** NEWS: Primary teacher CPD launch
We are ready to sign up our first cohort of teachers for 2025-26! Fill in the form below to sign up – CPD sessions will start on 19th September 2025.
If you have questions about the programme, please get in touch by emailing hello@lovemusic.org.uk. We are happy to call you if you provide us with a phone number.
What is Sing For Wellbeing?
Sing For Wellbeing is a continuing professional development (CPD) opportunity for primary teachers in Scotland to develop skills and confidence to deliver inclusive singing in their classrooms.
The programme is designed with and for primary teachers who feel a lack of confidence or skill in leading music and singing activities with their pupils. Ultimately, it aims to increase the wellbeing of children through more regular singing, positively impacting their learning, emotional self-regulation, and wider lives. We want all primary school children in Scotland to be supported in feeling happy, healthy and joyful through singing.
Our initial focus is on upper primary teachers and we will be holding the CPD workshops in Edinburgh.
Benefits
- 10 x more music training than offered in typical Initial Teacher Training programmes;
- Teacher-led community network to aid ongoing practice, support and ideas;
- Growth in wellbeing and confidence of teachers and their pupils;
- FREE to participate, supported by Creative Scotland and The William Syson Foundation.
Why does it matter?
This programme responds to:
- the inequity of access to music making in primary schools;
- the pressing challenge of post-pandemic recovery for our children and teachers;
- the evidenced increase in anxiety and poor mental health in children;
- the systematic decline of the music specialist from the primary school workforce, and the consequent burden of music delivery that falls on generalist teachers.
Year 1: 2025-26 Cohort
We are ready to sign up our first cohort of teachers for 2025-26! Fill in the form below to sign up.
Who can take part?
- The CPD programme is aimed at upper primary teachers P4-P7, but all are welcome.
- In 2025-26, sessions will be held in Edinburgh.
- This programme is particularly beneficial to non-music specialists and those who feel less confident about using music and singing in their classrooms.
- No prior experience in music or singing is necessary.
Teachers will:
- Take part in 10 x monthly 2hr workshops throughout the 2025-26 academic year.
- Receive training from music inclusion and education specialist and Love Music’s artistic director Stephen Deazley, supported by inclusive education specialist and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Lecturer Dr Lio Moscardini.
- Develop skills and confidence to use singing inclusively in their teaching practice.
- Develop a deeper understanding of the impact of inclusive group singing on their own and their pupils’ health and wellbeing.
- Become part of a ‘Community of Practice’ where teachers will meet others taking part, support their peers, share learning, resources, and ideas.
Dates and venue
We intend to hold 10 sessions, once per month, on Friday afternoons, from 2.15pm – 4.30pm.
Proposed dates: 2025 19th Sept, 24th Oct, 7th Nov, 28th Nov, 2026 23rd Jan, 27th Feb, 20th Mar, 24th Apr, 22nd May, 12th Jun.
Venue – We hope that one of the schools taking part will host our sessions in a central location in Edinburgh, but otherwise we’ll book a venue. If your school can host, please let us know as soon as possible. We would need a space large enough to accommodate up to 40 teachers with a nice acoustic for singing – a medium-resonance space is preferred rather than a classroom or a large sports hall; if you can hear a slight echo when you click your fingers, that’s great. We will provide refreshments!
FAQs
- How many teachers can sign up from your school?
– As many as you like. We have space for around 40 teachers. - How many sessions do my teachers need to attend?
– All CPD sessions are mandatory to gain the full benefit of the programme; we will provide recordings for any emergency absences. - What happens after this CPD year?
– This is a multi-year programme – we will provide support sessions at key points in the second year and teachers will share resources and support each other as their practice develops. We will be on hand to help. We also plan to repeat the training for a new cohort of teachers in 2026-27.
Sign up to take part
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Project background
The voice is our most accessible musical instrument. We believe that everyone can sing and that singing together can help build healthier, happier, creatively engaged learning communities for both pupils and teachers alike.
We know from feedback with teachers that without musical training, planning and delivering inclusive music activities with their classes can feel like an impossible task. Singing in front of others can feel like a very personal expression that exposes vulnerability, and without training, teachers can lack the confidence in their skills to embed this practice into their teaching.
This programme is focused on skilling up generalist primary teachers and is designed for teachers without prior musical experience or training. It uses singing as the most democratic, inclusive and embodied way to bring music into children’s lives and in the process, to increase both their wellbeing and the wellbeing of the teachers who lead the singing.
Sing For Wellbeing teachers will connect through a peer-network, where they will continue to grow in confidence and competence in singing leadership, and can share and develop resources for use in the classroom. This network will be supported by the Love Music team and subsequent training, discussion and mentorship will be provided for those who would like to continue their development.
The project is a partnership between Love Music and Queen Margaret University, who have been working together since 2021 to develop an ambitious research project connected to this CPD programme which aims to evidence the effects of group singing on children’s wellbeing. The research project has received ethics approval by Edinburgh Council only and so only Edinburgh schools and teachers will be invited to take part in the research element of the programme in the first year. Details of the research programme will be sent to schools that sign up to the CPD programme, or are available on request. Please contact us on hello@lovemusic.org.uk with any questions.
In partnership with
