Barriers and Enablers for Implementing Music in Australian Schools: The Perspective of Four Principals

Aims: To explore and identify the barriers and enablers of music provision in Australian schools, as seen through the eyes of four Melbourne-based school principals, to inform policymakers and other school leadership teams.
Study Design: The study used an exploratory design.
Place and Duration of Study: Interviews were undertaken across multiple school sites in the greater-Melbourne area between June 2011 and April 2013 as part of a study conducted through the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music at The University of Melbourne.
Methodology: Four school principals were interviewed from diverse schools across the greater-Melbourne area, including primary, secondary, government, independent, mainstream, and special education schools. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and analysed using a combined inductive-deductive approach to identify the barriers and enablers to music provision in schools reported by principals. Themes arising from the data that related to either one of these factors were presented as the results.
Results: Analysis revealed eight main themes related to barriers: burden on schools, staff challenges, program relevance, convincing the school community, lack of appropriate resources, unsupportive leadership, sustaining a program, and competing models of education. Eleven enabling themes were identified, which included: existing level of arts, existing resources, school leadership, a tailored approach, external support, embedding music, staff support, involving students, convincing the school community, community partnerships, and working towards sustainability.
Conclusion: Findings support many barriers and enablers of school music identified in pervious international research, thus also confirming their presence and impact in the Australian context. Findings also provide insight into how the greater school community and the internal organisational cultures of a school can act simultaneously as both barriers and enablers of musical participation. Results also identify potential strategies for schools and policymakers aiming to support musical participation in schools.