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Abstract

This study explores the sustained practices of six classroom teachers after their participation in a novel music therapy informed professional learning program, Music for Classroom Wellbeing. Amid growing concerns about student mental health and teacher attrition, effective strategies to promote classroom wellbeing are urgently needed. The program aimed to enhance teachers’ capacity to foster safe and supportive classroom environments through intentional use of musical practices. Using a critical ethnographic approach, data was collected through participant interviews 6 months after the program’s conclusion and inductively analysed to find common themes. Findings revealed that teachers sustained their intentional use of music in three ways: to strengthen relationships, support emotional regulation, and differentiate learning. The study highlights the potential of music-based interventions in promoting both student and teacher wellbeing, as well as supporting inclusive pedagogical practices. Recommendations are made for future innovative approaches to teacher professional learning and classroom wellbeing.

Keywords

teacher professional learning teacher wellbeing student wellbeing music inclusive pedagogies social-emotional learning

Introduction

Research continues to emphasise the value of arts-based pedagogies in promoting inclusive, engaging, and emotionally supportive classroom environments (Ewing, 2010; Hallam, 2010). Music, in particular, has been shown to foster growth across a range of developmental domains, including emotional literacy, attention, and relational connectedness. Faulkner and Davidson (2006) argue that even simple musical strategies can enhance students’ ability to express emotions and develop interpersonal awareness, while Hallam (2010) synthesises evidence of the impact of music making on social outcomes across school settings. Arts-based approaches, particularly when aligned with social and emotional learning goals, can contribute to inclusive pedagogy by offering multimodal entry points for diverse learners (Allan, 2014; Van Droogenbroeck et al., 2014). However, despite the positive potential of integrating music into primary school classrooms, generalist teachers often receive limited formal training in music education (Carroll & Harris, 2023).

At the same time, a growing body of literature highlights the interrelatedness of the wellbeing of students and teachers within school classrooms (Harding et al., 2019). A positive classroom climate has been described as building students’ overall educational resilience, and influencing learning outcomes (Roorda et al., 2011). However, many teachers remained ill-equipped by their university training to respond effectively to the diverse needs of students in their classroom (Dally et al., 2019). Not only are they expected to respond to the learning needs of students with diagnosed disabilities, Brunzell et al. (2016) described additional challenges of accommodating the needs of students who have experienced trauma. More recently, authors have again called for research exploring tailoring trauma informed approaches to meet diverse student needs and mental health challenges (Norrish & Brunzell, 2023). Furthermore, the intensification of the teaching profession through increased expectations have led to high rates of burnout within experienced teachers (Van Droogenbroeck et al., 2014). Professional obligation to comply with constantly changing accountability measures within the current education climate is explained as overwhelming for teachers (Ryan & Bourke, 2013), with many choosing to leave the profession. Teacher professional learning programs that promote the wellbeing of both teachers and diverse groups of students is therefore a crucial task in maximising potential of student learning outcomes.

Supportive and Context-Bound Professional Learning

Teacher education seminars that reinforce the performative pressures placed upon teachers abound, although they often take place outside of the school context (Mockler, 2013). By contrast, within this study, optimal professional learning is understood as the opportunity to seek collaborative support within the context of the teachers’ own classroom, aligning with guidelines provided by the national governing body for teaching and school leadership (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL], 2020). Collaboration with colleagues in a community of practice (Wenger, 1998) is also considered to be a fundamental component of effective teacher professional learning best practice. The importance of systemic resources (including a shared focus aligned to curriculum mandates and dedicated time and place to collaborate) are crucial for effective teacher professional learning (Lipscombe et al., 2020). Professional learning programs that provide teachers with emotional literacy skills (Hagelskamp et al., 2013) and attend to the wellbeing needs of teachers (Acton & Glasgow, 2015) are increasingly understood as prerequisites for teachers’ use of practices to support student wellbeing.

In the Australian educational policy landscape, teacher practice is the primary mechanism through which both student learning and wellbeing outcomes are enacted and assessed. The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL, 2017) place responsibility on educators to create safe and supportive environments and to differentiate teaching based on student needs. Similarly, the Victorian Curriculum’s Personal and Social Capability strand (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority [VCAA], 2016) emphasises social-emotional learning as integral to student development, and this is typically enacted through teacher-led practices rather than formally assessed in students. Given this, focussing on teachers’ sustained practices offers a valid and meaningful lens through which to evaluate the impacts of wellbeing-oriented professional learning.

