'Taking race live': creating an inclusive music curriculum

In proactive response to constructing an inclusive music curriculum in HE, the funded-project ‟Taking Race Live” (2014-2017) seeks to positively validate students‘ prior experience while ensuring to enhance their engagement through a wider variety of student-led trips, practical learning, alongside a critical discussion of issues central to employability skills. Appointing student partners, the project worked on a principal of distributed leadership, to encourage students to learn a wide range of skills encompassing people-event-time management, which we hoped would impact positively on students‘ confidence, resilience and sense of inclusion. Kingston University has a KPI regarding the BAME attainment gap. The work of this project demonstrates, through qualitative/quantitative analysis, that an inclusive curriculum and research with student partners is able to produce significant results. The qualitative feedback conveys a wide variety of benefits regarding employment and critical thinking. This project runs in collaboration between Music and Sociology (to 2016), and has been expanded to encompass both TV and Dance (2016-2017) in order to demonstrate how the methods of the project can be expanded university-wide. Having won the University‘s ‟Rose Award” for ‟Teaching, Learning and Assessment Research” (October 2016), the project has received wide recognition. Initial results were presented as part of the Higher Education Race Action Group (2016), ISME (2016), and used as a HEFCE case study (2015). Now ready to present qualitative/quantitative results of a longitudinal student of level 5 music students, the student focus groups, student data (including retention and retention) and wider staff-student feedback offer significant insights into constructing and applying an inclusive curriculum. This paper critically questions and demonstrates an inclusive HE music curriculum. It concludes with actions for the current academic year and suggestions for the wider HE music context.