Music education has long provided spaces where creativity, cultural understanding, and shared musical experience shape how people learn together. Through singing, playing instruments, composing, listening, and moving with music, learners encounter ways of knowing that connect artistic practice with social and cultural life. Around the world, educators continue to recognize the important role music plays in nurturing creativity, cultural participation, and meaningful engagement with learning (OECD, 2013; UNESCO, 2024). For many learners, music education offers one of the first opportunities to experience learning as something collaborative, expressive, and culturally grounded.
Today, music educators are exploring new ways of teaching, learning, and engaging with music. In different parts of the world, teachers and researchers are reconsidering how musical knowledge is shared, how diverse musical traditions enter learning environments, and how music education can respond to changing social and cultural contexts. Playful approaches to teaching and learning open space for creative exploration in music classrooms (Byrne et al., 2024). Conversations about culturally responsive pedagogy encourage deeper engagement with diverse musical traditions and lived cultural experiences (Chen-Hafteck, 2024). Scholars also remind us that teaching music often means engaging with culture, identity, and ways of understanding the world (Campbell & Mellizo, 2024).
These conversations continue beyond classrooms. Community music initiatives show how collaborative music-making can strengthen wellbeing, relationships, and a sense of belonging among participants (Cabedo-Mas et al., 2025). Questions about curriculum, evaluation, and educational practice also continue to arise as educators interpret and adapt pedagogical ideas within particular cultural and institutional contexts (Ho & Bautista, 2024). In many settings, music educators are experimenting with new ways of connecting musical learning with creativity, cultural life, and meaningful participation.
In January 2026, the international webinar, Reimagining Music Education: Innovation, Creativity, and Future Learning Pathways, brought together scholars from several countries to reflect on these emerging directions. The conversations explored creativity in music learning, culturally responsive teaching, community engagement, wellbeing, and lifelong musical participation. The discussions highlighted both shared questions and diverse perspectives on how music education continues to evolve. This special issue builds on those conversations and invites further work that explores new directions in music education.
Purpose of the Special Issue
Music educators today are working in rapidly changing educational and cultural environments. New technologies, shifting cultural landscapes, and evolving expectations for learning continue to shape how music is taught and experienced. Many educators are experimenting with new pedagogical approaches, new forms of musical participation, and new ways of connecting musical learning with the lives of learners and communities.
This special issue invites scholars to reflect on these developments and to share research that explores how music education is changing. We are particularly interested in work that examines emerging pedagogies, evolving learning practices, and the cultural contexts that shape music education today. At a time when educators are searching for meaningful and sustainable ways to support creativity, cultural understanding, and lifelong learning, music education offers rich possibilities for rethinking how teaching and learning can take place.
The special issue aligns with the aims of Education Innovations: Systems and Future Learning (EISFL) by examining how music education contributes to educational innovation within interconnected learning environments. Contributions from diverse cultural and educational contexts are especially welcome.
References:
Byrne, R., Murphy, R., Ward, F., & McCabe, U. (2024). Playful (music) teaching and learning in Irish primary school classrooms. Irish Educational Studies, 43(4), 1479–1499. https://doi.org/10.1080/03323315.2024.2330886
Cabedo-Mas, A., Moliner-Miravet, L., Kong, S. H., & Bautista, A. (2025). Exploring the impact of a music-social project in primary education on students’ social well-being and levels of satisfaction: A mixed-method study. Research Studies in Music Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X251392435
Campbell, P. S., & Mellizo, J. M. (2024). Teaching Music/Teaching Culture: From the Rhetorical to the Realities. Music Educators Journal, 111(2), 26–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/00274321241297593
Chen-Hafteck, L. (2024). Revitalizing music teacher education through culturally responsive pedagogy. In J. L. Aróstegui, C. Christophersen, J. Nichols, K. Matsunobu (Eds.) The Sage handbook of school music education (pp. 527-539). Sage Publications Ltd, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529674842.n39
Ho, Y.-L., & Bautista, A. (2024). Quality assessors’ feedback and recommendations on music education in Hong Kong kindergartens. Education Sciences, 14(5), 466. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14050466
OECD. (2013). Art for art’s sake? The impact of arts education. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264180789-en
UNESCO. (2024). Framework for culture and arts education. UNESCO. https://www.unesco.org/sites/default/files/medias/fichiers/2024/02/WCCAE_UNESCO%20Framework_EN_0.pdf
List of Topic Areas
Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following topic areas:
1. Innovative Pedagogies in Music Education
Explorations of emerging teaching approaches that support creativity, collaboration, and meaningful musical engagement in diverse learning contexts.
2. Curriculum, Learning, and Assessment in Music Education
Studies examining new approaches to curriculum design, learning processes, and assessment practices in music education.
3. Culturally Responsive and Intercultural Music Education
Research exploring how music education engages with diverse musical traditions, cultural knowledge, and intercultural learning.
4. Community, Participation, and Social Dimensions of Music Learning
Work examining participatory music-making, community-based music initiatives, and the role of music education in fostering social connection and wellbeing.
5. Sustainability and Cultural Continuity in Music Education
Research addressing how music education sustains cultural traditions, supports cultural dialogue, and contributes to sustainable cultural learning environments.
6. Music Education within Educational Systems and Future Learning Pathways
Studies that consider broader educational contexts, including policy, teacher education, institutional practices, and the evolving role of music education in future learning systems.
Submissions from diverse learning settings and educational levels are welcome. Research may focus on music learning in classrooms, studios, community music programs, higher education, or other educational environments. Studies involving learners across different stages of education, including early childhood, kindergarten, primary, secondary, tertiary, and lifelong learning contexts, are all encouraged. We welcome empirical studies, theoretical contributions, literature-based analyses, and practice-based research from diverse cultural and educational contexts.
Submissions Information
Submission of abstracts
For this special issue, prospective authors are invited to submit an abstract for initial consideration. Abstracts should be sent via email to the guest editors: Dr. Yan Lam Ho (ylho@eduhk.hk ), Dr. Yang Yang (yangyang@eduhk.hk ), and Prof Patricia Shehan Campbell (pcamp@uw.edu )
Authors will be notified by the guest editorial team regarding an invitation to submit a full manuscript.
Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/eisfl
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see: https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/eisfl
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to”.
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.
Key Deadlines
Opening date for abstract submissions: 1st April 2026
Closing date for abstract submission: 31st May 2026
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 30th October 2026
Email for submissions: ylho@eduhk.hk, yangyang@eduhk.hk, pcamp@uw.edu
For more details refer here
