Arş. Gör. Dr. GÖZDE ÖZENÇ İRA

Biyografi

Since 2018, Gözde Ozenc-Ira has been working as a research assistant in primary school teaching at Hacettepe University, Ankara, Türkiye. In 2024, she completed her PhD in primary school teaching at Anadolu University. For her dissertation, she developed a 10-session music-integrated program in the Life Science course and investigated the impact of the music integration strategies on primary school-aged children's attitudes towards teaching and learning, as well as their emotional development. Since 2001, she has enrolled in several music education courses, focusing on playing instruments (classical and acoustic guitar, bağlama/saz), music theory, music, culture, and pedagogy, as well as special music teaching approaches (e.g., Orff Schulwerk approach, rhythm, and body percussion). She has also enrolled in a design-based research course during the spring semester of 2020–2021 at Middle East Technical University. From 2014 to 2016, she was a primary school teacher in public schools. Therefore, she found an opportunity to practice her theoretical knowledge in real classroom settings. Her academic interests are twofold: interdisciplinary education/music-integrated curriculum, and inclusive education. Her academic work has focused on the intercultural educational needs of displaced people, especially Syrian refugees, as well as teachers' perspectives and educational approaches to these individuals. She is keen to apply her academic knowledge and skills to conduct research on social justice in education, inclusive education, and culturally responsive music education. In this regard, in collaboration with Hacettepe University and SPARK (a Dutch non-governmental organization), she served as a researcher for the project "Strengthening Higher Education Institutions for Inclusive Education" from July 1, 2020, to January 1, 2021. She attended the summer semester of 2023 at Cologne University in Germany, where she completed coursework in multiple subject areas of education as part of an Erasmus+ Mobility program. Currently, she is starting her postdoctoral research at the University of Cologne. Her upcoming projects will address inclusive music education, music teacher training, and the intersection between music and migration in the German context. Through these works, she aims to contribute to both theory and pedagogy-oriented  knowledge on inclusive music education in culturally diverse societies. Until now, she has published some academic works in international, high-ranking journals in the research categories of educational psychology, sociology, psychology, education, and educational research.