Our teacher training days each year are precious moments. All term our teachers rush (or more recently zoom) between schools, tuning hundreds of instruments, making their students laugh and delighting families with the possibilities of learning their instrument. Training days – by contrast – are a much needed space carved out for the team to support one another in the learning and development of our practice as educators. Content on these days is designed to enrich and engage us to grow our work thoughtfully and responsibly, but also provide opportunities to reflect on previous teaching and refresh teaching ideas, a collective reset.

This year the team have embraced this opportunity to dig into important and sometimes provocative discussions around what it means to truly teach inclusively. With a combination of reading and research tasks to help contextualise this work into some of the current and broader conversations happening in music education, the team have begun exploring their practice in areas such as Youth Voice, Decolonising the Music Curriculum, Diversifying Teaching Repertoire and learning about Race and Class in Classical Music via discussion groups and peer reflection.

Last Friday’s training was a culmination of these conversations where we were joined by some of the most exciting voices emerging in these areas to support us on our journey. Mahaliah Edwards, a violinist and educator passionate about equipping other music teachers with practical tools for incorporating a rich and diverse repertoire into lessons, led us through creative approaches to choosing new repertoire exploring pedagogical links with technique and musicianship along the way. A powerhouse of ideas and energy, our team learnt Clave rhythms alongside Mahaliah’s own arrangement of Florence Price’s Adoration as well as how to facilitate authentic, student led cultural exchange in the classroom. In the afternoon, Dr Anna Bull, author of Class, Control and Classical Music and Helen Dromey, an expert in whole class violin teaching, mentor for ESTA and also conducting her own PhD in inclusive group teaching introduced fascinating research and statistical data around the social and cultural barriers to music education. Anna and Helen facilitated challenging discussion and used powerful modelling of reflective reading and writing practice as a catalyst for teaching innovation.

With the pandemic further exacerbating the preexisting inequalities in access to music education, our responsibility and response – ability as educators is never more pressing. This is why our commitment to maintaining this protected space for teachers to listen and learn with open ears, kindness and curiosity continue to be at the heart of what we do.

Katrina Damigos, Professional Development Manager and Team Teach Course Leader

Applications are open  for Team Teach: PGCEi in Group Instrument Learning 2021/22, the teacher training course launched with Birmingham City University. All places are fully funded and the course is now open to all instruments.

Diversity and inclusion is central to the work of Music Masters. In July 2020, Music Masters launched the trial version of I’M IN: The Inclusive Music Index, a diversity and inclusion tool for the arts sector.