Music can play an important role in democratic education by offering students meaningful opportunities for personal growth and active participation within their communities (Hawkins, 2024; Hess, 2019; Okafor & Okunbor, 2023; Woodford, 2005). This is closely linked to the development of socio-emotional competencies within music education settings (Svalina, 2025; Varadi, 2022). Although there is increasing recognition of the importance of socio-emotional abilities, these skills continue to be undervalued compared to academic achievement in many educational contexts (Edgar, 2013; Pešikan & Lalović, 2018).

This paper examines the My Values and Virtues initiative, introduced by UNICEF Montenegro in partnership with the Ministry of Education in 2015 (2015–present), and its subsequent expansion through the Vivum Project implemented in Montenegrin secondary music schools in 2022. The initiative aimed to enhance the following socio-emotional skills: collaboration, self-regulation, creativity, empathy, tolerance, optimism, honesty and gratitude. Manuals were created for primary and secondary education to facilitate the incorporation of initiative strategies into the national curricula framework (Backović et al., 2018; Vujović et al., 2020). These manuals offer teaching guidelines and sample activities across all curricular domains, including science, language, physical education, music, and art. To date, the initiative has engaged a wide range of educators and students through workshops, including music-focused sessions strategically designed to embed values and virtues across learning outcomes of primary and secondary music education. The Vivum Project engaged over 150 students from specialised high music schools in collaborative activities, like orchestral performance and songwriting, promoting teamwork and community building while supporting socio-emotional growth.

By systematically embedding values and virtues within structured music education, the initiative demonstrates the transformative capacity of arts-based pedagogy. Beyond enhancing artistic proficiency, this initiative highlights the potential of values-orientated learning to contribute to the creation of inclusive, democratic, and more tolerant societies.

Theoretical background and context of the paper

English secondary schools have practice rooms besides the music classroom. They are used for group work during music lessons and open outside lesson time providing equal access for all students to musical instruments. Peripatetic teachers also use them for instrumental lessons.

Having taught in the UK for 18 years, I moved to Denmark in 2017 where most schools only have a single music classroom and no practice rooms. The lack of practice rooms limits the variety of teaching and learning styles making lessons predominantly teacher-led. To change this, I created some make-shift practice rooms in 2018 which inspired a few schools to build practice rooms in 2021-2023.

Aims of the project

In 2021 the Danish Cultural Ministry made available a pool of 40 million DKK, entitled ‘Seize the Engagement’. Music services could apply for funding for projects focusing on increasing children’s access to and engagement in cultural activities. Musik & Billedskolen applied to purchase four containers which were placed in the playground at a local state school and filled with musical instruments.

Method or pedagogical approach

I have carried out interviews with students and headteachers in the UK and DK on the benefits of practice rooms and creative containers.

Focus on students working in groups with the teacher as a facilitator.

Activities

The Creative Containers are open during breaks and after school as alternatives to the sports field and as free creative spaces to explore and engage with music.

They are used for curriculum music lessons as well as instrumental tuition.

Certain students are in charge of overseeing the rooms or Containers.

Outcomes

The free access is breaking down socioeconomic barriers to learning and accessing musical instruments.

Creating a space for deliberation, inclusion, agency and shared responsibility.

Informal Music Learning (IML) is regarded as a pedagogical approach that fosters autonomy, collaboration and creativity within music education (Green, 2017). It has been researched within Western contexts over many years and has gained positive findings (Hallam et al., 2017; Weatherly et al., 2024). However, it is still at the exploration stage in Chinese school music education (Law & Ho, 2015). The latest “Chinese Compulsory Education Arts Curriculum Standards” (2022) emphasised concepts such as fostering students’ autonomy, creativity, and comprehensive practical abilities, thereby providing opportunities and conditions for exploring democratic and inclusive approaches within school music education.

This qualitative study explored how music teachers from two different primary schools in Beijing who had, previously, no experience of IML, included the IML approach within their own teaching environments. The case study data consisted of semi-structured individual interviews, notes from group meetings with the two teachers, classroom observation field notes, teachers’ reflective diaries and a classroom evaluation form developed in collaboration with teachers.

Research findings showed that the two teachers did not replicate the whole IML approach but, rather, selectively adopted its core principles and methods based on the demands of their educational environment and personal teaching experience. In group meetings, they designed and developed a series of teaching strategies, such as constructing instructional scaffolding, creating a formative evaluation form, and integrating IML with Chinese traditional music and project-based learning.

Findings have revealed that in democratised music classrooms, teachers still play a key role. In this paper I will discuss how the teachers balanced innovation and norms, managed emotions and institutions within specific cultural contexts and pressures, and constructed teaching spaces that facilitated democratic practice for students. This study could also provide a reference case for subsequent IML practices within the context of Chinese schools.