Jersey Music Service (2) (FOI)

Request

Apropos music education provided by the Jersey Music Service:

A

Please say how many young people are currently receiving music education provided by the Service, and what proportion of the total number of pupils that is by year group?

B

Please also break down the above by instrument studied (including voice). 

C

What is the size of the waiting list for music education at the most recent date for which information is available?

D

What strategy has the Minister approved for tackling the waiting list (assuming there is one)?

E

What is the cost - by total and proportion - of the management structure of the 'Jersey Music Service' and at what pay grades (with salary figures/ranges, please) are members of its 'management'?

F

What minimum professional qualifications and experience are required of peripatetic music teachers, and what process operates to ensure that teachers receive continuing training? Do all current teachers meet the minimum standards, and, please, if not why not?

Response

A

721 pupils in total currently receive music tuition from the Jersey Music Service. The table below represents the number of pupils receiving tuition from the Jersey Music Service and the percentage that represents of the total year group across Government of Jersey schools and Elective Home Educators.

B

The table below represents the total number of pupils studying in each instrument family group. Due to the small number of pupils represented in some instruments, the Department has determined that to provide further breakdown could breach the privacy of certain individuals therefore Article 25 (Personal information) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) 2011 applies.

C

The number of pupils on the Jersey Music Service waiting list as at 2 December 2022 was 195.

D

There is no Ministerial approved strategy for the management of the Jersey Music Service waiting lists.

The aim of JMS is to provide instrumental lessons to all children who wish to learn an instrument.

Where waiting lists occur, the service prioritises those children that have been waiting the longest.

This aim is tempered by the amount of demand in a particular area versus the availability of teachers and the instrument selected, as some instruments are in higher demand than others.

E

The Department has determined that to provide the cost of the management structure would likely breach the privacy of individuals as there are fewer than five members of staff within the management structure. Article 25 of the Freedom of Information Law (Jersey) 2011 has been applied.  

F

The minimum professional qualification for a JMS teacher is Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).  All JMS teachers are qualified teachers and therefore subject to performance review and appraisal which will include a review of continued professional development.

Article applied

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

3)      In determining for the purposes of this Article whether the lawfulness principle in Article 8(1)(a) of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 would be contravened by the disclosure of information, paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 2 to that Law (legitimate interests) is to be read as if sub-paragraph (b) (which disapplies the provision where the controller is a public authority) were omitted.