Study of the results in the acquisition of core competencies in schools that integrate primary education and music

© 2017, © The Author(s) 2017. The goal of this research was to carry out an exploratory study on how music education integrated into primary schooling (children from 6 to 12 years old) can help in acquiring the core competencies characteristic of this stage. The study was conducted by developing a validated instrument, pilot-tested for reliability, to assess the eight core competencies. Pupils in their final year of primary education in the two schools integrating primary education and music that exist in Catalonia were evaluated by comparing them with a control group from ordinary schools. The results of the research show that, although music pupils do not attend more than the minimum number of class contact hours legally established for all curriculum areas (except the arts), they obtained better results when performing a test on all the core competencies.