Music Therapy Informed Professional Learning

Music therapy is a research-based profession in which university educated music therapy practitioners address the needs of individuals and groups through the planned use of music (Wheeler, 2015). The practice of music therapy in Australian educational settings is widespread and diverse, tailored to the needs of school communities (McFerran & Steele, 2024). For example, music therapists often utilise the emotional connections of students’ preferred music to support the development of emotion management or draw on reward frameworks to utilise the motivating qualities of musical engagement to rehearse skills and behaviours (Rickson & McFerran, 2014).

Music therapists traditionally interact directly with individual students or groups to address a commonly identified need (McFerran, 2014). However, recognition of the critical need to support teachers in schools has led to numerous studies about sharing knowledge with teachers so that they may incorporate the principles of music therapy into their ongoing practice with students (Steele et al., 2020). Community music therapy consultation programs incorporate collaboration with teachers to build flourishing school musical cultures in a sustainable manner (Margetts, 2023; McFerran & Rickson, 2014; Steele et al., 2023). In particular, music therapists have sought to promote teachers’ sustained abilities to use inclusive teaching methods (Rickson, 2012; Steele et al., 2023), strengthen relationships (Margetts, 2023; McFerran et al., 2015), and foster students’ self-regulatory capacity (Williams et al., 2020) through the use of music. Music therapists working in this manner tend to utilise practices that can be sustained with minimal preparation or specialist equipment in the everyday classroom context (Rickson, 2012). However, as we have previously asserted, (Steele et al., 2020), it has been challenging for teachers to demonstrate sustained use of musical practices after their collaboration in music therapy consultation programs.

The Current Study

The music therapy informed professional learning program, Music for Classroom Wellbeing, sought to integrate music therapy theory and practice with contemporary pedagogy and educational policy to address this challenge. This program was developed as part of a wider research project exploring sustainable school arts provision. The program itself drew upon our previous work exploring the role of passionate individuals (McFerran et al., 2021) and processes for determining leadership priorities (McFerran et al., 2022) in sustainable school arts provision. Building on these foundations, we designed the Music for Classroom Wellbeing program to support generalist teachers to embed musical strategies to foster wellbeing in an inclusive and sustainable manner. Within this professional learning program and study, teachers were invited to explore ways they could promote wellbeing of all members of the classroom in a manner that was personally meaningful to them.

The concept “classroom wellbeing” denotes the interrelated wellbeing of students, teachers, and student-teacher relationships that transpires within a classroom setting and is presented in Figure 1. In this research project, music was used as a starting point to support teachers to sustain the use of practices that fostered wellbeing in their classroom. The concept of classroom wellbeing is understood to be made up of three interrelated components: student wellbeing, teacher wellbeing, and positive relationships between students and teachers.

Figure 1.

Illustration of Classroom Wellbeing

The study reported in this article sought to identify any sustained outcomes of teacher participation in the Music for Classroom Wellbeing program. This article describes the sustained practices of six primary school teachers after their participation in the program.

Method

Research Design

A critical pragmatist stance (Ulrich, 2007) was held within this investigation. Kadlec (2006) asserts that researchers holding a critical pragmatist philosophy seek to develop an understanding of the practices that assist people in an everchanging sociopolitical world. This encompasses conducting research in order to develop knowledge that has “potential for changing [original emphasis] the way professionals understand their role and “behave in”” (Ulrich, 2007, p. 1110).

Processes of data collection and meaning making were informed by a critical ethnographic methodological perspective (Madison, 2012). A critical ethnographic researcher viewpoint extends on a traditional ethnographic exploration of culture by beginning with the ethical agenda of developing knowledge that will contribute to transformational change. Critical ethnographers seek to identify and highlight aspects of culture that contribute to power imbalances or oppression and aim to collaborate with individuals and communities towards personal growth and social change (Erickson, 2011). Within the context of this inquiry, we sought to address the imbalances embedded within the current education system that place significant performative pressures on teacher participants and hinders their use of inclusive pedagogical practices. The professional learning program was designed to empower teachers to develop their use of critical, inclusive, creative pedagogies and self-care practices so they might become active agents of change within their own classroom.

