International Journal of Education & the Arts

Citation: Van der Merwe, L & Erasmus, E. (2024). Editorial: A framework for positive music education. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 24(si2.0). http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea24si2.0

Communities worldwide are facing a range of adverse circumstances associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, inequality, oppression, violence, discrimination and global unrest. Consequently, there is an increasing need for people to develop their capacity to deal with challenges, be resilient and persevere if we are to flourish. Positive psychology and the therapeutic qualities of music education hold the potential to provide unique opportunities to promote solidarity by recognizing differences and strengths within various educational contexts, thereby strengthening communities.

Positive psychology and music education are both well-established fields. However, the intersection and dialogue between positive psychology and music education are underdeveloped (Olander & Saarikallio, 2022). In this special edition, the authors explore the interconnectedness between these two disciplines. In this editorial, we propose a framework, generated from the articles for this special edition, for advancing positive music education (PME).