Recruiting and retaining high-quality instrumental teachers remains one of the most pressing challenges facing Music Hubs in England. Recent evaluation findings indicate that more than three-quarters of hubs report significant difficulty recruiting peripatetic teachers with the necessary skills and experience, with staffing pressures now threatening sustainability and quality of provision.
It’s hardly a surprise that these challenges have arisen given that hubs have been operating under an unstable funding system pretty much since they were first invented! Financial uncertainty, structural reform, and rising delivery costs have left hubs stretched, with many finding they have limited flexibility to offer stable contracts, competitive pay, or funded professional development. The days of contracted positions paid on the Teachers’ Pay Scale, with access to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme are for the most part long gone, and this has a significant impact on the attractiveness of a career as an instrumental teacher within a hub or music service setting.
This is, however, just a new iteration of an old problem. Unlike in schools, where there are plenty of progression routes to more responsibility, higher salaries, and new career challenges, instrumental teachers working for music services are often in the position of hitting their career ceiling on day one. I myself worked across various music services earlier in my career, and while I really enjoyed the role, I wanted more of a challenge. In my last full time music service role, short of waiting for my line manager to retire, there was nowhere for me to go within the organisation. Even if my line manager hadn’t only been a few years older than me and therefore not looking at retirement, I would have been competing with 50 or so other people who all only had that one crack at career advancement!
In an environment where full time contracts are hard to come by, remuneration is not what it was, and career advancement opportunities are limited, how can we make the role of an instrumental teacher within a hub as attractive as possible? What makes it better than simply running your own private practice, or selling your services to schools direct?
Stability matters. Where possible, predictable workloads, and multi-year contracts can transform perceptions of peripatetic teaching from casual work into a viable long-term career. Travel expectations and administrative burden should be reviewed; increased travel time means reduce teaching time, making roles less sustainable for practitioners if they’re only being paid for their timetabled teaching hours.
Conversely, many teachers who also work as performing musicians value the flexibility to be able to accept gigs and tours that clash with their teaching. Whilst this admittedly can be a bit of a nightmare for hubs, when handled carefully – perhaps through a system that permits a certain number of approved absences per year – this kind of flexibility can be attractive to gigging musicians. This needn’t be seen as disadvantageous to their pupils; having a teacher who is firmly rooted in the world of performance is no bad thing, especially for advanced pupils who might be looking for a leg up into a professional career.
In my experience, instrumental teachers are more likely to remain in hub roles when they feel valued as educators, not simply lesson providers. Structured CPD, mentoring, and opportunities to contribute to curriculum design all support retention. This is particularly important for early-career teachers navigating freelance portfolios, where a hub that invests in professional growth stands out as an attractive employer.
This is where recognised professional development pathways can make a meaningful difference. Supporting teachers to engage with nationally recognised qualifications – such as the Level 4 Certificate for Music Educators – signals a commitment to quality and professional status. When hubs actively encourage and, where possible, support participation in programmes like these, they demonstrate investment in both teacher expertise and long-term workforce development.
Ultimately, recruitment and retention are not separate issues. They are outcomes of how instrumental teaching is valued, structured, and supported. By offering clearer career pathways, improving conditions, and prioritising professional learning, Music Hubs can position instrumental teaching as an attractive, sustainable and respected role within the wider music education landscape.
Dr Liz Stafford, March 2026. Copyright © 2026 Music Education Solutions Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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