Making music in an inclusive orchestra: a formative experience for teachers towards inclusion

Abstract

In the context of inclusive education great attention has been recently paid to teacher education, a pivotal element of inclusive schools. It has been then found that most researches focus on teachers’ knowledge of inclusive practices, while fundamental components for the collaborative work in schools, such as attitudes towards inclusion or soft skills, are less subject to experimental interventions. The purpose of this on-going doctoral study is to combine the needs of teacher training towards inclusion with the transformative potential attributed to participatory music practices by performance studies, in order to understand the opportunity of using them to work on secondary all-subjects teachers’ attitudes and soft skills. To investigate this subject, the research project is based on quasi-experimental design, with double experimental group and control group. Experimental groups A will take part to a reflective-experiential course, based on the participation in an inclusive orchestra; experimental groups B will join an Index for Inclusion course, while control groups will join only the evaluation phases. The data collection will be held mixing methods, with pre-post quantitative questionnaires; observation of strategies implemented in class, and final in-depth interviews. This research will help clarify the potential interest of training teachers in the context of inclusive orchestra, comparing it with a control group, but also with an already recognized training.