In 1993 I taught for three months at the James Cook University in Townsville. The degree was full of delightful middle-aged women who were local piano teachers taking the opportunity to refresh their teaching skills. Because it was a Bachelor of Performance, these women found themselves in the terrifying position of having to perform as part of the course.  To their credit got up and performed – but it was a daunting experience.

Afterwards the staff had to sit down and mark them. In many ways the students were nowhere near the standard of other music institutions and there was much discussion about whether they should be failed at the end of second year. Some of the talk was about the effect on the student, but most of it was about the effect their failure would have on the course – they needed to keep the numbers up to bring in the government dollars.

These ladies were being used as cannon fodder. They filled up the course in its early stages, and as younger students arrived, the older ones would be failed, having served their purpose. I found this very dispiriting. We were expected to ditch any idea of musical standards...