Proceedings, Oxford, UK (2002) - World Federation of Music Therapy

Implications for Practice: “In the end, what do we do and
where do we go from here?”
There is very limited literature available on the effect of short and
introductory music therapy courses on the practices of teachers and
educators. In a study dedicated to surveying the inclusion of music
therapy information in music education training programs, Colwell &
Thompson (2000) emphasized the important contribution that music
therapists can make to the training of music educators, which was
outlined in two major aspects: 1) the specific knowledge of disabilities
that music therapists have and 2) the contribution towards a change in the
teacher’s attitude towards children with disabilities and their inclusion in
the regular classroom. Throughout the literature, the issue of inclusion
becomes an important topic of discussion and it is argued that music
therapists can play a very important role in the development of the
educator’s positive attitude towards disability, which can in turn be
crucial to the success of the inclusion of such students in a regular
education setting.
Hilda Wengrower (2001) wrote about the inclusion of creative arts
therapies in educational settings as an encounter of two different cultures,
that of therapists and that of educators, having a different identity as
professionals, holding a different perception of the children they work
with and having different values and goals for their work. In my work
with teachers, I often feel that “shock of cultures” and wonder how we
can overcome it in a way that will be good for both the educators and the
children they work with.
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