Case study twelve: Australia: Music for Learning for Life

Transcription

1 Case study twelve: Australia: Music for Learning for Life Chief investigator(s) and/or investigation team: Contact details: Professor Ian Falk Ms Anja Tait Organization: Learning Research Group Address: Faculty of Education, Health and Science, Charles Darwin University Northern Territory. Country: Australia Phone: , Website: Aims The identified research questions were: Does music skills development, embedded in daily learning across the curriculum in urban upper primary classrooms, provide educational outcomes for Indigenous learners with low literacy and low numeracy levels? What are the implications for policy, practice and research? For upper primary Indigenous students, the project evaluated the impact of the intervention upon: - Attendance - Quality of participation in classroom-based learning opportunities - Oracy and literacy levels for Standard Australian English - Numeracy levels - Arts knowledge and skills development For two school communities, the project evaluated the impact of the intervention upon the educational outcomes of Indigenous learners for recognised numeracy and English literacy benchmarks and community expectations, as found in the National Indigenous English Literacy and Numeracy Strategy (NIELNS). For three participating teachers the project evaluated the impact of in-school mentoring and team-teaching in the arts as a transformative model of on-the-job professional learning. Project outline This research sought to determine whether improved educational outcomes were achieved for students by transforming the quality of relationships between teachers and students, between teachers and their colleagues, and with school leadership and families. Arts education was the medium for engaging the school communities. Relationships of trust developed through arts learning experiences were shown to have the capacity to be inclusive and to engender a sense of belonging. Levels of attendance, engagement and participation can only increase when students feel included, and learning can only result when students attend school and are engaged with classroom pedagogy. Engaged teaching and learning leads to improved outcomes, as summarised below: The arts + the student = engagement Commentaire [AT1] : The equations are expanded/explaine prior piece of text (quoted from th Summary): from relationships o belonging to the end of this s doesn t make sense to me to inclu part of it.

2 Engagement + inclusion = belonging Belonging + inclusion = attendance Attendance + engagement = learning Learning + engagement = outcomes Arts education is one way for students to experience academic achievement and eventually access employment options by the pathway most valued by mainstream Australian society; that is through Standard Australian English literacy and numeracy outcomes. Commentaire [AT2] : The w was written in the draft changes t meaning from what was intended cited in the Exec Summary). This study utilised performing arts processes and music skills development as a conduit for engagement, teaching, learning, and measuring improvement in English literacy and numeracy. The intervention was an intensive process of music education integrated into the Years 5, 6 and 7 curricula of two urban primary schools in the Northern Territory for a full school year. The two schools who participated, have fluctuating Indigenous student enrolments up to 54% of the total school enrolment. Sixty-one Year 5, 6 and 7 students participated in the project. Research methods The research methodology was multi-site, multi-method. The data collected included background information available through the Australian Bureau of Statistics, attendance records, NTDEET summaries for the Multilevel Assessment Program 1 results of standardised testing in reading, spelling and maths, as well as audio recordings of interviews with students and staff, audiovisual documentation of inclass teaching, student performances and oral presentations, as well as work samples. Numerical data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Audio and audio-visual materials were subject to thematic analysis as part of a case study approach. Commentaire [AT3] : The br pointed list was a mixture of data methods. Results This research project demonstrates outcomes for both students and teachers. The opportunity and willingness of participating teachers to engage with an arts-infused curriculum, along with the model of professional learning used in the intervention, enabled transformations in teaching practice, which may have contributed to improved outcomes for students in literacy and numeracy. Teachers grew confidence and competencies in arts pedagogy whilst trialling a transdisciplinary team-teaching approach that was long-term, characterised by inschool joint planning, implementation and evaluation. Teaching practices showed marked transformations that have been sustained over the last two years in a number of ways: teacher practice remains reflective and flexible with teachers reporting improved quality of relationships with students, increased confidence and competencies in music pedagogy, and an increased sense of efficacy. 1 The NT Multilevel Assessment Program (MAP) assesses student achievement in reading, writing, spelling and numeracy. The test determines the number of students in the NT who are competent in these areas as measured against national benchmarks.

