Our project
'Innovate to Create II: Creating a toolkit of teaching and learning approaches in and between music and English language education' has centred on the exploration, sharing and formalising of pedagogical approaches in and between music and English language teaching, including examination of where these disciplines crossover such as in spoken word and performance poetry, using an action research approach.
Our partnership of five schools, experienced and successful in music and English language teaching, alongside key external partner organisations, has explored the practice each country has developed in these two disciplines. This toolkit is our attempt to share these learnings with the broader community of music and English language educators across Europe.
The excellent relationships the five schools have with external organisations and practitioners has contributed an added perspective to the exploration of pedagogical approaches in these disciplines, such that the project has sought to understand the contribution these and similar organisations and practitioners make to students’ learning and to the broader development of pedagogies in music and English language. This approach has seen qualified teachers working with cultural education professionals to share their teaching and learning practices and approaches in music and English language. The project has examined the synergies between these two subject areas – such as through spoken word and rhythm and the development of language through effective questioning strategies – to establish shared approaches that will support students' learning.
The project has continued the successful work undertaken by the partnership in previous Comenius and Erasmus+ partnerships, with the addition of a new school to the partnership: Almby skola in Örebro, Sweden, which faces similar socio-cultural challenges – low household incomes and immigration – to the four existing schools. We have also attempted to consider what positive impact arises within a school-to-school self-improvement system; this project has placed that idea at its core as we have attempted to understand, develop and share the most effective approaches within and beyond the partner schools.
