data[].attributes.subject
Vision and understanding of music by school leaders  (eeek) ALBANY

# data[].attributes.headline
Threat to teacher autonomy through over management and default belief that we do is insufficient

# data[].attributes.subject
Threat to teacher autonomy through over management and default belief that we do is insufficient

# data[].attributes.body
Dichotomy between being selecetive (gifted and talented) and being musically inclusive.

# data[].attributes.body
Threat to teacher atonomy with top down approach to teaching strategies, assessment approaches and repertoire choices. Loss of teacher skill and innovation.

# data[].attributes.body
Confusion between being a school and a service

# data[].attributes.body
Loss of focus on music and music teaching which is what we love. All professional development is focused on top down, mandated teaching strategies. Loss of autonomy and zero inspiration

# data[].attributes.headline
Contradicting expectations eg assessment must be done by x-date but without heeding individual needs

# data[].attributes.subject
Contradicting expectations eg assessment must be done by x-date but without heeding individual needs

# data[].attributes.headline
Staff connections for regional staff. Accessibility to events, collegiality, networking. ALBANY

# data[].attributes.subject
Staff connections for regional staff. Accessibility to events, collegiality, networking. ALBANY

# data[].attributes.body
Uninspiring professional development that is not aligned with our passion for music

# data[].attributes.headline
Students ability to concentrate has reduced. Poor communication skills, recall is poor. Fine motor skills have reduced. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Students ability to concentrate has reduced. Poor communication skills, recall is poor. Fine motor skills have reduced. 

# data[].attributes.body
These may have stemmed from overload of technology from young ages.

# data[].attributes.body
Lack of recognition for work and achievement for the ordinary teacher. The job is isolating and the work mostly invisible

# data[].attributes.headline
How IMSS manages involving ALL staff. Mixture of face-to-face and online. Supporting (financially) and physically - old style IMSS roadshow events. Students (and teachers) want to feel part of the bigger IMSS picture. ALBANY

# data[].attributes.subject
How IMSS manages involving ALL staff. Mixture of face-to-face and online. Supporting (financially) and physically - old style IMSS roadshow events. Students (and teachers) want to feel part of the bigger IMSS picture. ALBANY

# data[].attributes.headline
TMTLA too many three letter acronyms WTF (working teachers forum!)

# data[].attributes.subject
TMTLA too many three letter acronyms WTF (working teachers forum!)

# data[].attributes.body
Distance and lack of information for meetings

# data[].attributes.headline
Focus on data across the dept, but is rarely applied by most schools with more than a very basic understanding of, or interest in, context. If decisions are made based on data it’s super important that contexts are recognised and valued.

# data[].attributes.subject
Focus on data across the dept, but is rarely applied by most schools with more than a very basic understanding of, or interest in, context. If decisions are made based on data it’s super important that contexts are recognised and valued.

# data[].attributes.headline
The line between what we as IMSS staff do for a school and what the school music staff do can often be blurred - especially when the school staff turnover is high. Geraldton

# data[].attributes.subject
The line between what we as IMSS staff do for a school and what the school music staff do can often be blurred - especially when the school staff turnover is high. Geraldton

# data[].attributes.headline
Reduction of hours devoted to music, and the Arts generally in schools

# data[].attributes.subject
Reduction of hours devoted to music, and the Arts generally in schools

# data[].attributes.body
The timely allocation of instruments. It is embarrassing to not be able to allocate an instrument to a student who has paid. Regions used to be prioritised due to the time it took to get them delivered.

# data[].attributes.headline
Inadequate and insufficient  teaching spaces for the number of lessons happening each day

# data[].attributes.subject
Inadequate and insufficient  teaching spaces for the number of lessons happening each day

# data[].attributes.body
Lack of opportunities to collaborate with specialists from areas that we are having to teach that are not our specialty.

# data[].attributes.headline
Structure and allocation of classroom time to support music in schools - we are connected to this. ALBANY

# data[].attributes.subject
Structure and allocation of classroom time to support music in schools - we are connected to this. ALBANY

# data[].attributes.body
Cultural value of music (context variable) which opens up the question of what type of music. Classical, jazz, contemporary, musical theatre...etc.

# data[].attributes.body
Would be nice to have the opportunity to attend Perth SDD in person. Accommodation used to be paid.

# data[].attributes.headline
Missing the point - it’s not focussed on music

# data[].attributes.subject
Missing the point - it’s not focussed on music

# data[].attributes.body
differences between schools - the way individual schools interact with our programs, differences in school admin and online resources, school budgets, the sheer variety of situations we encounter at each school

Not engaging with colleagues and sharing resources within departments/no platform or communication line to share resources freely between colleagues within departments - our threat might be our isolation as teachers

A lot of opportunities for really big picture ideas and smaller concepts but maybe incorporating some more opportunities for more mid level idea sharing/generation - more in line with the PLC groups but used more effectively

How ‘busy’ students are and the commitment students can give to the program/instrument - getting students on board with the fact that learning anything can be difficult but also rewarding

Often having to justify our position in schools/the overall teaching environment to get other staff and students to back the program

# data[].attributes.headline
A lot of time re-inventing wheels… music examination boards have been working on assessment rubrics and suitable repertoire for many decades

# data[].attributes.subject
A lot of time re-inventing wheels… music examination boards have been working on assessment rubrics and suitable repertoire for many decades

# data[].attributes.body
Threat to WAM voice.

Cost of living.

