Dorset Music Hub Inclusion Strategy

What is musical inclusion?

Musically inclusive practice ensures that all children and young people who want to can make music. It can only happen by embracing a wide range of genres and styles, supporting participants to achieve social and personal outcomes as well as musical ones, and having a music education workforce which can work with young people of all backgrounds, needs and interests.

Dorset Music Hub – Inclusion Strategy Priorities

Dorset Music Hub (DMH) worked with Dr Phil Mullen to develop a 4-year inclusion strategy that was adopted by the DMH Strategy Board in 2021.

The strategic priorities for Dorset Music Hub were developed through a process of conversations and interviews with stakeholders by Phil Mullen, including the hub lead and senior leadership team, as well as people from partner organisations, music service team members, headteachers and music subject leads, freelance musicians and non-music specialist professionals working with vulnerable young people across Dorset. By combining information from these discussions, and factoring in demographic and educational attainment data Dorset, Dr Mullen analysed the data and collated the priorities, with reference to the Youth Music HEARD principles of musical inclusion as well as his own extensive expertise in musical inclusion models.

The ambitions of the DMH Inclusion Strategy are:

Culture change: embed and prioritise inclusive practice in our community

1. Cultures, policies and procedures will be developed to support inclusion and ensure that appropriate and continuing resources are put in place to enable the inclusion strategy to succeed
2. Inclusion is embedded within the hub and across the hub region

Develop the offer: relevant and accessible to a diverse range of young people

1. DMH expands its work that engages with new groups of children in challenging circumstances ways that are sustainable
2. The offer for children with SEND will be refreshed and expanded, building on current good practice
3. DMH will increase sustained engagement with children with SEMHD, including those at risk of school exclusion
4. DMH will explore the potential of virtual delivery if music education activity as it relates to both inclusion and access

Workforce development: support music leaders to deliver musically inclusive practice

1. Staff (to include all music service staff, generalist and specialist school music teachers, frontline volunteers and other hub providers) will have appropriate and sufficient skills to deliver musically inclusive practices with all children and young people
2. The workforce will have the skills necessary to engage all children in the region in ways that fit the children’s needs, interests and abilities

Young people and stakeholders at our centre: co-produce and evaluate with partners

1. There is an increased emphasis on a move to long-term engagement in music and a culture of progression for all children (including those in challenging circumstances) within DMH activity
2. DMH will review and refresh its current programmes and activities to ensure they are all based on an inclusive approach to music provision

Raise our voices: strengthen inclusive profile and make CEP offer visible

DMH will examine and refresh its communications – with schools, partners, music educators, young people and has raised its profile as an inclusive organization.

Monitor progress: ask questions, collect the right data and use it to inform our plans

1. Data, particularly on the level of engagement, retention and progression of children in challenging circumstances, is used as a driver for inclusion and influences future DMH strategy
2. Monitoring and evaluating the quality of inclusion across the hub is embedded and influences future strategy