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To what extent does participation in extracurricular music affect the future aspirations of 11–12-year-olds? A small-scale investigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2007

Eleanor Denny
Eleanor Denny
Affiliation:
Children's Research Centre, The Open University, Milton Keynes. MK7 6AA childrens-research-centre@open.ac.uk
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Abstract

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I undertook this project as a 12-year-old student while studying research methods at the Children's Research Centre at the Open University. It has already been shown that doing music improves children's Mathematics and English scores. The aim of this study was to find out if it also raises the aspirations of the children taking part. A questionnaire was given out to 80 Year 7 children at two schools in Milton Keynes. Questions investigated the children's musical participation and future aspirations as well as their parents' attitudes and education.

The most important findings are that the musical participation of the children is positively correlated with their future aspirations. Musical participation is most closely linked with parental enthusiasm for it. Parental pressure and education were found to have no link with musical participation, but families with low incomes may find affording musical activities hard to maintain.

It is recommended that more money be put into music education so children of low socio-economic backgrounds can have more of a chance to play musical instruments.

Type
POINTS FOR DEBATE
Information
British Journal of Music Education , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , March 2007 , pp. 99 - 115
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

Footnotes

The editors would particularly welcome comments on or responses to articles which appear in the ‘Points for Debate’ section. These may be in the form of a short paper or letter and should be sent to Dr Stephanie Pitts, Department of Music, University of Sheffield, 38 Taptonville Road, Sheffield S10 5BR, s.e.pitts@sheffield.ac.uk. Selected contributions will be published at the earliest opportunity.