Derrington 2012 thesis.pdf - Anglia Ruskin Research Online

5.3 Participants
Students at risk of underachievement or exclusion were referred to the project,
however there were other criteria and guidelines for the referrers. Although the
project was aimed at any secondary-aged students, the age of the students at the time
of referral did matter due to the length of time required for participation.
5.3.1 Eligibility criteria of participants
The eligibility for participation in the project was defined by the following criteria:
1. Students should have had no previous music therapy intervention.
2. For CVC students, the end-of-year test results were used as guidelines to the
year heads of seven, eight and nine to refer the top scoring underachievers in
their year group. Many of these students were at risk of exclusion as well.
3. Any students in years seven, eight or nine could be referred from The Centre
School.
4. Students had to be aged 11 – 14 years at the time of referral.
5. Referrals were not to be gender specific.
5.3.2 Referrals
In order to get appropriate referrals for the project, I met with each of the mainstream
school heads of years seven, eight and nine and asked them to refer four students
following the eligibility criteria. After meetings with teaching staff at The Centre
School another twelve students were referred using the standard referral method
(forms in appendix 5.3.2a and 5.3.2b) The fact that the students could have been
referred regardless of the project, was termed ‘reality sampling’ by Aldridge (2005a).
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