About

Contact: anna@annagower.com

Anna has a wealth of experience as an teacher, adviser, project manager, academic and strategic leader. She is an experienced classroom music teacher, currently working full time at the amazing St Andrews International School, Bangkok.

Anna’s key skills include:

  • Developing resources and curriculum design for primary and secondary music departments
  • Working in collaboration to foster and develop ideas
  • Keynotes, practical workshops and presentations
  • Designing training programme
  • Marketing and social media, in particular the nurturing of online communities of practice and establishing online teacher communities across the world
  • Training and delivery as an experienced presenter, speaker and practical workshop leader
  • In-school advisory work and consultancy
  • Leading and managing academic pilot projects
  • Building teams and strategic planning
  • Writing

Anna is a qualified teacher and has worked in various schools as a Head of Music and Advanced Skills Teacher across the last 20 years. Highlights from her UK-based teaching career include developing a transition model and collaborative cross phase projects, establishing an orchestra of 60+ students of all abilities and implementing a new approach to music teaching which resulted in growth to over 25% take-up at GCSE. As an International School Teacher, Anna has supported the growth of the music programme, with a focus on student centred approaches, promoting excellence through the existing instrumental programe and supporting progression from Primary to High School through working collaboratively across campuses.

As a consultant and core team member for Musical Futures in the UK, Anna was responsible for scoping and developing resources, ideas, training and initiatives for teachers including the popular Just Play approach, now used in classrooms across the world. She also took the lead on social networking, marketing and comms for the organisation, instigating and running the weekly #MuFuChat community and #MFPilot2013 project and played a major part in helping to shape the strategic direction of Musical Futures to date both in the UK and internationally. Moving across to Musical Futures International in 2018, Anna led on the development of training and resources for international schools and continues to support the organisation as a Musical Futures Teacher Guide to date.

Anna is an experienced presenter, speaker and practical workshop leader, leading presentations, panels, keynotes and workshops at international conferences for example OMEA, Niagara Falls, MF2 and The Big Gig, Melbourne Australia 2016, 2018, Music China, Shanghai 2017, 2018, 2019, Music Education Conference, Beijing 2018, 2019,  ISME Glasgow 2016, Baku 2018.

She is a regular presenter at conferences and events across the UK, Australia, USA and in Asia.

In addition to a varied teaching career, Anna has worked with the Academic Team at Trinity College London, leading and managing academic pilot projects and providing academic oversight into the development of new products. Most recently she has been taught music from EY – Year 9 at Bromsgrove International School, Thailand and was a Pre-Prep teacher at DBS – Denla British School, Thailand before taking on her current role as Head of Primary Music at St Andrews International School.

Consultancies include resource development for Music Teacher Magazine, advising on the development of new materials for BBC Bitesize and BBC Ten Pieces KS3 resources and she was previously a Pathway Tutor at the TES Institute and mentor for learners on the Music Education Solutions Certificate for Music Educators qualification.

Anna is proud to be a HundrED Ambassador, a thriving global community of education stakeholders passionate about bringing change through innovations in K12 education

I am so lucky to work in a fantastic school where music is well resourced and supported and where music plays a crucial and valued role in the life of the school.

I also love working with teachers and students leading practical workshops, developing partnerships, devising resources and managing online communities of practice which bring teachers across the world together through the common aims of improving music education in our schools.

I know from first hand experience, evidence of which is hosted on my classroom blog, Mrs Gower’s Classes, that music belongs in our schools and in our lives and that everyone should be given the chance to engage with it at whatever level is appropriate for them as individuals with their own musical passions and experiences.

But most importantly, it is about the children and young people in our schools and communities and how we can ensure that they get the musical experiences I believe they are entitled to in an increasingly challenging political and economic climate.

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