Threat to Atar music

# data[].attributes.headline
Administrative Failure to understand the value of adding an ‘a’ to stem (steam)

# data[].attributes.subject
Administrative Failure to understand the value of adding an ‘a’ to stem (steam)

# data[].attributes.headline
The heavy shift to contemporary music programs/instruments (at IMSS as well), which tend to lead to kids ‘jamming’ in bands vs more rigorous or structured approaches. Difficult for other instruments to compete with this. Does IMSS have a stronger focus on this aspect of their offerings? How do we maintain the rest of the IMSS staff’s jobs if this trend continues?

# data[].attributes.subject
The heavy shift to contemporary music programs/instruments (at IMSS as well), which tend to lead to kids ‘jamming’ in bands vs more rigorous or structured approaches. Difficult for other instruments to compete with this. Does IMSS have a stronger focus on this aspect of their offerings? How do we maintain the rest of the IMSS staff’s jobs if this trend continues?

# data[].attributes.headline
Imss's main focus seems to be music excellence.  Some schools though, the challenge is getting some engagement from the school staff and students.  How can we address these gaps with our assessment criteria?  A universal rubric has improved this, but most students don't do ATAR, so how can we assist these students to feel that they're improving despite not succeeding according to the criteria?

# data[].attributes.subject
Imss's main focus seems to be music excellence.  Some schools though, the challenge is getting some engagement from the school staff and students.  How can we address these gaps with our assessment criteria?  A universal rubric has improved this, but most students don't do ATAR, so how can we assist these students to feel that they're improving despite not succeeding according to the criteria?

# data[].attributes.body
Regional – distance and lack of information for meetings at times.

There is a lot of information that we miss, but it is expected that we know what is going on and send through things

Less leadership opportunities (for IMSS) in Regional (but more for school based staff)

# data[].attributes.body
Lack of trust in us as professionals. The leadership team are trying to micro-manage every aspect of our teaching and not trusting us to teach the way we know will best suit our students and enable them to best succeed. There is not one way to skin a cat.

# data[].attributes.body
The morale in the room at the SDD3 was the lowest I have ever experienced in many years. The leadership must all have a total lack of social skills to observe that nobody was happy. Unfortunately the leadership's philosophy seems to be that of pushing on, regardless of the negative mood in the room.

# data[].attributes.body
Why would the leadership team gloss over the results of the work culture survey done last year? It was mentioned briefly in a meeting and then the slide quickly changed before anyone had a chance to read the comments too thoroughly. I'm sure there were areas which needed to be addressed and improved... leadership should spend time looking at what was said and then be open and honest with the rest of the staff about the results. There are a lot if unhappy people at IMSS at the moment.

# data[].attributes.body
Low morale - is anyone listening? I'm considering retiring in the face of the direction IMSS is going and the way teachers are being treated, and I am not alone. Loss of highly experienced and committed teachers is a real threat.

# data[].attributes.body
Classroom music teachers are generally very unhappy with the new assessment outlines for rtp. It has added a lot of work to them and they are not pleased. Some schools are refusing to do it.

# data[].attributes.body
Immense assessment load leaves little time to help students with their ensemble repertoire. Five assessments per semester is too much when we only see students for 30 minutes a week. Students will normally have 4 assessments per semester for core subjects for which they would attend at least 4 hour-long classes per week. Something doesn’t add up here!

Common assessment tasks undermine our unique ability to cater to student needs and interests in their individual school contexts, thwarting student motivation and sense of purpose.

Rubrics that are backwards-mapped from ATAR are completely unrealistic for the vast majority of students who are not going to do ATAR music - for example, nearly half of the marks for repertoire are awarded to style and expression, in Year 9 and 10. If they are actually used truthfully, they will be harmful and spirit-crushing to students and their teachers.

If there are too many assessments, lesson content/practice is irrelevant and they increasingly feel they can’t succeed, why would students continue with IMSS as their school journey intensifies?

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PSR Woodwind Pedestal = Sectional Alienation & Staff Morale as a result

# data[].attributes.subject
PSR Woodwind Pedestal = Sectional Alienation & Staff Morale as a result

# data[].attributes.body
From speaking with colleagues, and getting a feel for the morale among staff over the past few years, it appears due to the Woodwind section being represented in the 2022 PSR as the "gold standard", this has led to the alienation of other instrument sections due to a lack of acknowledgement or opportunity to share their existing work at that time, nor throughout this whole "alignment" journey for that matter. Anytime the conversation happens in staff meetings, SLT meetings, Friyay, etc, it's always Woodwind this, Woodwind that - this commentary is in fact pushing staff away (woodwind included) due to the implied understanding that no other section has ever done the same work before, for better or worse. If the Exec Team could hear this and consider the improvement of how the messaging is being sounded across our service, and internally in the Senior Leadership Team, this may improve staff buy-in and change management outcomes... or is it already too late?

