Exploring the possibilities of Dalcroze-based music education to foster the agency of students with special needs. A practitioner inquiry in a special school.
Thesis event information
Date and time of the thesis defence
Place of the thesis defence
Remote connection, Zoom link: https://oulu.zoom.us/j/65775331474
Topic of the dissertation
Exploring the possibilities of Dalcroze-based music education to foster the agency of students with special needs. A practitioner inquiry in a special school.
Doctoral candidate
Master of Education Katja Sutela
Faculty and unit
University of Oulu Graduate School, Faculty of Education, Teachers, Teaching and Educational Communities
Subject of study
Music education
Opponent
Professor Raymond MacDonald, University of Edinburgh
Custos
Professor Juha Ojala, University of the Arts, Sibelius Academy
How to recognize and support the agency of student with special needs in music education
The agency of students with special needs is often forgotten in music classroom. The normative conception of musical agent based on virtuosity, music reading and instrumental skills does not recognize different ways of learning and acting in musical context.
This dissertation examines how Dalcroze-based music-and-movement teaching can foster the agency of students with special needs. To generate the data for the study, a teaching experiment at the special school was organized. That data consisted of the music-and-movement lessons, video-recordings of all the lessons, semi-structured interviews with all participants, field notes, and a research diary.
The dissertation argues that Dalcroze-based music-and-movement education offers tools for educators to support the agency of students with special needs through embodied engagement and non-verbal interaction. In the research, the development of students' agency was manifested in advanced interaction, decision-making, participation and bodily skills. The music-and-movement activities allowed the students to develop their agency at both the individual and social levels.
The dissertation challenges educators to ponder how the development of students' agency is taken into account in the pedagogical choices and in the society at large. The results of the study suggest that pedagogical inclusion can be achieved by acknowledging the different ways of knowing and acting in music education. This, in turn, can contribute to the recognition and development of agency of students with special needs in music classroom. Music educators cannot change students' circumstances, but they can change the ways they encounter, treat and teach students in music classrooms and, in doing so, lower the barriers to students' full participation in society. The results of this research could serve not only music teacher education but also the wider development of teacher education in Finland.
This dissertation examines how Dalcroze-based music-and-movement teaching can foster the agency of students with special needs. To generate the data for the study, a teaching experiment at the special school was organized. That data consisted of the music-and-movement lessons, video-recordings of all the lessons, semi-structured interviews with all participants, field notes, and a research diary.
The dissertation argues that Dalcroze-based music-and-movement education offers tools for educators to support the agency of students with special needs through embodied engagement and non-verbal interaction. In the research, the development of students' agency was manifested in advanced interaction, decision-making, participation and bodily skills. The music-and-movement activities allowed the students to develop their agency at both the individual and social levels.
The dissertation challenges educators to ponder how the development of students' agency is taken into account in the pedagogical choices and in the society at large. The results of the study suggest that pedagogical inclusion can be achieved by acknowledging the different ways of knowing and acting in music education. This, in turn, can contribute to the recognition and development of agency of students with special needs in music classroom. Music educators cannot change students' circumstances, but they can change the ways they encounter, treat and teach students in music classrooms and, in doing so, lower the barriers to students' full participation in society. The results of this research could serve not only music teacher education but also the wider development of teacher education in Finland.
Last updated: 1.3.2023