The importance of professional reflection in Music Education

I have been working on an evaluation for Arts Council England for 6 months looking at the benefits of two forms of peer learning - peer development and mentoring - both in the context of the national network of Music Education Hubs.

Peer development, generally, involves 3 organisations buddying up and spending time in one another's working environments, reviewing practice and getting a better feel for how and why things are done particular ways. It is not an inspection or judgemental process, but one of comparison, friendly critique and supportive inquiry.

Mentoring is a more individualised approach to development, with similarities to action learning or coaching where a more experienced or senior professional offers themselves as a sounding board to a junior member of staff from a different organisation. The aim is for the mentee to find their own way to solutions and to make their own choices rather than be directed by their mentor.

The project has been an interesting exercise in understanding participant's motivations to engage, their expectations of what can be achieved over a relatively short time, and their perception of the value of engaging with such offers.

The feedback has been highly positive. This is in part due to some specific impacts on strategies and ways of working, but also because of the high value participants ascribed to reflective practice from the outset. Such practitioners will find benefits from these offers because they provide a means of stepping out of reactive cycles of working day-to-day and create space to take the long view. This has the effect of both informing and affirming their current practice, as they compare and contrast their approaches with those of their peers.

A full report will be published by Arts Council England in April 2018. You can find the report HERE.