The musical education of students with special educational needs (SEN students) in music schools has been largely neglected in Slovenian research. The present study fills this gap to a certain extent by providing an insight into the opinions of teachers and principals of music schools with a public programme. This paper presents the results of a combined survey (questionnaires for teachers (n=185) and principals (n=32) and two case studies of music schools) on entrance exams, the respondents’ experiences with SEN students, and their competence in teaching SEN students. The results show that only one tenth of the respondents believe that entrance exams provide sufficient opportunities to adapt musical assessment of SEN students. Most of the teachers with experience teaching SEN students had experienced difficulties in teaching these students. Particularly relevant is the finding that two fifths of the teachers did not feel able to teach any group of SEN students.
|