MUSIC AS MEANS TO SUPPORT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND BEHAVIOUR OF PREADOLESCENTS

Background: The paper explores the potency of music activities and background music to support academic performance and behaviour of Slovak middle school pupils. It reviews developmental, social and emotional changes that children face during the period of preadolescence. School and education is connected with the formation of personality, thus school staff and parents need to pay attention to social and emotional well-being of pupils. The objective of the study is to investigate academic performance and behaviour of pupils (aged 10-11) before and after music intervention. Methods: The target research group consists of forty-four Slovak fifth graders from big urban, municipal middle school. Data were collected by evaluation of rating scale conducting teacher´s professional judgement about pupils they taught the four explored school subjects. Results: The study summarises the results of rating scale of teacher’s opinions of pupils’ academic performance and behaviour in the control and experimental groups (with and without music intervention). The results show the potency of music to support academic performance and improve behaviour of pupils.