Participants

The study of a Music for Classroom Wellbeing professional learning program took place within a culturally diverse Catholic primary school of approximately four hundred students and 30 teaching staff in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. All teachers were offered the opportunity to participate in the program and study at a school staff meeting. Ethical approval for undertaking data collection for this study was granted by the University of Melbourne Humanities and Applied Sciences Human Ethics Sub-committee (Project 1545449.4) and Catholic Education Melbourne Analysis, Policy & Research Team (Project 0616).

Six classroom teachers consented to participate. Teachers are introduced in Table 1 (pseudonyms used), alongside information about their personally chosen learning intentions and examples of the musical engagements undertaken within the program to illustrate the focus for each participating teacher. Teacher professional learning intentions are taken from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL, 2017) and student curriculum learning intentions are taken from the Victorian Personal and Social Capability Curriculum Guidelines (VCAA, 2016).

Table 1.

Participants’ Years of Experience, Selected Learning Intentions, and Planned Musical Engagements

Teacher	Years teaching	Teachers learning intention	Student learning focus	Planned musical engagements
Kafka	1	Graduate teacher 4.2 Demonstrate the capacity to organise classroom activities and provide clear directions.	Level 1 and 2: Listen to others’ ideas and recognise that others may see things differently.	Write and use chant in the classroom to support student transitions, sing ‘Same and Different’ song to promote acceptance of differences.
Liz	3	Graduate teacher 1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.	Foundation: Recognise that problems or challenges are a normal part of life and that there are actions that can be undertaken to manage problems.	Begin to learn guitar, sing songs about how to manage problems that students experience.
Jen	5	Proficient teacher 4.1 Establish and implement inclusive and positive interactions to engage and support all students in classroom activities.	Level 3 and 4: Demonstrate skills for effective participation in group tasks and use criteria provided to reflect on the effectiveness of the teams in which they participate.	Small groups create improvisations on percussion instruments, perform for class and students observe and comment on characteristics that worked/didn’t work.
Kate	15	Proficient teacher 3.6 Evaluate personal teaching and learning programs using evidence, including feedback from students and student assessment data, to inform planning.	Foundation: Develop a vocabulary and practise the expression of emotions to describe how they feel in different familiar situations.	Sing songs to label emotions as part of literacy program, use the keyboard in her classroom.
Justine	16	Highly accomplished teacher 4.1 Model effective practice and support colleagues to implement inclusive strategies that engage and support all students.	Level 5 and 6: Explore the links between their emotions and their behaviour.	Students create personal Music for Classroom Wellbeing playlist and write song about emotions in small group.
Amelia	32	Highly accomplished teacher 4.1 Model effective practice and support colleagues to implement inclusive strategies that engage and support all students.	Level 1 and 2: Use basic skills required for participation in group tasks and respond to simple questions about their contribution to group tasks.	Form a class band and perform a song at assembly, reclaim her personal relationship with music.

The Program

The Music for Classroom Wellbeing professional learning program took place 1 day a week over 16 weeks. The initial 5 weeks of the professional learning program incorporated the assessment and collaborative planning phases of the program. During these weeks the program facilitator (first author) spent time observing each teacher in their classroom and dialoguing with teachers about personal resources and classroom wellbeing needs. Each teacher then collaborated (individually) with the program facilitator to set intentions for their own professional learning and student learning. Within this process, teachers were supported to set personal learning intentions related to the national standards of teacher practice (AITSL, 2017) and plan musical engagements with students to address the personal and social capability curriculum guidelines (VCAA, 2016). Classroom musical engagements were then planned to address these learning intentions and teachers assisted to leverage the affordances of music to promote wellbeing in their classroom in a manner that was personalised for them.

Over the remaining 9 weeks of the program the program facilitator mentored each teacher to build their confidence in implementing weekly musical engagements with the students in their classroom. In addition to a weekly classroom-based session with each teacher and their students, this process involved regularly meeting with teachers to plan for classroom sessions. The program facilitator also engaged in music making activities to address teachers’ personal wellbeing needs. Additionally, all six teachers met as a group at fortnightly facilitated professional learning community meetings.

