Helena Wattström

About Helena Wattström

I am a Senior Lecturer in Music Education at the Academy of Music and Drama (HSM), where I have worked since the 1990s, primarily within the Eurhythmics and Music Teacher Education programmes. I trained as a Eurhythmics teacher at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and have extensive teaching experience in higher education, compulsory schools, and municipal arts schools.

In the 1990s, I developed the Eurhythmics programme in Partille and founded Ramseband, an orchestra for people with intellectual disabilities. Our work led to several tours in Japan and participation in the opening of the European Year of People with Disabilities in Brussels in 2003. In 1999, I received both the Royal Swedish Academy of Music’s Music Education Award and the Partille Cultural Award.

For many years, I served as Head of the Music Teacher Education programme, and I am currently responsible for the Cultural School Teacher Education programme. I am deeply committed to the music teaching profession and believe in music as an important and enriching part of young people’s lives, whether pursued professionally or as a lifelong interest.

Together with Lena Törebratt, I published Rytmiksäcken in 1996, a teaching resource that integrates music with other subjects through thematic learning. A revised edition has since been published.

My key areas of commitment are equal treatment, gender equality, and widening participation. Alongside my work at HSM, I am involved with Motivationslyftet by Star for Life, where creative and arts-based learning processes are used to strengthen young people’s motivation, goals, and belief in their future.