Best Practice in SEN Music

During the summer, I began a research project on behalf of Jersey Music Service looking into music provision in Special Schools and Specialist Units within mainstream schools. In the course of my research, I came across Dr Sarah Mawby’s PhD thesis Music in schools for children with Special Educational Needs (Leeds 2018), in which she sets out 7 ‘best practice’ recommendations for music provision in Special Schools. I found these so useful that I knew straight away that I wanted to share these with the readers of Primary Music Magazine.

The first three recommendations are:

Adapt provision to suit pupil needs

Adapt provision to suit pupil preferences

Know the students

This means that pupil needs (both musical and non-musical) and preferences will need to be taken into consideration before planning any lessons. This will require detailed discussions with teachers and teaching assistants, as well as consultation with parents / carers, as well as conversations with the pupils themselves where possible. The aim should be to amass enough knowledge about the pupils to design and deliver provision which meets pupils’ needs and preferences, and keep this up-todate through regular reviews and check-ins. I really like the focus on pupil preference here, so that rather than saying ‘they won’t be able to do that’ we think ‘how can we help them do that’, whether that requires adaptive instruments, use of technology, or new teaching and learning methods. For me that is the spirit of true inclusion.

The remaining best practice recommendations are:

Offer musical opportunities

Make it accessible

Make it participatory

Have fun

Mawby highlights a lack of opportunity for music making outside of a school setting for children with special educational needs (although since publication a number of Music Education Hubs have started to focus much more strongly on out-of-school SEN provision). This means that there must be as many musical opportunities as possible within the school to make up for the limited amount of out-of-school opportunities. When planning school sessions one aim should be for them to be ‘basic’ enough for everyone to join in as independently as possible, so that it is the pupils and not the staff who are ‘making’ the music. However, sessions should also provide a meaningful level of challenge so that everyone can achieve something, which may take a significant amount of differentiation. Thought needs to go into communication strategies - as pupils may not be able to rely on short term memory or literacy skills - and therefore repetitive lesson structures and activities are a great way to frame sessions and build up pupil confidence over time. This should ensure that pupils are not stressed out, and are able to have fun with music!

If this has piqued your interest, I would highly recommend that you read Mawby’s thesis, which is accessible, detailed and fascinating!

Dr Elizabeth Stafford is Editor of Primary Music Magazine, Director of Music Education Solutions, Head of Academic Studies at Resonance, and Senior Lecturer in Professional Studies at Leeds Conservatoire. @DrLizStafford