Data Collection

Six months after the conclusion of the Music for Classroom Wellbeing professional learning program, teachers were contacted via email and invited to participate in a follow-up ethnographically informed interview (Madison, 2012) about their experiences. Based on prior experiences working with the participants during the professional learning program, a list of open-ended questions was developed. Participants were also offered the opportunity to provide any further comments at the end of the interview. Five of the six teachers were working with a different class group from the one that had been observed during the professional learning program, which took place the prior year. The final teacher was on maternity at the time of her interview.

Data Analysis

The data was analysed inductively to identify what meanings teachers ascribed to their participation in the program, which meant that findings emerged through interpretation of the data without pre-determined hypotheses. This involved making interpretations through the process of coding common themes (Madison, 2012), as well as reflecting upon what remained unspoken and assumed within participant responses. Teachers’ statements pertaining to the research question of ‘What are the sustained outcomes of teacher participation?’ were grouped together as codes. An iterative process was then employed to explore different ways of categorising the codes according to themes which involved experimenting with different codes labels and seeing how varying emphases led to different categorisations. This was continued until consistent groupings emerged. Then, the same iterative process was employed to responses to the question ‘What factors helped and hindered the development of sustained outcomes?’

Findings

When describing how they were still using music with students in their new class group, all the teachers demonstrated their ability to articulate why they had selected specific musical strategies to address the needs of their students. In addition to sustaining their use of music with their students, four of the six teachers also described continued use of music in their personal life that was inspired by their participation in the professional learning program. The other two teachers maintained their existing use of music in their personal life. Findings from this exploration showed that 6 months after the conclusion of the professional learning program, teachers had sustained their use of music in three distinct ways: to strengthen relationships, regulate emotions, and differentiate learning.

Music to Strengthen Relationships

Through their reflections, teachers indicated that strengthening relationships between students was a core component of building wellbeing in the classroom. Their descriptions included the following: “promoting students working together”, “forming friendships”, “working in a circle”, “watching and coordinating with each other”, “[holding] eye contact and listening to another person”, “helping each other and not racing ahead”, and “getting students to reflect and take part in how the classroom is being managed”.

Additionally, several teachers alluded to the way that sharing music helped them to build closer relationships with their students. Newly graduated teacher Kafka stated, “I feel like that I’m more able to give part of myself authentically to the students and build a better relationship that way”. Amelia spoke of the way that strengthened her relationship with one of her students:

This one little girl in particular who's just wary of me, doesn't say much to me, doesn't make a lot of eye contact. So, one day I shared this song that I liked and then I got up and started dancing and she was the first one that came up and started dancing with me. And it was like “oh, I've never seen this side of you before”, this smile on her face. And we had a dance together. We didn't say anything but made eye contact and it was lovely.

Interestingly, the opportunity to share music among the six teachers within community of practice meetings was also described as a valuable way in which teachers could share with others with a similar teaching philosophy to their own. Indeed, 6 months after the completion of the program Kafka and Amelia were continuing to regularly dialogue with one other to plan their use of music in the classroom and had sustained the widest use of classroom musical practices in comparison to their colleagues.

While unintended, for some teachers, using music in their personal lives had helped to strengthen relationships with close family members. When speaking about playing music with her 11-week-old son, Jen stated:

He really likes the drum, and we just make up songs and sing and he giggles, oh, well he laughs, he’s not giggling yet, but he does a cute little laugh, and it keeps him interested while he’s doing tummy time…. it is lots of fun.

Music to Regulate Emotions

Another sustained use of music described by teachers was to regulate the emotions of their students and themselves. Teachers described intentionally using music for “student mood regulation” and “building student concentration and focus” and using music in ways that made them and their students feel calm and have fun. For example, Kafka shared that when his students sing in the classroom “they’re happy and because they’re happy they’re more willing to learn and they’re motivated, and they’re not closed minded”.

