Group cooperation, inclusion and disaffected pupils: some responses to informal learning in the music classroom

Written version of RIME paper (GCID) for MER, Exeter 2007

additional information in the form of brief footnotes and references; and adding a few
additional quotes from teachers. Where in the presentation I played audio-recordings
of pupils working together, here I have presented rough transcripts instead, or
attempted to generally describe what was on the recording. Some of the transcripts are
drawn from longer sections of the recording than I had time to play during the
presentation. The transcripts are intended to give the flavour of events rather than a
totally accurate account. In many cases more than one person was speaking at a time,
and there was a considerable amount of other sound from recorded music and
instruments being played.

The research was originally funded by the Esmёe Fairbairn Foundation, and
subsequently had major support from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the UK
Department for Education and Skills. It formed a partnership with the Hertfordshire
Music Service within the Paul Hamlyn Foundation ‘Musical Futures’ project
(www.musicalfutures.org). The teaching-and-learning materials (Green with
Walmsley 2006) are downloadable from that site, under ‘Personalising Music
Learning: Section 2’. The work is indebted to a large number of people, including our
Research Officer Abigail D’Amore (пёе Walmsley) as well as many more in schools
and other organisations. All names of teachers, pupils and schools have been made
anonymous.

A deeper examination of all the issues discussed in this presentation, and
many other issues, is available in Green (2008).

Background and further information

What makes a group of school pupils cooperate together on a musical task? Certainly
motivation is one thing: if they want to do the task, they will cooperate. Is it also the
teacher, who supervises them, guides and instructs them? Yes. Is it the task itself, by
being broken down into steps at progressive levels of difficulty, or structured into a
series of different activities? Again, yes. But what I would like to consider in this
presentation, is what makes pupils cooperate when we use alternative strategies in the
classroom. I am not saying these strategies involve doing without a teacher altogether,
or having no structure at all. But what happens to group cooperation when we deploy

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