(I have an idea for some research. But, before getting too ahead of myself, I need to lay it out in simple terms. I've a tendency to run away with ideas, become grandiose in my thinking and get distracted easily, before returning to the task at hand, bewildered and confused as to what my initial aim was.)
As a Music Therapist working in an SEN school, I had the intriguing experience of "being OFSTED-ed" in my first few weeks in the role. Being interviewed by OFSTED having only just started my clinical work, in my very first Music Therapy job warrants a whole other article. However, I was mostly struck by how little knowledge there seems to be around our intervention. This was further illuminated by a line of questioning I felt was irrelevant, despite my attempt to give accurate reflections of the work. Ultimately, this led to me being appraised in the OFSTED report in a less than accurate manner; credited for helping young people with their "rhythm"... This experience had me reflecting on the general understanding of Music Therapy in schools and having spoken with a friend and fellow school-based Music Therapist, the suspicion that we are still an unknown entity is creeping forth. So, I was inspired to explore OFSTED's relationship with Music Therapy and I discovered that they cite the intervention as pertaining to "good practice" (this is also referenced by BAMT on their website). After the initial wave of gratitude had passed, I suddenly realised that this did not make sense to me. If OFSTED consider Music Therapy to be of benefit, why do they seem to have a skewed impression of its role? Armed with this question in mind, which I framed in a slightly more tactful manner, I emailed OFSTED. I wanted to know how they came to the conclusion that Music Therapy is of benefit. To this, they responded that they were not qualified to comment and suggested I contact the Department for Education, which I did. Though the DfE gave a slightly more detailed response, they too expressed an inability to comment on the intervention. Instead, they offered a link to their SEND gateway, which contains two references to Music Therapy. However, these are anecdotal and specific, qualitative pieces of work. Perhaps I am expecting too much, but considering our profession has a growing body of Cochrane Reviews (the "gold standard" of research) under our collective belt, surely we have a stronger case to make for the efficacy of our intervention? I feel there is a research gap and I wonder if this could be partly to blame for the misunderstanding of our role in educative settings, which seems to be par for the course? I would like to combat this, by creating a body of work that can support the use of Music Therapy in schools, using language that is easily understood by educators. I think OFSTED could be an effective frame of reference to use, considering its supreme influence in education. To have a discussion around Music Therapy's relevance to schools, in terms of their OFSTED report, would be useful for setting up new work and helping other professionals to accurately understand our intervention. Watch this space.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorHeather Roberts. Writing the occasional blog when the feeling takes me. Archives
September 2018
Categories |