This special issue, Music and Inclusion: Philosophies, Practices and Possibilities, brings together international scholars and practitioners to interrogate what inclusion means within contemporary music education and participation.

This article discusses the musical engagement of disabled people given recent scholarship in care ethics. It considers how terms used to describe them frame the relational aspects of care. Possibilities and challenges are examined for caring relationships in music teaching that involve: inclusive practice; vulnerabilities; reframing it towards reciprocal care; and the dangers of “benign neglect”. Hel’s “distributive justice” is also considered. The article concludes that disabled insiders’ authentic experiences might best serve as a platform for appropriate resources, policies and music education practices.

This article explores children’s musical participation and nonparticipation in diverse schools. Through a qualitative ethnographic study within two Irish primary schools, the research provides insight into everyday school music experiences where the realities of ethnicity, culture and religious beliefs intersect with the realities of school structures, peer interaction and pedagogy. The discussion opens up critical reflections about access to music in schools, where, why and how musical (non)participation happens, as well as the role of in-school and extra-curricular musical activities. The findings highlight the need for collective and relational music activities to enhance intercultural musical participation in schools.

Conceptualising music education in England as an ecosystem was central to the 2022 National Plan for Music Education. Provision spans in-school and out-of-school settings, delivered by schools, Music Hubs, charities and specialist providers. Local specificities and a complex patchwork of providers mean that there are multiple different stakeholders in helping young people to develop musically. Drawing on a decade of research, this paper reconceptualises the ecosystem by centring the young person. The proposed model is intentionally open to critique to stimulate discussion and refinement within England and in international contexts with similarly complex, multi-provider music education systems worldwide.

This reflection explores the context of the emerging field of adaptive music education and the use of music adaptation plans (MAPs) to demystify adaptive pedagogy used for pupils with physical disabilities. It explores the themes that connect the ingenuity and creativity of adaptive instruction across the study of various musical instruments, highlighting three key areas: pupil considerations, adaptive considerations and pedagogical considerations. MAPs offer a structured approach, enabling teachers to adapt techniques and apply creative solutions to connect music education to a historically excluded population of pupils.

With a serious decline in music education and limited music technology within school settings, those wishing to practice music for a career or seek employment within the creative industries face economic barriers and social class ceilings. This article explores how young people can access education in electronic music production and align their music practice to industry roles outside of formal schooling. Research was conducted with young people from non-formal music education backgrounds who took part in a three-year programme that included mixing and mastering studio sessions, record label masterclasses and live sound engineering training days. The affordances of DIY musical skills acquisition, collaboration and creative industries social networks were vital for musical engagement and inclusion. Programmes of this nature hold significance for future pathways in music production for those who cannot access formal music education.

Musical experience can reveal dimensions of the self, relationships and flourishing that can challenge assumptions about the lives of people with disabilities. The Adaptive Music Bridging Program engages students aged 8–14 years with a disability in ensemble-based instrumental lessons, cultivating musical skills and literacies through weekly participation. A case study explores participatory pedagogies that promote self-regulation, the meeting of students’ musical goals, empowerment from participation and community music engagement. The study challenges music teachers to approach their profession with access and equity at the heart of what they do, who they teach and what they aspire for their students.

In England, inclusion remains a central theme in educational discourse. Within music education, and particularly in instrumental learning, adapted instruments are sometimes necessary to ensure that learners with physical disabilities can participate meaningfully in music-making. Previous research has highlighted the benefits of such instruments in promoting inclusivity in music classrooms, yet further national-level work is needed. This article, adopting a conversational format, presents reflections from the General Manager of The OHMI Trust on the ongoing challenges and emerging opportunities for improving access to music education for physically disabled learners.

Music and vocal play may be highly motivating and essential to the well-being of individuals with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). However, few frameworks have been developed to support non-music specialists to facilitate music-making opportunities for people with PIMD. This research considered how the implementation of playful music-making sessions, the Musical Play Framework, affected the attitudes of non-music specialist teaching staff towards music-making for students with PIMD in two UK educational settings. Findings highlighted the barriers staff encountered, the positive experiences of staff and the benefits of reflective practice when implementing novel musical approaches and developing staff skill sets.

This article aims to articulate the conceptualisation of inclusion and exclusion through Utu, a theoretical approach emanating from Kenyan Indigenous Communities (KIC), and the implications it has for music education. It argues for a new approach to understanding the relationship between inclusion and exclusion based on the principle of belonging in African thought. This principle underpins the rights of all to participate in life as a part of their aesthetic of life (Katingima Day, 2024) and an aesthetic education that employs aesthetic discernment to human experience. The implications for music education are then explored.

This paper develops entangled musicianship as a theoretical and conceptual orientation that rethinks inclusion at the intersection of music education, digital musical instrument (DMI) design and human-computer interaction (HCI). Drawing on findings from an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded network, it interrogates how disconnections between pedagogy, technology and access are sustained by humanist and cognitivist paradigms. Through a posthuman and diffractive methodology, the paper foregrounds relationality and intra-action as central to both musical learning and digital design. Entangled musicianship emerges as a provocation toward more ethical and responsive approaches to inclusion, offering a significant contribution to interdisciplinary discourse across music education, DMI and HCI.