Ben Sellers (UCL) - 2025-26 Students
ben.sellers.25@ucl.ac.uk

An integrated approach to developing music educators in special education settings

My study is concerned with improving access to high-quality music-making opportunities for young people with additional learning needs in specialist schools, mainstream inclusion bases, and alternative provision settings.

This study is situated within ‘MEHEM UpRising360′, a large-scale Youth Music funded action-research project taking place across the East Midlands between 2025-2028. The study will evaluate and further develop one aspect of the project: an in-service training programme for peripatetic instrumental teachers and generalist classroom teachers taking place in 10 schools in the 2026/27 academic year.

Working closely with Music Hub instrumental teachers and generalist classroom teachers, the study will explore the extent to which processes of co-delivery, skill-sharing and peer reflection can support an increase in teacher competencies and self-efficacy. It will make recommendations about how this training model could be adapted and scaled in other settings.

The ultimate goal of the research is to contribute to a more equitable school music offer for young people in special education settings, increasing the representation of Disabled and neurodivergent individuals in all areas of the music industry and teaching profession.

Principal supervisor: Prof. Graham Welch