It is vital that we create inclusive environments in our classrooms and educational pathways, to ensure the best outcomes for disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people. Using musical education, The Count Me In project set out to do just that.
After several weeks and sessions, here is what was learnt.
What is Count Me In?
The Count Me In project worked exclusively with identified target groups to create a fully inclusive music experience for schools. A joint inclusion project was set up by Inspiring Music and Music for Bedford Borough, it ran throughout the 2021 autumn term.
Through a series of classroom sessions, the project set out to remove barriers and provide high-quality music provision, ensuring the best outcomes for disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people.
During the term, the project’s sessions included:
Virtual Musical Video Game sessions in two schools with a large percentage of participation from Children in Challenging Circumstances
Exclusive sessions with small groups of pupils (5 or 6) whose behaviour puts them at risk of exclusion in two schools
A series of one-hour workshops with different groups of KS3 and KS4 Black and Brown People from the Global Majority pupils, in four different secondary or upper schools
Supportive sessions for SEND pupils, within a whole class instrumental environment
What can we learn from Count Me In?
Watch the video (below) to hear from participants, learn more about the approach and discover learnings from the project.
Key takeaways from Count Me In:
Get young people to start thinking about their role in music earlier
Understand what children and young people want and what they want to achieve musically so that their journey can be best supported and facilitated
Help students understand what music is going to look like in the future, what they are going to need to do for their journey and what they will need to get there
Involve those who are often excluded from whole-class activities
Listen and respond to pupil’s voices
Build lessons with more interactive elements
Build confidence of students
Let participants take ownership of sessions
Create more opportunities by using small groups
Increase awareness of local musical services
One significant reflection point for Inspiring Music to consider is how we fully embed strategies that allow our tutors to reflect in between the sessions they teach, with inclusion as a focus point.
This will allow teachers to develop their teaching practice and pedagogy, consequently having a greater impact on the effectiveness of learning and enjoyment for students. Therefore, we are working on prioritising a robust and useful reflective framework to facilitate this process.
The sessions
Pupils, schoolteachers, music hub tutors and the external facilitators all enjoyed being part of the sessions. The following outlines the approach and what occurred in each of the sessions.
Virtual Musical Video Game sessions
Conductive Music ran virtual Musical Video Game sessions in two schools, with large percentages of Children in Challenging Circumstances (CCC).
They took a different approach to what we normally do at Inspiring Music. They incorporated arts as an integral part to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) approach, with pupils creating their own Musical Video Games.
The aim of this approach was to inspire pupils to explore alternative pathways into music. We were blown away by how much pupils enjoy creating video games and the music to accompany them.
Exclusive sessions with small groups pupils
Phil Mullen worked alongside Music Hub tutors in exclusive sessions with small groups of pupils (between 5 and 6), whose behaviour puts them at risk of exclusion in two schools.
Phil Mullen utilised his wealth of experience (over 30 plus years) to support the behaviour of pupils who are at risk of exclusion. By adopting a range of different musical activities, such as songwriting, iPads and djembes, pupils had the opportunity to enjoy engaging with music.
Workshops with KS3 and KS4 Black and Brown People from the Global Majority
Kenny Baraka delivered a series of one-hour workshops with different groups of KS3 and KS4 Black and Brown People from the Global Majority, in four different secondary or upper schools.
Kenny Baraka has an incredible passion for providing opportunities for pupil voice and listening, whilst also making music relatable for the students. This combination created some powerful conversations with pupils, relating to their musical interests and consequently what musical opportunities Inspiring Music should be providing. The biggest impact and reflection point following the sessions is that music educators should not presume they fully understand how all pupils want to engage with music.
Supportive sessions for SEND pupils
Ben Sellers from Transformance Music worked with Inspiring Music’s SEND Co-ordinator Sarah Robinson, to understand how to support SEND pupils within a whole class instrumental environment.
Lark Rise Academy warmly welcomed Sarah into their classroom, to focus on understanding the barriers faced by SEND pupils. The sessions explored ways to support the pupil’s needs in a whole class instrumental or singing environment. Sarah initially spent the first 3 weeks working exclusively with the SEND pupils (around half of the class) to enable them the best opportunity to get fully involved when integrated into the whole class for the remaining 7 sessions
What next?
With The Count Me In sessions complete, we are now looking forward to learning from the results of the project: challenging ourselves to be fully inclusive within our whole class sessions and working hard to shape and develop what we offer through our delivery for the next academic year.
Want to know more?
If you would like to discuss Music Inclusion within your school or have any questions about it, please contact inspiring.music@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk.
With thanks to
Inspiring Music and Music for Bedford Borough would like to thank all those involved who collaborated on this project: Conductive Music, Transformance Music, Phil Mullen, Kenny Baraka and Sam Stimpson. A special mention to Youth Music for funding this project, allowing schools, teachers and students to benefit from the experience.