Musical Futures recognised amongst 'most innovative' global education initiatives

Find a workshop near you

"If they won't learn the way we teach, can we teach the way they learn?"

Finnish educational organisation HundrED is selecting 100 leading educational innovations to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Finland's famous and highly regarded education system.  

In 2016 HundrED recognised the 100 leading Finnish education innovations, this year they are plotting the 100 leading global initiatives.  Musical Futures was included in the first 10 of their global 100.

It's a huge accolade for people like David Price, Lucy Green*, Abigail D'Amore, Anna Gower (and others) who were instrumental in creating, developing and sustaining Musical Futures, bringing to life an important piece of research as a tangible and effective approach to the learning and teaching of music in schools.

Musical Futures has grown and developed across the last decade first in the UK, then Australia, Canada and now internationally in more than 71 countries worldwide.

We also recognise the leadership of Ian Harvey and Ken Owen, Directors of Musical Futures Australia now working to expand the reach of Musical Futures into Asia, The Middle East and beyond, keeping the approaches fresh, relevant and true to the core values of Musical Futures. They are supported by a rapidly expanding network of Champion Teachers and Champion Schools helping to shape the development of new models, materials and approaches from within their classrooms.

It's a significant achievement too for the UK-based organisation The Paul Hamlyn Foundation who provided the initial vision and over 10 years of support for Musical Futures. In October 2017, Fran Hannan, Managing Director of Musical Futures UK travelled to Helsinki for the official announcement of the Global HundrED innovations for 2017. 

Of course this kind of recognition wouldn't have happened if Musical Futures remained just a good idea on paper.  It’s the practical application and refinement of the MF approach in schools and by teachers including well over 1,000 Australian teachers and more recently the growth of our international communities across Canada, New Zealand, The Middle East and Asia that have helped Musical Futures to earn this recognition.

So congratulations to all our Musical Futures teachers and schools who have joined our Take, Use, Innovate, Share approach to music education by attending workshops, sharing ideas and making new friends in one of the many international teacher communities that have developed through a shared aim to provide students with relevant and engaging musical experiences and opportunities in schools.

We rely on teachers to continue to challenge us to keep things moving forward in rapidly changing times and to keep real world, student-centred learning and high quality teacher professional development at the heart of the global development of Musical Futures. 

While you probably don't need to see what HundrED have said about Musical Futures there many other educational innovations that have been recognised by the group both in Finland and now the world, bringing together a global movement to support and share innovative practice of which Musical Futures is proud to be a part.

*Music, Informal Learning and the School: A New Classroom Pedagogy (Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series) 1 by Lucy Green (ISBN: 9780754665229)