New version of Youth Music's quality framework for use in SEN/D settings

Drake Music, one of Youth Music’s strategic partners, have shared their expertise on music-making with disabled young people, in a new version of our reflective practice tool.

What is the quality framework?

A quality framework is a tool to help you understand, measure and evaluate quality in your work. Youth Music’s quality framework - Do, Review, Improve - gathers together all the criteria we believe demonstrate quality in a music-making session. It’s based on evidence we’ve been gathering from the projects we’ve supported since we began in 1999.

We ask all organisations funded by Youth Music to use Do, Review, Improve to reflect on their practice. And we ask anyone applying to us for funding to show how they would build it into their project. However the quality framework can be used by anyone leading a music-making session for children and young people: it’s not just for those holding Youth Music grants.

You can use Do, Review, Improve for planning, peer observation or self-reflection. It’s not intended to be a test, and you don’t need to score yourself or rank yourself against others. Instead, the quality framework is designed to help you think about your practice and the principles behind it, and to identify areas you may wish to develop.

  Why have we created a new version for projects delivered in SEN/D settings?

Youth Music’s quality framework is flexible and can be used for any kind of music-making project. However, the criteria might look different in different kinds of settings. There are increasing numbers of young people with additional needs participating in music-making. Around a quarter of projects supported by Youth Music specialise in working with children and young people in special educational needs and/or disability settings.

Drake Music is one of Youth Music’s strategic partners. They’re experts in music delivery in SEN/D settings and in using technology to break down disabling barriers to music-making.

They’ve taken the original quality framework (first published in 2013), and built upon it in the following ways:

• Adding extra information offering practical insights and suggestions for making music with young people with additional needs.  
• Giving examples illustrating how these suggestions might work in practice.

Download Do, Review, Improve… A quality framework for use in music-making sessions working with young people in SEN/D settings (PDF version)

Download Do, Review, Improve… A quality framework for use in music-making sessions working with young people in SEN/D settings (Word version)

Click here for the original version of Youth Music's quality framework.