"Inclusion" of Information on Mainstreaming in Undergraduate Music Education Curricula

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher training programs in music education to provide an overview of course offerings in Special Education available to Music Education majors. One Research Category 1, one state-funded regional, and one private institution were randomly chosen from each state when available. All schools offering a degree in music therapy were included for a total of 171 schools with usable data. Catalogues were examined to determine (a) existence of a course in special education for music education majors, (b) department through which course was offered (nonmusic content or music content specific), (c) required or elective status of course, (d) course title and credit hours, and (e) reference to mainstreaming in music methods course descriptions. The first three areas were compared by (a) category of school, (b) universities offering music therapy and those not, (c) MENC Region. Results revealed that 74% of schools had a course in special education available with 86% of these requiring at least one course with a total of 140 courses available. 110 were nonmusic content specific while 30 were music content specific. Eighty-nine percent of the nonmusic content courses were required, while only 43% of the content specific courses were required. Information was further broken down as indicated above.

Educational Supports for Students With Special Needs

“…Still, they cited collaboration and communication with special educators, music therapists, and other related professionals; time for adaptation and integration planning; use of adaptive music and materials; and experience and education as some of the most critical factors related to successful inclusion of students with special needs. To prepare preservice teachers to meet the current challenges of their profession, many institutions offering undergraduate degrees in music education now require coursework to prepare students to work with special learners (Colwell & Thompson, 2000;Heller, 1995;Schmidt, 1989). Such coursework may incorporate field experiences with students with special needs, providing training related to each of those previously identified aspects of successful inclusion.…”

A Graduate Course on Inclusion

“…Professional Development: "Processes and activities designed to enhance the professional knowledge, skills, and attitudes of educators so that they might, in turn, improve the learning of students" (Guskey, 2000, p. 16 (Colwell & Thompson, 2000;Jellison & Taylor, 2007).…”

“…Over the last 30 years with the implementation of IDEA, the growing number of students with disabilities has changed the type of student populations in music classrooms Colwell & Thompson, 2000;Jellison & Taylor, 2007). Over the past three decades, music educators moved from teaching homogeneous classrooms to more diverse classrooms that include students with a wider range of ability .…”

“…According to Brown and Jellison (2012) Many music educators graduating with undergraduate degrees indicated that they are unprepared to teach children with special needs in the inclusive classroom (Hahn, 2010;Heller, 1994;Salvador, 2010;VanWeelden & Whipple, 2013). To adjust to the changing student population, some colleges and universities have increased their coursework on children with disabilities (Hammel, 2001), yet there are still undergraduate music education programs that do not require a special education course to obtain a music education degree (Colwell & Thompson, 2000;Culton, 1999;Hahn, 2010;Heller, 1994;Perkins, 1996).…”

“…At the time of my research on this topic, some universities and colleges did not require a specific music course on children with disabilities (Colwell & Thompson, 2000;Heller, 1994;Salvador, 2010;Schmidt, 1989); some only offered such a course as an elective (Heller, 1994;Salvador, 2010;Schmidt, 1989); and some professors incorporated the topic of inclusion into already existing music education courses (Heller, 1994;Perkins, 1996;Salvador, 2010). According to Salvador (2010), only 30% of colleges 5!…”