About Jennie
- undergraduate, postgraduate taught and junior programmes of study;
- learning, teaching and assessment including curriculum design and development;
- access and participation;
- academic staff development.
An internationally-renowned expert in music pedagogy and educational strategist, Professor Jennie Henley has as taught and led music in various contexts for over 25 years. Her experience spans instrumental teaching, ensemble direction, class teaching, workshop leading and teacher education. She has worked with children, young people and adults and has a rich tapestry of practice crossing music education and community music, often working in challenging and complex settings. As an educational leader, she has designed innovative music education programmes, including distance learning and continuing professional development, and developed and led educational strategy.
A member of the Executive Team at the RNCM with responsibility for the Education Strategy, Access and Participation and the Academic Portfolio, her external work includes Quality Assessor for the Office for Students, Chair of the Greater Manchester Civic Universities Board and board member of the Greater Manchester Higher board.
Jennie is a Professor in Music Education with a research specialism in the relationship between pedagogy and inclusion. Her research has public impact and she has attracted funding from a variety of funders including AHRC, ACE, Comenius and she is regularly engaged as a consultant for international and national education design and evaluation work. She has held key research leadership roles and has an extensive publications profile. Her unique combination of strategic thinking and vision development, with the creative and lateral thinking that being a musician brings, is grounded in a deep experience in teaching and underpinned by her research.
Research
Current and Future Research
Jennie’s research interests surround the relationship between pedagogy and inclusion. Jennie is currently undertaking two research projects. The first, Artists Care, explores the ways that charitable organisations fund, structure and manage care and supervision for artists working in challenging and complex settings. Phase 1 involved a Rapid Evidence Assessment of professions outside of music in order to understand the ways care and supervision are structured within health and social care professions. Funded by Arts Council England and The Lightbulb Trust, phase 2 is currently underway. This involves detailed ethnographies of three charitable organisations that provide music programmes and projects within criminal justice, detention and challenging community settings. The ethnographies include an evaluation of the organisation structures and strategies for supporting artists and how they support artists in sustaining careers in challenging contexts. The third phase will involve the application of the findings of the Rapid Evidence Assessment to the Ethnographies in order to design a large Scale Action Research project that will involve the design of three Artists Care programmes to suit each charitable organisation.
Jennie’s second research project explores partnership working as a way to address barriers to music education for young people in hard to reach areas. As part of the five-year RNCM Engage West Cumbria project, funded by the Benny Walker Charitable Trust, the research programme will seek to understand the ways in which a conservatoire (the RNCM) and a music hub (Cumbria Music Hub) are working in partnership to address barriers identified in previous research (Henley and Barton, 2022). The project has three workstreams: raising attainment, progression, and workforce development. The five-year research programme has two strands: process and impact evaluation to understand how far the musical activities achieved their objectives and how activity design has addressed the identified barriers to music education, and a longitudinal ethnographical research study to understand the complexities of partnership working in developing a musical community that meets local need.
Research Areas
- Inclusive pedagogy
- Music Education
- Community Music
External Research Roles
2023 – current: Editor, Frontiers in Psychology special topic ‘Women in Performance Science’
2020-23: Senior Editor, ISME-Routledge Book Series ‘Global Issues in Music Education
2017-23: Member of Editorial Board, International Journal of Community Music
2015-23: Review Panel, Music Education Research
2016-19: Member of Review Panel, Research in Music Education (RIME) international conference
2017: Scientific Committee, Music and Social Impact Conference, GSMD July 2017
2012-15: Member of Editorial board, British Journal of Music Education
Funded Research Projects
RNCM Engage West Cumbria
Henley, J. (PI) & Hinds, M. (CoI)
1/01/23 — 1/01/28
Artists Care
Henley, J. (CoI), Puttick, M.-R. (PI) & Caulfield, L. (CoI)
1/01/22 — 1/01/24
Teaching
Undergraduate Teaching
- Music in Context 2: Education Strand Tutor
Postgraduate Teaching
- Practical Pedagogy: Module Leader
- Dissertation supervision
Research Supervision
Current supervision of PhDs:
- Rosalind Ridout
- Naomi Kayayan
Research Outputs
Written Outputs
Artists Care: How to structure care and supervision for community musicians working in challenging and complex settings
Henley, J., Caulfield, L. & Cole, S., 2026, (Accepted/In press) In: International Journal of Community Music. 19, 3Editorial: Women in Performance Science
Yoshie, M., Varvarigou, M., Morijiri, Y. & Henley, J., 4 Feb 2026, In: Frontiers in Psychology. 17, 2026Inclusive Pedagogy in Music Education
Henley, J., 18 Nov 2025, Routledge. 264 p.Artists’ Care: supervision and care for those working in challenging and complex settings
Puttick, M.-R., Henley, J. & Caulfield, L., 2024, University of Wolverhampton. 46 p.Education research, vulnerability and positionality: a story of the methodological journey of an education researcher in prisons
Henley, J., 18 Nov 2024, Arts in Criminal Justice and Corrections: International perspectives on methods, journeys, and challenges. Gardner, A. & Caulfield, L. (eds.). Routledge, 18 p.Unlocking Musical Imaginations
Henley, J., 26 Jun 2024, Instrumental Music Teaching: Issues and Challenges. Beach, N. & Spruce, G. (eds.). Trinity College London PressTime for Change? Recurrent barriers to music education
Henley, J. & Barton, D., 2022, In: British Journal of Music Education. 39, 2, p. 203-217Listen, Explore, Do: Five years of Musicate
Henley, J., 2021, 50 p.Excellence, inclusion and intervention in music: navigating contexts and building sustainable working practices for musicians
Henley, J. & Higgins, L., 2020, In: International Journal of Community Music. 13, 2, p. 207-216Redefining Excellence and Inclusion
Henley, J. & Higgins, L., 2020, In: International Journal of Community Music. 13, 2, p. 207–216Professional Activity
Public Presentations and Performance
Pedagogy and Inclusion
Henley, J. (Speaker / presenter)
Pedagogy and Inclusion
Henley, J. (Speaker / presenter)
Civic Engagement and the University
Henley, J. (Speaker / presenter)
Ensemble Pedagogies, Inclusion and Difference: Inclusive Pedagogy in Ensemble Contexts
Henley, J. (Speaker / presenter)
Artists Care: Sustaining music programmes in complex and challenging contexts through musicians’ supervision and care
Henley, J. (Speaker / presenter), Caulfield, L. (Speaker / presenter) & Cole, S. (Speaker / presenter)
Artists Care: Supervision and care for those working in complex and challenging contexts
Henley, J. (Speaker / presenter), Caulfield, L. (Speaker / presenter) & Cole, S. (Speaker / presenter)
Research in Music Education (RiME) biannual conference
Henley, J. (Organiser)
Time for Change? Educational Policy, Research and Strategy
Henley, J. (Speaker / presenter)
Other
AHRC Music and Disability Panel
Henley, J. (Participant)
The Future of Conservatoire Education
Henley, J. (Participant)