Moreover, some of the teachers spoke of the ways that engaging in music with their students also impacted their own mood and allowed them to experience some enjoyment amongst the many stressors of the teaching role. Liz mentioned “I listen to it every morning by myself when I get to work. I put my Italian music or Spanish music, like, I'll put something on just to… because that relaxes me”. The most senior teacher, Amelia, stated that teaching:

… it's getting everybody down. You know, just the workload and the paperwork and everything that's being shoved on you. It's just, there's no time to teach. But as soon as I put on the music or we have a little dance together it just brings out the best in me… I get bogged down in just the, not the drudgery but just the way the job is. It's so hard. And yet, you know, I've been able to find this beautiful little light that - it can be fun. You can bring the fun back into teaching and it doesn't have to be anything big or grand.

Kate also described starting a ritual of singing a particular song with her students in the morning:

I had tears in my eyes…I couldn't believe how the kids really got into it and how good it made me feel as well… and then afterwards I felt more positive about the day and what I had to do.

And Justine wrote:

I guess one of the biggest positives to come from working with you this year is the fact that I think of music as a go-to now. When thinking about student behaviour and their needs, I think about music and how this can help. It certainly beats losing my temper and getting angry. That's a win for my wellbeing and student wellbeing!

Two of the teachers had extended their personal use of music in formalised ways through joining a community singing group and beginning piano lessons. Both teachers spoke of the way that reconnecting with their own musicality had been an extremely positive outcome prompted by their participation in the Music for Classroom Wellbeing professional learning program. Jen spoke of playing instruments and making up songs with her newborn infant as:

I know how important music is through doing the music program with you. So, I wanted to introduce music to him, and I’ve heard people say that music from a young age is really good for them, and it’s just, it’s fun.

Music to Differentiate Learning

Each of the five teachers who were teaching at the time of their interviews described varying ways they had sustained their use of music to address individual student learning needs within their new student group. This had been an important focus within the program, emphasising inclusive pedagogies in keeping with the Australian Professional Teaching Standards (AITSL, 2017) appropriate to their level of teaching expertise. Early-career teachers used the music-based strategies from the program to improve their ability to differentiate instruction. For instance, Liz, a new teacher, reported: “With the new knowledge I have now, I’m thinking of different ways to cater to the different needs this year”. This suggests that the program helped novice teachers develop and sustain more varied teaching approaches to meet diverse student needs.

After joining a community choir, Amelia shared “I've taken a few ideas from the music group and worked that with my class - like teaching them lines in songs and little actions”. She went on to describe the way she had altered the music making activity to suit the differing needs of her new class group saying:

…that's how I'm sort of trying to differentiate it for the kids…. But if it gets too hard we pull it back again so that everybody - I mean that's the point of it, isn't it? Having a band that everybody is in - inclusive and included in it. Even if they can't get it [the] first time or after practice - they're still included. They're still valued and they still have a part to play.

In keeping with the national standards of practice for highly accomplished teachers (AITSL, 2017), Amelia also chose to lead her colleagues through modelling these practices at whole school assembly performances.

Four of the teachers outlined the ways in which they had begun to integrate music alongside learning content from other curriculum areas such as literacy and numeracy using song and chants. For example, when speaking about her idea to use music to engage her students in learning to count, Liz said:

It just kind of came to me… we had, I don’t know what the instrument is called, kind of like a xylophone. So going up and going down. So, as we were counting to ten, I went bump, you know, like going up and then back was going back down. So little things like that work really well.

Kate also mentioned using rhymes and chants to align with her classroom literacy program.

Discussion

The findings from this exploration indicated that teachers were able to sustain their use of music to address both wellbeing and learning domains after their participation in the program. These sustained outcomes reflect teachers’ capacity to implement the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers across multiple domains. For example, the intentional use of music to foster relationships aligns with Standard 4.1 (Support student participation), while using music to co-regulate emotional states supports Standard 4.3 (Manage challenging behaviour) and aligns with the Victorian Curriculum’s Personal and Social Capability learning outcomes. Differentiated musical strategies demonstrate teachers’ engagement with Standard 1.5 (Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students). These alignments reinforce the potential of music therapy informed professional learning to embed inclusive, curriculum-aligned practices into generalist primary school classrooms, in ways that simultaneously support teacher wellbeing and student engagement.

