This study investigates university administrative staff perception of inclusion in higher education at the university level. The study uses the University of Latvia as a case to answer the following research questions: What constitutes inclusion in university education, how accessibility is provided? What are the support systems provided for diverse students? What support and training are provided to administrative and academic staff to ensure that the educational needs of diverse student bodies are met? The methodology employed is exploratory and descriptive, and uses the interview method and semi-structured questionnaire. The sample is made of seven administrative staff members representing all levels of administration in the University. Findings suggest that administrative staff members perceive inclusion as a new principle for HE, where diversity is perceived in its broader sense. Findings indicate that support is provided to all students, but that the support is not designed specifically for students with diverse needs. Findings suggested that none of the administrative staff or academics had received training on how to address student diversity.

The study topicality is related to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on music education in various educational institutions worldwide. This literature review aimed to summarize and identify current issues related to music education during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study used publications available in the Sage Journal database and published in the last three years (2020-2022). The study addressed three research questions. RQ1: What teaching modes adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic in music education are mentioned in studies, and for what purposes are music teachers using digital tools? RQ2: What are the challenges and benefits of teaching and learning music during the Covid-19 pandemic? RQ3: What are the common reasons for music teacher burnout, and how to ensure the teacher’s and student’s well-being during the music teaching and learning process in the Covid-19 pandemic? The literature review allowed us to identify three thematic groups that affected music education during the Covid-19 pandemic: (1) The teaching mode and the digital tools that support music education; (2) The challenges and benefits in teaching and learning music; (3) The stress and well-being of music teachers and students. The study revealed that music teachers mostly use digital tools to promote students’ creativity, support learning, and assess outcomes. During the Covid-19 pandemic, teaching and learning music were associated with several challenges: learning organization, providing the material and technical base, learning to play musical instruments, communication and support for students. That resulted in increasing the workload and a lack of control over equipment and performance, which affected the well-being of music teachers. Despite the challenges, music teachers seek and create several solutions to improve the overall effectiveness of music education in the changing epidemiological environment. The findings describe the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on music education and help music teachers to understand the problems that occurred during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed the nature of the music teacher’s job. The aim of the study is to determine music teachers’ job satisfaction on four study scales – emotional well-being, social involvement, self-expression and achievement orientation. The following research questions were raised: RQ1: At what level do music teachers assess each of the study scales that describe job satisfaction? RQ2: Is there a statistically significant correlation between music teachers’ job satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic and their emotional well-being, social involvement, self-expression and achievement orientation? RQ3: Is there a statistically significant difference in the levels of job satisfaction between music teachers who work only in comprehensive schools and those who have additional work in other music-related educational institutions? A questionnaire was created to achieve the study aim, in which the respondents (N = 73) had to assess the importance of various factors that affect the music teacher’s job satisfaction on a Likert scale from one to four points. The study involved music teachers working in comprehensive schools and other educational institutions where music is acquired. The study results were reflected in four scales: (1) emotional well-being scale, (2) social involvement scale, (3) self-expression scale, and (4) achievement orientation scale. The study revealed that the respondents rated all job satisfaction scales at a moderate level. Music teachers’ job satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic is most affected by the inability to control school activities and the lack of positive emotions in daily life. The results do not show a significant difference in job satisfaction levels during the COVID-19 pandemic between music teachers who work only at comprehensive schools and those who have additional work in other music-related schools.

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Aim. The aim of the study is to identify what techniques students use to memorise song lyrics, how much time is needed to do that, and whether and in what way their parents help them learn the song. The theoretical part of the study analyses previous researches on memorisation in the context of general psychology, age-related psychology, and music psychology. Method. The empirical study involved 47 (N=47) second-grade students of the comprehensive school (25 girls and 22 boys). Three study questions are raised in this paper: what techniques do students use to learn how to memorise song lyrics? How much time does a student need to learn singing a song by heart? Do parents help students memorise the song lyrics and in what way? To answer these questions, after having sung a song by memory each student was asked to write an essay about his/her thoughts on how he/she had learned this song at home. The content analysis was used in order to process the information contained in the essays and thus obtain a concise and detailed description of the song memorising techniques.  Results. As a result of the obtained data analysis, it was determined that the most commonly used memorising techniques were: reading the song lyrics, singing the lyrics, and repeating them several times. The study also revealed that slightly more than half of the students did not get any parental assistance to learn a song by heart. Conclusion. The students who learn to sing a part of a song by heart during music lessons need less time to learn the whole song at home when compared with those students who do not learn parts of the songs in class.