Teachers’ perceptions of the impact on students of the Musical Futures approach

ABSTRACT

Music education has faced considerable challenges in trying to bridge the gap between music in young people's lives and that taking place in the classroom. The ‘Musical Futures’ (MF) initiative aimed to devise new and imaginative ways of engaging young people, aged 11–19, in music activities through a process of informal learning based on popular music. This research aimed to explore teachers’ perceptions of the impact of adopting the MF approach on students’ learning and attainment. Twenty-eight music teachers completed questionnaires and 30 were interviewed. The majority of music staff agreed that since doing MF, students demonstrated higher levels of attainment, greater enjoyment of and positive attitudes towards music lessons, enhanced musical and performance skills, team working, concentration, confidence, listening skills, musical understanding and independent learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Musical Futures
• informal learning
• teachers' perceptions
• popular music

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Professor Susan Hallam studied the violin at the Royal Academy of Music prior to becoming Principal 2nd violin in the BBC Midland Light Orchestra and Deputy Leader of Orchestra da Camera. She studied BA in Psychology externally with London University and her MSc in the Psychology of Education and her PhD at the Institute of Education, University of London. She is currently Professor of Education and Music Psychology at University College London Institute of Education. She is past editor of Psychology of Music, Psychology of Education Review and Learning Matters and current joint editor of Music Performance Research. She is the author, co-author and editor of numerous books, including Instrumental Teaching: A Practical Guide to Better Teaching and Learning (1998), Music Psychology in Education (2005), Music Education in the 21st Century in the United Kingdom: Achievements, analysis and aspirations (2010), Preparing for success: a practical guide for young musicians (2012), Active Ageing with Music (2014), The power of music: A research synthesis (2015); and the Oxford Handbook of Psychology of Music (2009, 2015).

Dr Andrea Creech is Reader in Education at University College London Institute of Education. Following an international career in music performance and teaching, Andrea Creech completed her PhD in Psychology in Music Education. Since then she has been Principal Investigator, co-director and consultant for funded research and evaluation in the areas of musical development, lifelong learning, ageing and well-being. Her special research interests include issues relating to musical development across the life-span, music and well-being, psychology of ageing and later-life learning.

Dr Hilary McQueen studied music at Edinburgh University and trained as a teacher at St Luke's College of Education, Exeter. She completed a degree in psychology at the Open University and her PhD at King's College, London. She has been head of psychology in two institutions, taught child development of the Open University and now combines teaching and research. Her academic interests include the social sciences, education, music, philosophy and language.