Music Teachers in Asylum Seeker Centers: What can we Learn?

The 60 sessions incorporated several group singing activities including call and response, canon, chanting, scatting, part-singing, and action songs, and were intergenerational, with participant ages ranging from one week old to 82 years. This qualitative study collected data through facilitator reflection logs, field observations of singing sessions, an audio recordings of professional development sessions. The findings revealed the following four themes: (1) Enthusiastic aims, contextual reali- ties, (2) Difficult knowledge, new responses, (3) Dialogic spaces, building relationships, (4) Off- stage, on-stage.

The music teachers documented high levels of expectation in addition to their enthusiasm, which was met with contextual and systemic challenges such as access, space, recruitment and turnover, and mental health issues. Furthermore, the teachers learned that for many residents, singing was not an immediate need or want. The teachers struggled with adapting to this environment and were required to adjust their expectations, as well as let go of their own egos which were a source of humiliation and other feelings of disappointment. At the beginning of the project, the sheer act of participating in music was not enticing enough for those who were struggling with trauma. However, in the end, the author describes how teachers can “bear witness” to the emergence of empowerment, resistance, and agency from those recovering from distress.

Kenny opens his article with these two leading questions: (1) Are music educators further marginalising the community they are working with through their efforts? (2) What are the ethical implications of working in contexts with obvious power imbalances? Even though this study was conducted in asylum-seeker centers, music teachers who find themselves in jobs working with minoritized students and/or where there is an obvious power imbalance may benefit from the strategies and mindset shifts (including letting go, being flexible, and creating space for dialogue) demonstrated by the teachers in this study.

In this study, one of the participants shared how this experience highlighted the importance of informal music participation in everyday life. Music teachers are not strangers to young people who have experienced trauma in their lives. For teachers working in areas with a large population of children who are overcoming trauma and/or struggling with mental health, an organic approach to music teaching that reflects everyday music making experiences may help to create connections and engagement.