Social Inclusion

Teachers have a responsibility to provide all students with opportunities to feel included, valued and develop their social skills. Researchers found that group music making activities can generate social bonding and cultural coherence (Sloboda, 1985; Hove and Risen, 2009; Minguella and Buchanan, 2009). Participation in music can improve social image, -awareness, and -confidence (Hallam, 2010). Singing and making music together provide children with opportunities to listen to each other and take pleasure in collaborative work (Frankenberg et al., 2016).

We have devised a training for teachers, specialists and non-specialists alike, that may help them to make lessons more accessible to all pupils enabling them to develop the social skills group music-making can provide. The training consists of teaching content and strategies that can enhance teaching, engage pupils and foster inclusion in classrooms. These activities range from making music with sounds using technology to body percussion. These activities are chosen because children need not have any previous knowledge or experience to successfully attain the learning steps, therefore, creating a level playing field in learning. Furthermore, these activities require students to listen carefully to their environment and to each other and work in harmony whilst being fun and rewarding.

References

Frankenberg, E., Fries, K., Kamala Fridrich, E., Roden, I., Kreutz, G. and Bongard, S. (2016) The influence of music training on acculturation processes in migrant children. Psychology of Music, 44 (1), pp. 114-128.

Hallam, S. (2010) The power of music: its impact on the intellectual, personal and social development of children and young people. In: Hallam, S. and Creech, A. (eds.) Music Education in the 21st century in the United Kingdom. London: Institute of Education, University of London, pp. 2-17.

Hove, M. J. and Risen, J. L. (2009) It’s all in the timing: Interpersonal synchrony increases affiliation. Social Cognition, 27 (6), pp. 949-960.

Minguella, M. and Buchanan, C. (2009) The use of music as a tool for social inclusion. Research Report for Cork City Council. Cork: UONER Ltd.

Sloboda, J. (1985) The musical mind: The cognitive psychology of music. Oxford: Clarendon.