Social Inclusion Through Ethnic Music in Intercultural Education

Abstract

In the last decade, geopolitical conflicts have led to national and international migration (Baily & Collyer, 2006). Hence, the number of migrants has further convoluted with an increasing diversity of immigrants to Finland, as seen by the increase in the number of spoken foreign languages particularly in the classrooms (Statistic Finland, 2022). Furthermore, the need to make Finland known and attractive to international experts, and to improve the employment of international experts already in the country in corresponding to their skills has created a classroom of individuals with diverse ethnic background leading to cultural misunderstanding in some cases. This study investigates how ethnic music can help in promoting social inclusion in intercultural education in Finnish schools. The study addresses several key questions such as students’ perspectives on social inclusion, the effectiveness of ethnic music in breaking down barriers between students from different backgrounds, the potential of ethnic music helping to teach different cultures, the ways in which music fosters mutual understanding and respect among diverse students groups, the extent of cultural education among Finnish students and the challenges faced that arise when promoting social inclusion in intercultural education using ethnic music.

The research was conducted in one of the local schools in Vaasa with 102 participants. The study was done using a mixed method approach with a semi-structured questionnaire. mixed method approach used in this research was to offer rich insights into the research phenomena that cannot be fully understood by using only qualitative or quantitative methods (Dawadi et al., 2020). The participants were of ages 8 – 14 from grades 5 – 6. A thematic was used that helped to collect data in four main categories – general perspective on the topic, cultural understanding, inclusion using ethnic music and their thoughts after the exercises.

The result shows that students perceived social inclusion as a sense of belonging and acceptance in classroom. The majority (99%) of the participants acknowledged that it was fun taking part in such classes. When it came to the reflection on whether they have learnt something about other cultures, 67% (approximately) said yes with 29% showing that they were unsure. In answering the key premise of this research – inclusion in the classroom, 91% of the participants said yes and that they could engage with their classmates with a sense of belonging. With these findings, there were situation whereby the participants felt unsure, neutral, or “negative” when asked to express themselves in their own words. This could be because of them not able to connect with the material or the teaching approach. Furthermore, they may have had different expectations for the classes. These revelations offer the needs to further study the use of ethnic music in fostering classroom inclusion. Finally, the suggestions and reflection provided can help teachers use this method in their weekly class activities with the aim of making sure that all students are seen, heard, and included in class activities.