Interactive therapeutic music skill-sharing in the West Bank: An evaluation report of project Beit Sahour

Abstract

Interactive therapeutic music skill-sharing projects are becoming more widespread, yet there exists little research into the areas of trainees’ motivations and transfer of skills, aspects that seem vital if the projects are to achieve their goals of upskilling employees and benefitting clients. Project Beit Sahour (2012 – ongoing) aimed to equip teachers and social workers with skills to run such groups in their workplaces. This paper provides an evaluation of the project that took place in the West Bank in two mainstream schools, with particular emphasis on trainee motivation, training programme quality and subsequent use and embedding of knowledge and skills. In order to evaluate the training programme, a series of questionnaires were devised and administered at specific times during and after training. Reports were also requested from the schools involved to obtain further information regarding the areas of evaluation. The paper offers an overall summary of findings, and makes recommendations regarding future areas of investigation in projects of this nature.