Marius Byleveld

I'm a musician by training but have found my real passion in music education, specifically working with young people diagnosed with autism. Teaching music in a special education context is so much more than music therapy. I have worked with many students, each with a unique set of skills and limitations, but none of them couldn’t (with a little encouragement) make music.

Through music a student with complex learning needs can unlock their own potential for learning, feel empowered and rewarded and find valuable channels for expression, whilst making music as a group teaches valuable social skills and builds a sense of community. Music also offers opportunity to teach other skills including numeracy and literacy and is a great motivator for managing behaviour.

It is this seemingly unlimited potential for music to act as a vehicle for teaching and a route to developing self-confidence and building social skills that continues to motivate me as a music educator.

My Route into teaching:

My passion for teaching developed as a result of witnessing progress, sense of achievement and enjoyment in those I taught. I began teaching in 2001 whilst completing a bachelor degree in Jazz music at Tswane University of Technology in South Africa. During that time I taught classical guitar (Grade 8), contemporary and jazz music in at least 5 different primary, secondary schools and colleges.

I came to the UK in 2004 in view of extending my musical knowledge and teaching experience. At that point I was offered agency work at a FE College for autistic young adults. I soon received a permanent position and have been teaching there since. This was my first experience with the special needs sector and it opened up a whole new side of teaching for me.

The individuality of each student and their specific needs motivated me to constantly try new teaching approaches. I have found facing these continued challenges to my own skill set to be a richly rewarding experience and draw renewed motivation from this.

What I soon discovered while working with these students, the majority of whom display extreme communication deficits, is that the subject of music is a valuable and powerful vessel for teaching a range of core concepts and essential life skills.