Provided by Institute of Education EPrints
Written version of RIME paper (GCID) for MER, Exeter 2007 1
Exeter RIME conference 2007
Keynote presentation
Group cooperation, inclusion and disaffected pupils: some responses
to informal learning in the music classroom
Lucy Green
Abstract
This paper examines some personal and inter-personal issues concerning group-work
and informal learning in the music classroom. It analyses data from a recent research
project, which adopted and adapted the informal music learning practices of popular
musicians, for use in the classroom. The discussion focuses on three aspects of the
project. Firstly, it considers the issue of group cooperation, or the ways in which
pupils interacted to organise their learning in small groups. This includes various
approaches, identified as ‘group learning’, ‘peer-directed learning’ and ‘leadership’.
Secondly, the paper addresses the topic of inclusion in relation to how individuals
with differing needs and experiences were able to respond to the project, and the
extent to which the learning practices allowed differentiation. Thirdly, weaving
through the first two strands, the paper examines the inclusion of pupils who had been
identified by their teachers as disaffected. This involves considering the roles of
imaginative play and personal identity in the music classroom, with relation to both
music’s cultural delineations and its sonic properties.
Note
This is a written version of what was originally a spoken presentation. I have
attempted to be as faithful to the original as possible, only inserting a minimum of