This study showed similar findings to other studies that have highlighted increased sense of belonging (Rickson et al., 2018) and engagement between students and teachers and in learning (McFerran et al., 2017) following participation in a music therapy informed consultation program. However, the difference appeared to be that in this study, teachers appeared more readily able to initiate musical engagements to intentionally address an identified need, even with their new class group. When speaking about the ways in which they were able to sustain their use of music in the classroom, teachers regularly referred to the way that the musical engagements they continued to lead were small, simple, and did not require much prior preparation. This finding supports our previous insight (Steele et al., 2020) that supporting teachers to develop their ability to use music in complex therapeutic ways with students was an unrealistic expectation, and not in keeping with teachers’ already challenging job role. Rather, encouraging classroom teachers to develop their confidence with using music in seemingly small ways with equipment they already had at hand appeared to support their sustained ability to use music as a tool to engage students in learning. It is further contended that the inclusive and non-elitist nature of the musical engagements experienced by teachers provided an enjoyable and novel starting point for teachers to explore new ways to enact inclusive pedagogical practices.

Teachers used inclusive pedagogies to promote structured learning outcomes by conducting musical activities that were adapted to meet the diverse needs of their students. They used music to present learning content in multiple ways, as in the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as described by van Kraayenoord et al. (2014). This approach allowed students to engage with the material through various modes of representation. This aligns with the perspectives of critical inclusive educator, Allan (2014), who argued that art making affords the potential for realising inclusive educational practices, and “offers an extraordinary inclusive potential by orienting the educator towards difference as ordinary and something to be expected and even sought” (p. 521).

The learning intentions described by teachers appeared to indicate that they were continuing to address students’ personal and social capability learning (VCAA, 2016) through the use of music. Researchers have previously discussed the potential of school arts activities in addressing student learning related to cross-curricular capabilities (Cabedo-Mas et al., 2017). However, these curriculum areas are generally not addressed within teacher-training courses nor consistently prioritised by classroom teachers (Moss et al., 2019).

The personal musical practices described by teachers as a sustained outcome from their participation in the Music for Classroom Wellbeing professional learning program could be viewed as a form of self-care that indirectly supported their personal wellbeing in the classroom. Researchers have highlighted the importance of teachers actively engaging in self-care practices when working within the contemporary education climate (McKay, 2019; Skovholt & Trotter-Mathison, 2011). McKay (2019) describes engaging in dialogue about self-care practices as a crucial component of teacher education and illustrates the potential for arts-based reflection within this process.

The sustained positive outcomes of this program suggest that teacher professional development should integrate both instructional strategies and co-regulation and care practices, rather than treating these as separate areas of focus. Just as the importance of student wellbeing is understood as a necessary starting point for student learning in the classroom, teachers must also feel calm and well when developing their own teaching practices, and in turn co-regulate with students. This finding aligns with the assertion made by educational scholar Mockler (2013) who has argued that

teacher professional learning has the capacity to constitute one element of “identity work” for teachers, lying at the intersection of professional context and personal experience and requiring both professional and personal relevance to lead to changes in practice (p. 42).

Despite the positive outcomes described by teachers, there were some aspects of the program that were perceived as problematic. It was noted that participants appeared understandably reticent to engage in a robust discussion about the challenges and limitations of the professional learning program with the program facilitator/researcher conducting interviews. This is likely because they did not want to seem to be critical of the program when speaking to the program facilitator. However, it was felt that the process of engaging in reflection on teachers’ responses to interview questions alongside consideration of the prior experiences between interviewee and interviewer allowed understandings of unhelpful aspects of the program to emerge.

One of the teachers, Kate, additionally lamented the way that she had only continued to use “music as a way for kids to learn” rather than extend upon promoting the wellbeing of her students the year after the professional learning program had ended. Kate explained that she had not felt able to extend on the knowledge she had developed within the program due to time pressures and a lack of ongoing encouragement. While we suspect that Kate was already using a range of practices to strengthen relationships and foster emotional regulation in her teaching practice, and as such did not have a need to draw on music as a means of doing so, this teacher’s experience echoed the words of other music therapy scholars who have written about the necessity for ongoing regular support after music therapy consultation and collaboration with teachers have ceased (Bolger & McFerran, 2013; Coombes, 2011; Coombes & Tombs-Katz, 2009; Margetts, 2023; McFerran et al., 2015; Rickson, 2012). It is recommended that future programs informed by Music for Classroom Wellbeing include follow-up support so that teachers may be both encouraged to continue to use practices learnt, as well as reassurance when this is not possible. Further investigation into the potential for the role of targeted professional learning programs in fostering the wellbeing of all members of the classroom, teachers as well as students, is needed.

