At Music Education Solutions, we’re passionate about research-led practice that makes a genuine difference to music teaching in schools. The Building Musical Confidence Action Research Project exemplifies this mission, bringing teacher experience, real classroom challenges, and practical solutions together in a way that drives lasting impact. We are proud to share not only the outcomes of this initiative, but also the exciting news that the project has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Outstanding Musical Initiative category of the Music & Drama Education Awards 2026.
Real solutions for classroom challenges
The Building Musical Confidence project was conceived to support non-specialist classroom teachers in primary schools to lead music lessons confidently and creatively. Through a structured action research approach, classroom educators, music hubs, and specialist partners worked collaboratively to identify the barriers teachers face and to co-design solutions that are both practical and sustainable. The results were incredible, with huge increases in levels of teacher and pupil confidence, skill and understanding reported by the end of the project. You can read all the results in the research report here.
Driving innovation in instrument design
It was not just the schools involved who benefited from the outcomes of this project. The project was funded by Drums for Schools, whose CEO Andy Gwatkin reflected on the powerful impact the project had on their organisation:
The Building Musical Confidence Action Research Project has been completely pivotal for us in identifying and understanding the real issues confronting teachers, giving us a solid foundation for designing the support and products that are actually needed. To give you one very simple and practical example, discussions with a hub about the very limited budgets allocated to each school in their area, made us realise that we could slash costs and deliver the really low cost class set they needed, simply by reducing the heights of the djembes in a set, without reducing the drum diameters (and playability). The result: really affordable, high-quality class sets that also have a tiny storage footprint. Everybody wins.
This comment highlights one of the key strengths of action research: its grounding in real teacher experience. Rather than developing off-the-shelf resources in isolation, this project prioritised teacher voice, data, and iterative design, responding to actual needs such as budget constraints and practical classroom logistics.
In testing out and getting feedback on our teaching support and instruments in a structured way – we already have dozens of improvements underway.
Building cross-sector partnerships
A further reflection from Andy emphasised how essential dialogue and collaboration with the Music Hubs involved have been throughout:
In initiating wide-ranging discussions about Hub and music service needs and understanding much better what’s needed to help the Hubs and services deliver what the teachers need. In a sense we’ve been able to act as a sort of go-between, helping to modulate schools needs and hubs and services capabilities.
This kind of partnership is vital. Music hubs across the country are uniquely positioned to connect schools with specialist expertise, resources, and continuing professional development. But with a bewildering array of products and services on offer, it can be hard for hubs to know which initiatives will benefit their schools most. By their close involvement at all stages of this project, both Drums for Schools and the music hubs were able to gain more understanding of each others’ work, and design bespoke solutions that would perfectly fit the needs of teachers and schools across the hub areas. No false starts, no wasted budgets, and no nasty surprises!
Long-term benefits for Music Hubs
Beyond the immediate project cycle, the music hubs involved have reported long-term benefits. David Austin from Waltham Forest Music Hub noted that:
The project has created an immediate legacy because it ignited an enthusiasm in participating schools which, in turn, enabled us to source further funding for a continuation project. This culminated in a 90-strong djembe group performing at our 2025 Summer Festival! We are now looking at purchasing a new set of drums in order to establish a borough-wide drumming offer, as well as preparing some of the original project participants for a prestigious central-London performance in April 2026.
At Leicestershire Music Hub, Beth Carr also identified significant long-term benefits from taking part in this project, which have impacted on other key areas of the hub’s work such as the Lead Schools network:
Since taking part in the project, we have seen some continued benefits from its legacy. Inglehurst Junior School have carried on teaching whole class djembe, having paid the discounted price to keep the class set used over the project. Not only that but the project marked a pivotal moment where the school opened up much better relations with us as a hub, going from strength to strength and resulting in them just becoming one of our City Lead Schools. Diseworth Primary who were already a Lead School in rural Leicestershire have also kept up their commitment to build staff confidence and to embrace diversity in their curricular offer, borrowing Samba equipment from the hub to support this. The Headteacher has also ensured that the local network she leads on supports teachers to challenge how diverse and inclusive their musical offer is.
What can we learn and what comes next?
Being shortlisted for the Music & Drama Education Awards 2026 in the Outstanding Musical Initiative category is a significant milestone, not just for the project partners, but for the primary music education sector as a whole. The Building Musical Confidence Action Research Project demonstrates how targeted, collaborative research can yield practical, sustainable, and impactful change. It also highlights the value of listening to teachers and placing their experience at the heart of resource design, implementation, and evaluation. As we continue to develop research-led solutions for schools and hubs across the UK, we look forward to building on this project’s legacy, continuing in our mission to support more teachers to feel confident, creative and capable in delivering high-quality music education.
If you’d like help designing your own action research project or using research to inform resource development, contact our Research & Development team.
Dr Liz Stafford, December 2025. Copyright © 2025 Music Education Solutions Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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