Emily Albert champions music education on ABC Radio National
What will it take to ensure every Australian child has access to quality music education? Alberts Executive Director Emily Albert joined ABC Radio National host Sally Sara to discuss the work underway and growing momentum for change.
Music has been part of the Albert family story for five generations. Today, that legacy is helping drive a national effort to ensure every Australian primary school child has access to quality music education, as Emily Albert shared on Radio National’s Changing Australia segment this week.
"We are strong believers in music for its own right and strengthening that sort of cultural fabric of society," Emily told host Sally Sara, reflecting a belief that has shaped both her upbringing and her work today.
The daughter of the late Ted Albert, founder of Albert Productions, Emily grew up surrounded by music and developed a deep appreciation for its place in people's lives. Now an Executive Director of Alberts, a 140-year-old Australian family business founded in music and entertainment, she has helped carry that legacy forward through Alberts | The Tony Foundation’s philanthropic support of organisations delivering music education programs and professional learning for teachers in primary schools, including the Australian Children's Music Foundation, Musica Viva Australia and The Song Room.
Through this work, Emily became increasingly aware of how many children weren’t receiving the opportunities she had enjoyed growing up.
Despite music being part of the Australian Curriculum, many children are still missing out, with access to quality music education remaining inconsistent across the nation's primary schools.
"I just realised the absence of it for so many young people," Emily told Sally, highlighting the gap between what the curriculum promises and what many children experience in the classroom.
"We know [music is] on the curriculum, we know it's a promise of that curriculum, and yet it's not there," she said.
Music Education: Right from the Start core team (from left): Judith Bowtell, Dr Anita Collins, Emily Albert and Alicia Neil, with the initiative’s Patron, Governor-General Sam Mostyn AC, at Admiralty House, May 2026.
This recognition led Emily to establish the Music Education: Right from the Start initiative with leading neuromusical researcher and educator Dr Anita Collins in 2020, following extensive consultation with stakeholders across the sector.
Led by Alberts | The Tony Foundation and shaped by a broad coalition of partners across education, academia, research, the music industry, philanthropy and policy, the national initiative works through research, collaboration and advocacy to address systemic barriers to music education and advance a shared vision: that every Australian primary school student receives quality, sequential and ongoing music education.
While Australia has pockets of excellence in music education, Emily highlighted how access varies considerably across the country – too often depending on where children live and the resources and capabilities of individual schools.
"We know often it depends on do you have a principal who believes in it, do you have teachers who can teach it, or do you have parents who can pay for it?"
Emily Albert (left) with Music Education: Right from the Start collaborators and cross-sector music education advocates at a briefing with Federal Education Minister the Hon Jason Clare MP, March 2026.
For children missing out, this means losing access not only to the joy of music learning, but also to its wide-ranging benefits for learning and development.
Against a backdrop of challenges facing Australia's education system, including concerns about literacy and numeracy outcomes, the deprioritisation of creative arts learning amid competing curriculum demands, and the growing influence of AI in education, Emily pointed to the extensive body of research demonstrating the positive impact of quality music education on children’s literacy, numeracy, cognitive development, school engagement and social and emotional wellbeing.
"If you look at the extensive evidence around the benefits of music, it has a role to play in almost every challenge confronting education at the moment," said Emily.
Yet despite these benefits, many children continue to miss out. Ensuring every child has access requires understanding and addressing the barriers within the education system.
A major focus for Music Education: Right from the Start has been working with governments and education departments to develop solutions that build teachers’ confidence, knowledge and skills to deliver quality music education, alongside engaging school leaders and building the evidence base to inform lasting change.
"We have some teachers who are hugely confident, but then the vast majority who have much lower confidence," Emily explained.
Emily Albert at the launch of Music Education: Right from the Start’s ACER Primary Teachers’ Survey at Adelaide’s The Pines School in May 2024.
The initiative is building this evidence base through its own research into classroom practice and teacher education, helping identify gaps and inform practical solutions. This includes the ACER Primary Teachers Survey on Music Education, conducted in South Australia and NSW, and its recently published Music Education: A (Re)Sounding Investment report, which examines the state of music education in Australian primary schools and developments across the sector over the past six years.
Looking ahead, Emily welcomed significant developments in government policy, including South Australia's 10-year music education strategy and the NSW Government's recently launched 10-year Time for Music plan, the state's first dedicated plan for primary school music education.
She also highlighted opportunities for greater collaboration between arts and education portfolios, and for music education to have a stronger place in national policy discussions.
"There's definitely some strong momentum at the moment," said Emily.
Listen to Emily's full interview with Sally Sara on ABC Radio National Breakfast here.