# data[].attributes.body
The new assessment program has been rolled out too fast without sufficient staff consultation & support - this has caused high stress for staff and discouraged buy in.

There is a feeling of disparity in rolling this out to our range of school contexts - we can try to adapt, but it’s really difficult to achieve in the low-socio schools.

RE Term 1 RTP 1st assessment upload, there is a range of schools who have organised RTP or not, and a mix of staff have or haven’t assessed/uploaded first task data.

This also hasn’t been helped by the Union Directives with no meetings in Term 1.

# data[].attributes.headline
Lack of "human touch"... let's get it back!

# data[].attributes.subject
Lack of "human touch"... let's get it back!

# data[].attributes.body
With all the focus on data and assessment in recent times, it appears we've lost the "human touch" in our organisation, particularly in the context of staff meetings... the simple things, like acknowledging incoming and outgoing staff, birthdays which coincide, staff celebrations, etc... these now appear to maybe reside in SIM News only, amongst all the other reading we give our staff.

I think these are easy things we can get back, and may help boost staff morale and the human existence in our organisation, rather than the numbers and data behind it all... which are important, but would be nothing without the human contribution our staff make.

# data[].attributes.body
Considering the new IWSTLP, the lack of 'streaming' is causing concern among many of our staff - in particular in the Play/Sing from Notation: Repertoire, and the backward mapping from ATAR level.

This is already forcing staff to either remove 'stylistic interpretation' altogether, or simply rely on professional judgement to accommodate a student at that point in time along their learning journey.

Advice from staff who have previously or do currently teach classroom Music in schools is that schools DO stream... why can't we? Or at least be given the allowance to be flexible and apply relevant marking keys to students based on their pathways or course enrolment in a school?

(ie/ General, GATE, Specialist, etc)

Consideration would need to be given for review of the RTP assessment outline.

# data[].attributes.headline
Acknowledge & allow differences between instrumental sections in the ongoing alignment...

# data[].attributes.subject
Acknowledge & allow differences between instrumental sections in the ongoing alignment...

# data[].attributes.body
As we continue on this "alignment journey", it would be appreciated if the differences between instrument sections can be not only acknowledged, but allowed...

As the blanket of conformity possibly gets tighter as we align other aspects, there is a concern this will restrict learning opportunities which are unique to our different instrument sections. There are many ways to do things and we hope these will be heard and considered, genuinely, rather than a prefabricated model which will ultimately be implemented, regardless of input from others.

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"The Research" & lack of music reading activities

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"The Research" & lack of music reading activities

# data[].attributes.body
"The Research" is the go to slogan to justify why we're going down this particular path of alignment.

What is "best practice"? Music In Our Lives is only one study... there are plenty of other models which have achieved greater success!

Rossmoyne SHS has been identified as the "model of choice" in terms of instrumental instruction. (Note: Not a GATE Music school, nor represent the majority of the schools we teach in).

Instrumental teachers at RSHS has voiced the recent DATA is leaning too far towards aural-only strategies, which is causing levels of notation reading to suffer... now to ask staff, "How can you mitigate this?".

The fundamental operational model of IMSS has long been - we provide small-group instrumental lessons for students to develop the skills required to participate in large ensembles. MOST ensembles (if not all at some point) will require students to read/sing from notation.

While the weighting of the IWSTLP gives 50% to Reading/Singing from Notation (Repertoire), the problem is this is only 1 of the 4 aspects. The implied goal is that we will spend equal amounts of time across all 4 aspects of the Pedagogical Framework, which then potentially reduces engaging with notation to 25% of lesson time overall, as more often than not, the other 3 aspects are aural based.

If the desired "lesson design" is heading this way, then this will have detrimental ramifications on the reading skills of our students, lowering the standards of ensembles in schools across the board.

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Staff health and wellbeing strategy 2023-2027

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Staff health and wellbeing strategy 2023-2027

# data[].attributes.body
Since this strategy was rolled out last year, the messaging when staff have fed back concerns to Exec at IMSS is that wellbeing is up to individuals to gauge through the IKON 'check-in' resources (which are no longer visible on the homepage), seek support from the Employee Assistance Program or manage this in their own way...

Well actually, this is a very simple, surface-like take, and unfortunately only touches on one aspect of the strategy.

As stated in the DoE Wellbeing Model (p6) Staff wellbeing is also affected by "workplace culture and environments"... "culture and leadership; supportive systems; and safe environments - particularly psychological safety in workplaces" - which unfortunately, some would say we don't have, particularly in our office, given how conversations are generally steered and accepted as the way we interact and operate in meetings, etc.

We must delve deeper in this space, especially considering the huge amount of change our organisation has gone through over the past 2 years, and continues to do so... we need to do better to support our staff. There has been talk of potentially creating a Wellbeing Team... considering the Wellbeing Strategy only came out last year, now is the time for this important work to begin!