by Author JWestrup

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Raising the bar: Assessment and Accreditation in SEN/D and music education

Over the next six months, Drake Music will be discussing and advocating for progression for young disabled musicians in music education, with a particular focus on assessment and accreditation.

This forms part of our Think2020 initiative, funded by Youth Music from 2015-18, which aims to increase opportunities for disabled children and young people through strategic and sustainable partnership work in the music education sector.

So. why assessment and accreditation? Drake Music have been campaigning strongly on this topic for some years now, in particular via our DM Education initiative (2008 – 2014) and our own Introduction to Music course. We recognise that many organisations in the music education sector are ready now to start tackling or reappraising the question of how we provide flexible and inclusive opportunities for disabled musicians to be assessed or accredited in music.

In that spirit, Drake Music wants to share what we have learned about this area of work, stimulate debate and to focus minds on how the sector can work strategically together to achieve progress. The activities we’ll be undertaking in the next six months include:

A workshop at the Music Learning Revolution Musical Futures conference looking at how music technology can support inclusion and progression in mainstream music departments (23rd October)

Leading a discussion panel based on a provocation as part of Sound Connection’s Taking Off conference around progression (17th November)

 

Throughout this work will be running some key strands and ideas which we hope will shine a spotlight on this emerging area of music education:

1. Drake Music’s Introduction to Music course

It’s five years since Bradley Warwick became the first person to complete the Introduction to Music (ITM) course, gaining a Level 1 pass in all four units on the course. ITM was one of the first music courses in the UK designed to be accessible to almost any person and over 100 disabled young people have achieved an accredited outcome since Bradley’s groundbreaking success.

Key questions:

  • What impact has the course had on the musical progression of disabled young people?
  • How does Drake Music verify the assessment decisions of special schools across England with very different cohorts of disabled learners?
  • Is the current climate in the music education sector favorable for similar music courses to emerge?

 

2. Creating a music curriculum for a special school

Many special schools currently adapt the National Curriculum for music to suit the needs and interests of their students. One of the key challenges for special school music teachers is to devise activities that offer progressive levels of challenge and interest for learners with a range of needs and abilities and which can be assessed over time via appropriate frameworks. This task may be allotted to a music teacher with a ‘hybrid’ of skills and experience, or to someone who is a non-specialist. Drake Music is delighted to be co-delivering a session on this topic with Jocelyn Watkins from Treloar School at the Music Ed Expo 2016.

Key questions:

  • How do you provide for progression in music in a special school?
  • Which assessment frameworks are available?
  • What role can music hubs play in supporting special schools around progression?

 

3. The role of assistive music technology in supporting progression

Based on our research, the most common issue that special school music teachers have asked for help with is music technology (Source: Three reports written by Drake Music covering 14 Music Hubs and 24 special school visits in the South East and East of England, February 2013 - July 2015) Access to the right instrument is a crucial step in unlocking a disabled musician’s (and any musician’s) enjoyment of music and their potential to improve. 

Key questions:

  • How do you assess the achievement of learners using assistive music technology?
  • Is the music education sector ready to embrace inclusive orchestras where music technology sits alongside conventional instruments?
  • Who will support music teachers to get better at using music technology in their music sessions and how will this happen?

 

I'd love to get people's feedback and thoughts on the current state of opportunities for disabled musicians to be accredited and assessed in music - have you got a personal experience? Or do you have thoughts around what the music education sector should be doing more of in this respect?

 

 

 

 

Working to ensure that SEND music becomes an integral part of music hubs' offer. Establishing and supporting a Community of Learning.