Editorial Introduction

Across the globe, classrooms hold fragile yet powerful moments of connection where music and the arts can foster belonging, voice, and hope. We are privileged as editors to introduce you, our readers, to a collection of chapters by different authors demonstrating theoretical and practical evidence that these moments matter, that arts-based practice is not an optional addition to education, but a vital foundation for inclusive and relational learning. The material and experiences described in this volume emerged from our authors’ involvement in a two-year Erasmus+ project, funded by the European Union. The project evolved from the positive outcomes of an earlier Erasmus+ project named LINK (Learning in a New Key, and without which this new project would not have been possible), where teachers worked with creative arts therapists, musicians, and education specialists to extend their use of music and the other arts in their work with children and young people, particularly those with early adverse life experiences. The main aim and innovative feature of this continuation project named STALWARTS (Sustaining Teachers and Learners With the Arts) was the creation and implementation of university-based postgraduate modules for teachers and other professionals to develop more practice and understanding of a therapeutically-informed or inclusive educational use of the arts.