Visions for Social Justice in Music Schools? Experiences of Children, Adolescents and Families within the Floora project in Finland

My doctoral study is based on a conviction that research of music schools should increasingly embrace children’s and young people’s voices and experiences in order to balance its past and current strong emphasis on teachers and pedagogy. This study will contribute to the knowledge gap by adding the perspectives of young people and their parents/guardians as significant agents of music schools as well as contributors to the wider understandings of policy level processes in the Basic Education in the Arts in Finland and in music education in general. Data is generated through a series of interviews with school-aged participants in the Floora project – a music education social innovation that aims at inclusion of children and young people with diverse socio-economic and cultural background. In addition, interviews with the participant’s parents/guardians will be conducted. The study will provide new insights on newcomers in in the music school system and offer critical knowledge for the potential for social justice in music education.

Hanna Backer Johnsen a doctoral student in the Research Study Programme at the MuTri doctoral school.

Keywords: Music education, social innovations, social justice, the Floora project, student voice