Social and emotional development through music in Maltese early education

Abstract

This work seeks to assess the social and emotional impact of music education on Maltese children in Years 1 and 2. It also aims at evaluating current practices used by music teachers in nurturing such a development. This research proposes recommendations by which music education can be more beneficial, both socially and emotionally, to children within this age group. Moreover, this work should allow both music and class teachers to reflect widely, not just on music pedagogy per se, but, also on the messages that young children are exposed to and absorb through this pedagogy. A combination of various research approaches have been used in this work, namely participant observation, desk research, questionnaires, interviews and case studies.