Transition: Using Music to Enable Positive Change
Choice is a powerful thing. Whilst we often bemoan the stresses of adulting, in reality we often don't give this freedom a second thought. Agency is empowering and hands us control. When times are turbulent or changes are afoot, being empowered, having a choice, and being in control can build resilience and help us have a more positive experience whilst navigating difficulties. Moving from primary to secondary school is a challenge all young people face. This change can include saying goodbye to friends and school staff who provided consistent care and support. Often this is even more true for SEN school pupils who have strong bonds with a small community.
Young people with severe / profound & multiple / complex learning needs frequently thrive on routine and connection, but transition is the enemy these. When we change schools, we change one the most important environments outside of home. We interact with new people: peers & staff. For SEN students the change is much more impacting than it is for their mainstream counterparts: their peer/class groups are smaller, and the staff that have known them intimately for many years for help with eating, personal care as well as learning, are suddenly gone. Therefore transition can be hard to understand and accept as the students have no control over it.
Traditionally, a student would visit their new school before moving. But this doesn’t provide them with much time to prepare for their new surroundings or build a connection with new people. Music Making SENse works across settings in South London, predominantly in Lambeth. Some of our schools partner through federations, others are linked as they are the closest provider as students progress. We noticed that our music leader and their teaching was the only consistent factor between our two schools, and through inviting a primary group to rehearse and perform in the secondary school's musical 2019, we realised there was an opportunity to ease transition through music.
Currently, there is little research using music to support transition, and it’s long term impact, in SEN settings. And the COVID pandemic magnified the need and potential for musical intervention. The last few years we have been reeling from a mental health pandemic and many of us can identify with the negative impact to our well-being working from home / lockdowns had. However, some SEN students, due to being extremely clinically vulnerable, had to shield for well over a year. Others had routines suddenly and frequently changed through lockdowns and bubble isolation, and the result is students lost connections with staff & peers, and people outside of their home. This is particularly challenging for SEN students, and gives rise to Frustration, (low self-) Esteem, Anxiety, negative Reactions (e.g. upset and violent behaviour): FEAR which can be harmful to learning progression across all areas and to the welfare of the students and those around them. COVID severely compromised independence, wellbeing, learning and social interactions for our SEN schools students. This project aims to show that music can be the remedy.
Music as we know is universal and an integral part of the human and social experience. It can be therapeutic and is an integral bonding experience for all communities. Through group music making we can create Consistency and Calm, enable students to Know what to expect, increase participant autonomy by Involving them in their learning through choice, and Support needs so that Learning: CLICKS,
A CLICKS-approach to music making reduces FEAR. Group music can re-/connect peers & staff through turn-taking, promoting choice (which develops and reinforces communication strategies) and facilitating interactions (e.g. acknowledging each other). With activities designed to reduce FEAR through CLICKS, we aimed to facilitate progression, and enable autonomy, self-expression, confidence, resilience and positive social interactions. We aimed to mitigate the negative effects of transition, improve well-being and empower our participants to thrive in their community.
From September 2021 to December 2022, Music Making SENse delivered weekly group music making workshops to a primary and secondary SEN school, using music as an intervention against the negative affects of transition. The project was designed to facilitate positive change through social connection, creative ownership and personal achievement, and measure their impact through research. We implemented the CLICKS approach, and put practices in place to reduce FEAR. Central to this was empowering and listening to our participants by facilitating a choice-based approach to learning in SEN settings.
The results of our reseach were effective, impactful and illuminating. So others can benefit from our new approaches we've shared the knowledge we've gained through our resource 'Listening and Responding: A guide to developing a communications and choice-based approach to musical learning in PMLD and SLD settings' and our research report. You can find both available for free on our website: Music Making SENse website.