Record fees charged for school music lessons

Record high fees are being charged for music lessons in Scottish schools as councils struggle to provide tuition for children in the face of multimillionpound reductions in Scottish government funding.

Learning an instrument in school now costs up to £378 per pupil per year in Scotland as local authorities try to maintain the discretionary music education service within evertighter budgets.

Almost every council which charges for the lessons has increased its prices to at least a five year high, a new report has revealed.

The report by Improvement Service, a body tasked with boosting local government performance, found while the number of pupils receiving lessons had stayed about the same, at 61,615 pupils nationwide, demand frequently outstripped supply.

One council said some pupils had been waiting morethantwoyearsforlessons due to a lack of available tutors. The report, published last month, stated: “These services strive to provide opportunities to as many young people as possible ..... [but] despite maintaining pupil numbers overall, the majority of Instrumental Music Services are limited by resource and teaching capacity, and are unable to provide lessons for all interested pupils.”

Last month, the government said funding to councils for education, including music services, had been “very fair” and was “increasing”.