3 However, without ongoing joint planning, team teaching, and in-school mentoring, teachers report that their sense of efficacy is compromised Student outcomes were observed for attendance, literacy, numeracy and arts skills and knowledge: The key conclusion that is drawn in relation to attendance is that the numerical findings of students attendance do not necessarily correlate with outsiders perceptions of those records. Some students perceived to have improved in attendance in fact did not. However, what did happen was that these students became highly visible and engaged in the school community. Conversely, a student who continued to be described as an irregular attender was found to have improved his attendance rate throughout That is, attendance records are not necessarily a good relative measure of student engagement and participation in learning. Literacy: target students mean improvement in reading age 2 was 1 year 8 months over a nine month period. Numeracy: students generally achieved statistically significant higher maths ages in Term 4 compared with Term 1, 2003.The median improvement in maths age was 2 years one month. A highlight was that an Indigenous student demonstrated the greatest improvement in maths age of 4 years 8 months, adjusted for the passing of time (nine months); Participating teachers reported that an arts-infused approach to teaching and learning acknowledged and valued the music and related arts skills, knowledge, understandings and interests that students and adults contribute to the school learning community, and; Students acquired an understanding of the elements of music by engaging in rich learning tasks that had relevance to their lives beyond the school gate. Particularly potent was the use of contemporary song. Main Impact Implications of the study fall into three areas: policy, practice and research. Policy The chief implication for policy is that this approach provides evidence for a model of professional learning that supports the principle tenets of the Workforce Development Strategy , for the Northern Territory Department of Employment, Education and Training (NTDEET). Practice There are three implications for practice arising from the research: (a) The key implication for practice is that the arts are a way of teaching-learning that can impact upon teachers professional learning and transform classroom practices; In this study a high degree of trust between the school-based teachers, a community musician, and an arts educator had a direct resource implication for the sustainability of the initiatives and interventions (b) The arts are a way of teaching-learning that can impact upon educational outcomes for Indigenous students, through the explicit teaching of literacy and numeracy embedded within music education, and; 2 ACER Press (2001). Progressive Achievement Tests in reading (PAT-R) Revised.

4 (c) The arts are a way of collecting evidence to inform new solutions to old problems. Arts-based assessment strategies and materials were effective in eliciting rich oral language from students who struggle to reach benchmarks for Standard Australian English literacy. Research Arts-based educational research has the capacity to design, trial and evaluate arts assessment strategies to measure Standard Australian English oracy, literacy and numeracy levels. This approach would aim to provide strategies that can foreground the small learning achievements that some students make, currently invisible to the blunt instruments of state-wide benchmarking. This project also had impact at the system level. In particular, the research project has generated increased interest in the impact of arts learning on literacy and well-being outcomes for students in the Northern Territory. Key achievements and initiatives that have grown out of the NT research project include: In 2004 the project manager received a national award from the Australian Government s Minister for Education, for contributions to literacy and numeracy in the community. People and Learning Branch, NTDEET co-ordinate the Australian Government Quality Teacher Program for the Northern Territory. In 2004 they brokered a partnership with Dr Lorraine Connell, Lecturer for Arts in Education, Charles Darwin University and offered teachers the opportunity to participate in an Arts, Literacy and Action Learning Partnership. In 2004 the Northern Territory Music School (NTDEET) developed The Lynx Project, an arts and education initiative. The Lynx Project is an integrated teacher resource package that includes a live performance of music composed and compiled to take young school-age children on a musical journey that matches a children s picture book. There is a CD, teaching notes, and assessment rubrics. The focus of this package is to build teachers confidence and competence to use music for learning across the curriculum. It is supplemented by ArtStart, an innovative daily skills development program. Little People, Big People, Make Stories is a three-year research initiative of the Learning Research Group, Charles Darwin University ( ). It is jointly funded by the Australia Council for the Arts and NTDEET. Little People, Big People, Make Stories is an arts-based, family-focused literacy and well-being strategy with a preventative focus. It will use active participation in the arts to mesh existing family ways of transferring knowledge and skills to young children, with school-based teaching and learning. Members of the research team for Little People, Big People, Make Stories, will contribute to vocational and higher education opportunities for pre-service teachers, childcare workers and community artists, in collaboration with Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (BIITE), Charles Darwin University (CDU) and the NT Government s Office of Children and Families (OCF). Commentaire [AT4] : There been significant developments thr 2004 and I've re-written thi to capture these. Main Challenges The principal challenge of the research project was that the financial resources to undertake the task consisted solely of the cash contribution from the Australia Council

5 for the Arts. A phenomenal amount of in-kind resources were contributed by the school-based practitioner-researchers, support staff and participating students. Commentaire [AT5] : Anne, was inaccurate for this project. I'v written about the main challenge.