Mark Aitchison (Lecturer in Music Education, University of Reading) gave a presentation titled ‘A study into Musician Identity in 13yr old students in England’ at the annual European Association for Music in Schools conference that was held in Belgrade, Serbia.
This hybrid conference had 259 delegates from over 27 countries represented. In total, 105 presentations were delivered, and Mark was able to share his research findings with Music Education lecturers and students from across Europe. Mark’s presentation was well attended in person and on-line.
It was a wonderful opportunity to share the findings from Marks’ recently completed MA research project and discuss the impact that COVID 19 had on students in England, with the removal of practical music making opportunities. Investigating specifically what effect this had on student’s musical self-efficacy and how this impacted on the development of their identification as musician.
Mark commented that “It was a wonderful opportunity to share music education practices in the UK with colleagues from different nations who deliver music education in vastly different ways and contexts. It was also a useful opportunity to forge connections with researchers whose published work I had used to frame my own research.”