This paper examines how the UK school music curriculum, shaped by dominant White, middle-class cultural norms, perpetuates a hidden curriculum that disadvantages Global Majority students. Through interviews with musicians, educators, and students, the study reveals how Eurocentric standards in music education subtly reinforce racial and class-based exclusions, often resulting in psychological harm and diminished engagement. In the UK, race and class inequalities are deeply intertwined. Children from Pakistani and Bangladeshi households are among the most likely to live in low-income conditions, with Asian households being 2.5 times more likely than the national average to experience persistent poverty (GOV.UK, 2024). Additionally, children from minoritised ethnic groups are significantly more likely to be eligible for Free School Meals—a key indicator of socioeconomic disadvantage (Department for Education, 2025). While socioeconomic barriers—such as the inability to afford music lessons—are significant, Scharff (2015) argues that deeper cultural incongruence between music education and students’ home cultures is a more pervasive issue. This disconnect forces students of colour to either conform to norms misaligned with their identities or disengage entirely. White, middle-class values in the music classroom today perpetuates a cycle of White, middle-class music teachers for tomorrow (Bradley, 2007).

Researchers argue that race must be understood intersectionally within the context of class and other intersections of social difference (Khan & Shaheen, 2017). Intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989) provides a critical framework for understanding how multiple social identities—such as race, gender, class, disability, and sexuality— intersect to shape layers of oppression or privilege. It is a vital lens for equity and inclusion in music education, as barriers are not experienced equally but compound depending on identity (Hess, 2025; Trienekens et al., 2024). These findings reinforce the need for an intersectional lens to address race and other inequalities in music education.

Cuts to school music education in the UK have not been felt equally, raising concerns that access to high level and sustained music education has become accessible to the privilege few. Music conservatoires reflect this inequality: in 2018 only 15 out of 430 entrants (3.5%) were from highly deprived backgrounds (Daubney, Spruce & Annetts, 2019), while just 3.9% came from low higher education participation areas (Blamey, Kokot & Scharff, 2014). My study explored the experiences of undergraduate conservatoire students, across two UK conservatoires, who had come from state-school backgrounds and had faced barriers to their music education. Findings highlight the critical role of early access to music education and how many students felt ‘behind’ their peers who access to high-level musical training. The study also revealed how students continued to face financial and intersectional barriers throughout their degree, raising concerns regarding the viability of pursuing music as a career. These findings call into question the notion of success in the classical music industry as a meritocracy.

This study examines social diversity in music teacher training in Germany. While teacher training generally shows broader social representation than other academic fields (BMBF, 2013; Lauterbach, 2019), research specifically focused on social class dynamics in music teacher training remains limited (Lietzmann, 2021). Existing studies on higher education in the arts highlight the reproduction of social inequalities (Saner, 2016), suggesting that the choice of institution—whether artistic, pedagogical, or scientific—may reflect pre-existing class-based educational disparities (Lauterbach, 2019). This challenges the idea of music teaching as a pathway for social mobility (Cramer & Neugebauer, 2020).

Based on data from a nationwide sample of 775 pre-service music teachers, we recently demonstrated (Fiedler & Tralle, 2025) that educational background influences the choice of the music teacher training program and the institution (e.g., university vs. music academy), with a significantly higher proportion of students from academic households attending music academies rather than universities. Building on these findings, we will investigate the motivations for selecting the music teacher training programs and institutions represented in this sample, aiming at a more nuanced understanding of social selection processes in music teacher training in Germany.