Fostering musical cultures in schools : broadening the role of music therapy in a special school setting to build teaching staff capacity

Teachers working in special education school settings often lack confidence to deliver classroom music programs. Music therapists working in special schools may be well suited to collaborating with teacher colleagues to improve musical confidence and skills. This action research project worked with teaching staff of three special education classes to design and deliver a collaborative music program. Data sources were focus group discussions and weekly online surveys, triangulated with the researcher’s field journal. Subsequently, reflexive thematic analysis identified four overarching themes in the data: listening inside the musical culture of a school; building capacity by accessing the music child; musicking for brain care; and removing barriers to success. This informed a refined framework supporting delivery skills to improve teaching staff musical capacity. Rehearsal of such an approach can facilitate “delivery without fear” experiences for participants. Therefore, this study informs pre-service and professional development teacher training, where a scaled-up model can be applied