The ecology for fostering the musical creativity of students with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

Students with intellectual disabilities in Hong Kong are placed in special schools in their neighborhoods according to their categories of intellectual disabilities. Music teachers in these special schools implement a school-based music curriculum that includes the learning objective “creativity and imagination.” Reporting a qualitative multiple-case study with purposeful sampling and face-to-face interviews, this study poses the research question “What are the ecological elements for fostering the musical creativity of students with intellectual disabilities?” Respondents identify five elements as essential in fostering their students’ musical creativity: (1) opportunity for play and exploration; (2) providing support guidance and demonstration; (3) opportunity to develop a sense of engagement; (4) opportunity for making choices; and (5) providing positive reinforcement and feedback. A discussion of this data reveals how the dual impact of lacking professional training in music education for students with intellectual disabilities and cultural perspective diminishes respondents’ expectations of their students’ creative capacity.

Music and young people with intellectual disability: A scoping review

“…Finally, the main study variables that are associated with participants' creativity are engagement and musical skills. As Wong (2022) concludes, opportunities to play and explore and to develop feelings of engagement are two conditions that foster creative expression.…”

“…This utilitarian perspective on music was gradually replaced by a recognition that music interventions contribute positively to overall development in learners with ID (Brown & Jellison, 2012;Gemma et al, 2020) as well as their social and academic inclusion (Salvador, 2015). More recently, advancing beyond the utilitarian perspective, Wong (2015Wong ( , 2021Wong ( , 2022 conducted several studies on musical creativity in students with ID. Her recent study (2021) in Hong Kong examines how the curriculum requires teachers to develop music skills, creativity, and imagination in all their students and to achieve the same learning targets for all, regardless of ID status.…”

The Implementation of Inclusion and Pedagogical Support in Music Education: A Systematic Review

“…Two studies (Perry, 2022;Rozsics, 2010) were left out since they were inaccessible. Total of 19 studies (Altun & Eyüpoğlu, 2018;Bremmer et al, 2021;INCLUSIVE MUSIC EDUCATION REVIEW Preprint v1 | 180624 Draper, 2022;Draper, 2017;Draper et al, 2019;Majerus & Taylor, 2020;Monk et al, 2013;Pino, 2022;Salvador, 2015;Salvador et al, 2020;Smith, 2018;Sutela et al, 2020;VanWeelden & Whipple, 2014;Whipple & VanWeelden, 2012;Wilde & Welch, 2022;Wong, 2021;Wong & Chik, 2015, 2016aWong & Chik, 2016b) were included in the extraction phase (see Table 1).…”

Musikundervisning för grundsärskolan? – en forskningsöversikt

“…Även den sista artikeln under detta tema går på samma linje, men utifrån en diskussion om professionalism inom musikutbildningar och samverkan mellan professioner (Laes et al, 2021) Inom området att vara musiklärare för elever med IF handlar studierna främst om inkluderad musikundervisning och om lärares uppfattade uppdrag i detta arbete, som att skapa sociala sammanhang, skapa förutsättningar för delaktighet och att individualisera (t.ex. Jellison et al 1984;Darrow & Adamek, 2017;Salvador, 2015;Wong, 2021;Wong et al, 2016), men också att förhålla sig till föräldrars förväntningar (Fidler et al, 2003). Förutom Dinsmore (1952) saknas studier där lärarna ger uttryck för att deras uppdrag är att undervisa för utvecklat musikkunnande.…”

“…Resurser som flera studier nämner är specialdesignade instrument för elever med IF (jfr Ellis, 1996;Darrow & Adamek, 2017), vilket kan vara ett sätt att anpassa undervisning. Framförallt Bell (2014) I område 2) att organisera musikundervisning för elever med IF -ramar utan innehåll, framträder att musikundervisningen ska förbereda eller utveckla annat än musikkunskap, såsom sociala aspekter, social samhörighet, kommunikationsförmåga och generella förmågor såsom kreativitet och fantasi (Dinsmore, 1962;Wong, 2021). Av den svenska studien (Sjöqvist et al, 2021) framgår att även rektorer verkar göra liknande prioriteringar.…”