Millie

Over the last few months our researchers have had the opportunity to hear from a huge range of people key to the Ethno programme, in individual interviews as well as focus group meetings, all conducted online.

In June, Professor Lee Higgins and Dr Sarah-Jane Gibson facilitated two focus group meetings, each attended by a select group of past and current Ethno organizers with knowledge and experience to share on the focus topic. The first focus group explored the development of the Ethno programme over the last 30 years, while the second was themed around Ethno pedagogy and professional development, taking a closer look at the pedagogical concepts associated with Ethno.

As well as a fantastic response to the Pedagogy and Professional Development survey, developed by Professor Andrea Creech and her team, 35 one-to-one interviews have taken place over recent months, across all projects, bringing the total number of interviews to just under 300. Dr Dave Camlin also led a special session with Ethno organizers in April, which invited them to capture their stories and experiences of Ethno in the SenseMaker research tool.

Our History team are continuing to add to the historical timeline, and have now moved onto an exciting new phase, with descriptive quotes from interviews being woven through the timeline, bringing it to life with real accounts of Ethno experiences. This layer of the timeline will become available to the public later in the year.

With much of the data collection now coming to a close across the Ethno Research teams, the focus of the research now turns to analysis, and our researchers are also taking opportunities to share their findings. Dr Sarah-Jane Gibson was published in Music Education Research journal, while Dr Roger Mantie and the Arts & Culture team gave a panel at the virtual North Atlantic Fiddle Convention conference on 23 June 2021.