Limitations

Despite the positive outcomes described by teachers, some limitations in the current study were also evident. As the program facilitator also conducted the interviews, participants were understandably reticent to offer critique. While this dual role may have limited participants’ willingness to discuss challenges openly, the process of reflexive analysis – incorporating both interview content and prior contextual knowledge of the teachers’ experiences – allowed for a nuanced interpretation of both the helpful and less helpful aspects of the program. A more formal evaluation process with independent interviewers may offer additional insights in future iterations of the program. It should also be acknowledged that the participants self-selected into the program and the study and thus may have had an existing interest in music and incorporating music into their classrooms.

Implications for Future Research and Policy

There are a range of recommendations that can be made based on this research study. The approach to professional learning described in this article has demonstrated that music therapy informed practices can be successfully incorporated into teacher practices to promote both student and teacher wellbeing. This approach to teacher professional learning may also be useful in pre-service teacher education programs, as well as with early childhood educators. Our findings support the integration of music into various aspects of classroom practice, not just as a separate subject but as a tool for relationship-building, emotional regulation, and differentiated instruction. Furthermore, we emphasise the impact of simple, accessible musical activities that do not require extensive preparation or specialised equipment as demonstrated by this study. It would be valuable to provide ongoing support and follow-up to teachers after the initial program to help them to further develop their new practices. Another way of sustaining benefits is by fostering collaboration among teachers to share ideas and support each other in implementing music-based strategies.

Other recommendations from this research relate to the design of professional learning programs that are personally tailored and situated within the school community context. Programs should differentiate professional learning approaches based on teachers’ career stages, addressing pedagogical skills for early-career teachers and self-care practices for more experienced educators. School leadership staff are encouraged to support and prioritise wellbeing-focused professional development opportunities for teachers. Further exploration into the role of music therapy informed teacher professional learning practices with teachers at different career stages is needed.

Conclusion

While wellbeing initiatives are often evaluated in terms of their impact on students, this research contributes to a growing body of literature recognising the classroom as a relational and dynamic space in which teacher wellbeing and pedagogy co-construct the conditions for student engagement. The findings of the current study support the notion that teacher professional learning must be both professionally and personally relevant in order to bring about meaningful change – particularly within a policy environment focused on standardisation and accountability.

This inquiry has introduced a new way for using musical engagement as a starting point for supporting teachers to foster classroom wellbeing in a manner that honours the needs of teachers. We close with the words of the most experienced teacher, Amelia:

I’m going to be honest – in this school one person gets paid to be the music teacher and knows all about the music and has all the instruments, and you [generalist classroom teachers] don’t have anything to do with it. It’s almost like you can’t overstep that boundary. And I thought no, I’m not having that now, I’m going to push this [boundary] a little bit more. I want instruments in my classroom. I want music to be a bigger part. I want people to share and now that music’s just not in the music room anymore. It’s coming out.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which this paper was written, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nations, and pay our respects to elders past and present. The investigation described within this article took place within the larger ethnographically informed exploration of the Music for Classroom Wellbeing professional learning program for the first authors’ PhD studies. The second and third authors assumed a supervisory role within this investigation. The first author would like to acknowledge the integral support of Dr Grace Thompson for her assistance in exploring ethical considerations related to this inquiry and Dr Lisa McKay-Brown for providing an educational perspective during this research project.

ORCID iDs

Megan Ellen Steele

Alexander Hew Dale Crooke

Katrina Skewes McFerran

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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‘I Think About Music and How This can Help’ – Exploring Sustained Outcomes From a Music Therapy Informed Teacher Professional Learning Program

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Supportive and Context-Bound Professional Learning

Music Therapy Informed Professional Learning

The Current Study

Method

Research Design

Participants

The Program

Data Collection

Data Analysis

Findings

Music to Strengthen Relationships

Music to Regulate Emotions

Music to Differentiate Learning

Discussion

Limitations

Implications for Future Research and Policy

Conclusion

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

ORCID iDs

Funding

Declaration of conflicting interests

References