Inclusion is a foundational principle of diversity. Populations with diverse communication styles require creative responses in order to genuinely include and celebrate their diversity across all contexts.
In the Australian education sector by 2051, it has been recommended by the recent Royal Commission that all students will be learning in the same inclusive setting. It is concerning that students who are non-speaking or who have diverse communication styles, may not be able to contribute feedback about their learning in a way that will assist the key players setting up this new education model. There has been some research in this space and this project builds on this research with a focus on music education and inclusive performative experiences for students with unique learning needs.
This presentation reports on the first stage of this project designing an inclusive performative model for students with unique learning needs. A working party of specialist education teachers has formed, led by a music therapist, to design an evaluation rating system. This system is being developed within an action research framework, utilising creative data collection methods, to enable students whatever their communication style, to contribute feedback after classroom music lessons. The evaluative rating system will be exploring their experiences of rehearsing for a musical performative experience. All students should have access to musical performative experiences, but some students with unique learning needs combined with diverse communication styles, encounter more barriers than their mainstream peers to these life-affirming experiences. It is imperative that all student voices can be accessed, heard, and acted upon as part of a larger musical performative experience, and that is what the first stage of this project aims to achieve. It is anticipated that the findings of this project can be applicable across music education and music therapy settings.