Students from music schools are usually trained in order to be prepared for higher music education institutions, in fact music schools are considered to be important employers of future conservatoire graduates. Nevertheless it should be considered that the majority of students starts its job experience before the conclusion of higher education studies and graduation and this is why a qualified approach and a concrete link between music schools and job opportunities should be fostered. No significant studies, initiatives and projects have been developed to deepen and understand the relationship and possible links/field of cooperation between music schools and labour market. The MUSE project aims at contributing to the improvement of music school education in order to better suit to the labour market needs of orchestras. Objectives of the project will be: - develop students’ competences in order to increase their professional opportunities, - improve the skills of teachers working in music schools to support training and job placement of their students, - enhance cooperation/links between formal education (high schools) and labour market (orchestras). The key point of the project will be the joint cooperation of education sector (teachers-schools) and labour market (orchestras) in the implementation of the whole activity plan, from the training activity to technical/networking and from the realization of common outputs to the organization of multiplier events. This innovative approach will give them the opportunity to test networking and cooperation directly “on the field”. The activities will target: 1) students 2) teachers 3) orchestras’ staff and will involve almost 500 participants. The project will thus be focused to increase professional opportunities for young musicians (students) by improving both their music and entrepreneurial competences, giving them the opportunity to experience professional training in other EU countries. At the same time teachers will strengthen their profile adopting new methods and tools (thanks to networking activity), implementing innovative practices and also arise their awareness on training and job opportunities abroad, contributing to better align the education system to the needs and opportunities offered by the labour market. Finally orchestras will benefit from operational tools to identify cooperation channels with the schools, moreover they will get the opportunity to be supported in the selection of specific profiles/musicians from the schools for their vacancies and needs. Different actions will bring to these results: - Realization of an Operational Guideline to support teachers with concrete information about the different steps for the creation of training opportunities and project developments with orchestras. The output will be realized through several activities such as assessment of professional opportunities and needs, technical meetings between partners and virtual exchanges with stakeholders, - joint international trainings with students from other countries (practical training in foreign orchestras); - master class with internationally acclaimed musicians; - realization the Virtual bulletin board (intellectual output) for training/traineeships opportunities and job placement; - direct channels and new forms of cooperation between music schools/students and orchestras; - multiplier events. The methodology used for training activities (joint practical training in orchestras and international master class) will foster quality improvements, innovation excellence and internationalisation at the level of education and training, in particular through enhanced transnational cooperation between education and other stakeholders (orchestras). Some of the activities organized within the project framework (virtual networking and technical meetings, cooperation between schools and orchestras both at national and international level, use of the web board) are to be considered as a starting point, which will create a favourable condition to further improvement of networking among education sector and labour market, as well as training and job opportunities for students of music schools.
Students from music schools are usually trained in order to be prepared for higher music education institutions, in fact music schools are considered to be important employers of future conservatoire graduates. Nevertheless it should be considered that the majority of students starts its job experience before the conclusion of higher education studies and graduation and this is why a qualified approach and a concrete link between music schools and job opportunities should be fostered. No significant studies, initiatives and projects have been developed to deepen and understand the relationship and possible links/field of cooperation between music schools and labour market. The aim of MUSE project was that of contributing to the improvement of music school education in order to better suit to the labour market needs of orchestras. The project pursued and reached the following objectives: - developed students’ competences in order to increase their professional opportunities, - improved the skills of teachers working in music schools to support training and job placement of their students, - improve the cooperation and the chances to meetings betwen education (high schools) and labour market (orchestras) The key point of the project was a joint cooperation of education sector (teachers-schools) and labour market (orchestras) in the implementation of the whole activity plan, from the training activity to technical/networking and from the realization of common outputs to the organization of multiplier events. This innovative approach gave them the opportunity to test networking and cooperation directly “on the field”. The activities targeted: 1) students 2) teachers 3) orchestras’ staff and involved around 300 people. The project focused on increasing professional opportunities for young musicians (students) by improving both their music and entrepreneurial competences, giving them the opportunity to experience professional training in other EU countries. At the same time teachers strengthened their profile adopting new methods and tools (thanks to networking activity), implementing innovative practices and also arise their awareness on training and job opportunities abroad, contributing to better align the education system to the needs and opportunities offered by the labour market. Finally orchestras experienced the possibility of cooperation with schools and the educational sector, useful for the recruitment of new professional musicians; this has been reinforced by the realization of operational tools. Different actions allowed the achievements of project's results and objectives: - Realization of an Operational Guideline (Intellectual Output 1) to support students and teachers in the political framework related to music education and working field in each involved country; support to students and teachers with concrete information about the different steps and requirements for orchestra auditions; support students and teachers with useful tools for preparation to the professional future. The output will be realized through several activities such as assessment of professional opportunities and needs, technical meetings between partners and virtual exchanges with stakeholders, - joint international trainings with students from other countries (practical training in foreign orchestras); - master class with internationally acclaimed musicians; - realization the Virtual bulletin board (intellectual output) for training/traineeships opportunities and job placement; - multiplier events. The methodology used for training activities (joint practical training in orchestras and international master class) fostered students and teachers' quality improvements, innovation excellence and internationalisation at the level of education and training, in particular through enhanced transnational cooperation between education and other stakeholders (orchestras). Some of the activities organized within the project framework (virtual networking and technical meetings, cooperation between schools and orchestras both at national and international level) are to be considered as a starting point, which will create a favourable condition to further improvement of networking among education sector and labour market, as well as training and job opportunities for students of music schools.