As the title suggests, the broad aims of this publication is to provide an overview of music education in the United Kingdom, by analysing its current performance and aspirations for the future. Its remit is wide, including discussions on early years, primary and secondary education, further and higher education, in addition to conservatoires, music services, community music and beyond. As expected, all chapters are written by authors based in the UK, with eight of the twenty chapters documented by one of the editors – Susan Hallam. Ten of the seventeen contributors work at the Institute of Education (University of London), who are also the publishers of the edited collection.

The publication is divided into three distinct themes - Part 1: A review of the benefits of music education; part 2: current issues in music education; part 3: An agenda for consideration by educators and policy makers - and this review intends to critique a selection of indicative chapters, with a particular focus on those that are relevant to popular music and higher education.

Part 1 begins with a chapter by Susan Hallam, who investigates the evidence surrounding the means through which music education benefits the social and personal development of young people. Although not intending to present any new research, the chapter provides a useful overview of the interrelationship of music tuition, listening and performance to factors such as speech development, reading, and numeracy. This is followed by a chapter by Adams et al. who address the chronological development of music education in the UK.

The first of nine essays under the theme of ‘current issues in music education’ commences with Graham Welch and Adam Ocelford's discussion on the importance of music as a pedagogical activity. The emphasis on ‘special education’ reminds educationalists of the significance of including differentiation skills during teacher training, so all teachers are prepared to deal with this significant challenge when employed. After Susan Hallam's chapter summarising the research articulating the similarities in listening skills between musicians and non musicians, Hallam and Creech's essay (Chapter 6) commences with a call to arms: imploring educators to respond to the changing pedagogical landscape, by instigating more flexible, genre specific approaches to instrumental tuition. Interestingly, the discussion does not engage with arguably one of the most important impacts on modern day instrumental tuition - new technologies. Although the landscape of this area is broad, it would have been interesting to ascertain the impact technologies such as Skype and Adobe Connect have on instrumental tuition.

The important role of creativity in the classroom is the topic of the next essay by Hallam and Rogers. After providing an insightful synopsis of the development of practical music making in the classroom from the 1960′s up to the emergence of the National Curriculum, the essay provides a comparison between the school environment and the professional composer, with both seen to be consisting of ‘interactions between the participants music experiences and competencies, their cultural environment, the available tools and instruments, and the instructions they are given’ (107). As with some of the other essays in this collection, my main criticism is tokenism, with potentially extensive areas such as world music, group work and combined arts receiving very cursory discussions. Chapter 9 (by Papageorgi and Hallam) is essentially a synopsis of research and good practice in both formative and summative assessment procedures, with recording technology and self assessment cited as good examples of the former. Regarding summative assessment, the common problem of the subjectivity of assessing performance, composition and improvisation is an issue in both the school and university pedagogical environments, which according to the authors ‘depends on the assessor's personal preferences and their level of expertise’ (p. 147). This is an area where more dialogue with higher education would assist the development of performance assessment, with the work of Palatine being of particular relevance to how the school curriculum can learn from higher education. The absence of higher education in this chapter indicates this dialogue may not be taking place.

The third and final part of the collection commences with the pervasive question – are all children musical? After briefly examining the evidence, Creech and Ellison conclude that ‘the vast majority of us are musical, and from infancy actively engage with music in our everyday lives’ (pp. 194-195). The remainder of the chapter purports to discuss prenatal experience and enculturation and environmental impact, although the actual content is much broader than this. McQueen and Hallam's chapter highlights the problems facing the secondary school curriculum at the start of the millennium. What follows is an overview of some of the main challenges the sector has faced over the last 70 years, ranging from the very nature of what should be taught, to issues associated with classically trained teachers ‘imparting’ knowledge to the uninitiated. The inclusion of Popular Music in the secondary school curriculum is regarded as a way of addressing this issue, enabling the teacher to ‘tap into the affinity young people have for their music’ (p. 234), although this essentialist view arguably has philosophical issues.

After essays focusing on primary, secondary and further education, the chapter by Gaunt and Papageorgi focuses on the university and conservatoire sector. It commences with a swift synopsis of some of the changes that have taken place in the music industry. Although this section briefly tracks the development of areas such as the rise of live performance, musician portfolio careers and reality TV, phenomena such as X Factor are not ‘new (For example, Opportunity Knocks and New Faces instigated similar issues during the 1970's) nor is the contrast between its contestants and professional musicians at large. Essays focusing on the 2002 Benchmark Statements for Music (first published by the UK's Quality Assurance Agency) and the role of music studio are the highlight of the remaining chapters, with the publication ending in congruence with its opening preface, with a chapter by the editors. Entitled ‘Where Now?’, the essay effectively acts as a conclusion to the collection, briefly summarising most of the topics discussed, ranging from primary education through to the sustainability of music education.

It is gratifying that this edited collection focuses on how such a wide range of subject areas feed into the UK educational system, and it would unquestionably serve as a useful research tool for undergraduates looking for an easy to read understanding of specific sub sectors. Chapters often focus on consolidating information as opposed to generating new research, and although this could be considered a criticism, the editors do not claim anything they do not deliver. In retrospect, the collection would have benefited from a wider breadth of opinion, but this may be indicative of the research currently taking place in the field. More input into Further and Higher education would certainly have been welcome, and would have not only provided a more balanced collection, but also widened the net of potential contributors. I would certainly recommend this text to not only undergraduates, but also the policy makers involved cutting back of public funding for music. It may make them change their mind.