Abstracts for symposia during NNMpF

Transcription

1 Abstracts for symposia during NNMpF

2 Music Education - a critical means for intercultural courses of action? Marja Heimonen, Jan-Erik Mansikka & Maria Westvall In the Nordic societies today, there is an assumption that musical pluralism and diversity exists within media as well as within music education. Such notions indicate a co-existence of different music practices and musical exposure on relatively equal terms. When it comes to media display of music, the presence of a variety of music(s) does not verify equal coverage. In the school contexts, diverse musical practices are approached quite differently, which may convey a hierarchical idea of what counts as real or important music. The role of popular Western music is significant in general music education in the Nordic contexts. An imbalance of the representation of various music(s) in music education, do not generally imply that there is a conflict between what might be defined as mega-genres, e.g. popular, folk or classical music. Instead, the conflict is often the imbalance of exposure, experiences, and knowledge transmission of a musical variety within the range of popular, folk and classical music in music education, due to a dominant Westernized canon. Music education is a complex cultural phenomenon. We live in increasingly multicultural societies and the question is if, and how, music education enhances intercultural processes on various levels? On one hand, there is a general perception that its purpose is to maintain, transmit and reinforce what would be defined as cultural and musical heritage. On the other hand, music education today has a strong influence of Western popular music, especially in the Nordic countries. The reasons for such emphasis, is the idea of the importance for students to relate to their own music in formal music education. Their own music is often synonymous with music that they are exposed to in media outside the school context. The aim of this emphasis is to encourage students to be more empowered to express themselves musically, and at the same time find their musical identity within the frames of (formal) music education. What happens then with the relationship to music that is not generally transmitted as the majority population s cultural heritage, or is not included as part of a dominant Western (popular) music canon? How will students get in contact with a diversity of musics within the frames of education, and is this an important goal for education? These questions relate to wider issues of challenging the canons within education as a way to prepare students for

3 participation in a multicultural and multiethnic society. So, what is the task of the music teachers in this context? We have investigated this topic by carrying out a case study in Swedish-speaking schools in Finland. This specific Finnish context can inform us about intercultural processes on a more general and international level. Being a bilingual country, Finland provides an interesting context for examining the relationship between music education and multi-/intercultural processes. Finland has become an increasingly multicultural society over the last few years, due to recent immigration. The current situation meets with a historically rooted cultural diversity that includes the Swedish-speaking and Finnish-speaking Finns, as well as the Sami population. These factors create a unique perspective on multiculturalism and intercultural processes. Finland is a typical example of a Nordic welfare state, and interventions on a state level have a strong impact on the educational system. On behalf of the Finnish National Board of Education, the project Development of multicultural skills in the schools took place between 2007 and The project aimed to develop "multicultural skills" in order to improve the general learning environment in the schools. Altogether 52 municipalities participated in the project; yet, surprisingly few of these were in the Swedish-speaking areas. A reason could be that the project was instantly directed to deal with the recent immigration situation, and relatively few of the Swedish-speaking areas had a large number of immigrants at the time for this intervention. Recent studies also reveal that Swedish-speaking teachers in Finland do experience themselves a bit aside from the discourse of immigration and multiculturalism due to their own minority position as well as having a rather ethnic homogeneous student population, This study aimed to investigate the teachers views, attitudes and experiences of the relationship between music and multicultural skill - development in the Swedish-speaking schools. The principal research question was: Whether - and if so, how, - teachers in the Swedish-speaking schools in Finland perceived that music in the school environment provided funds for the development of multicultural skills and intercultural learning. Data was collected in four Swedish-speaking schools, mainly through focus group interviews with the teachers.

4 Each of the four schools represented different Swedish-speaking contexts in Finland. These were: 1. Rural bilingual, 2. Rural Swedish- speaking, 3. Urban Swedish- speaking 4. Swedish as a language island in a Finnish speaking area. The theoretical framework for this query is inspired by the discourse on Critical Multicultural Education. In Critical Multicultural Education different streams of 20th century thinking are intertwined. We do not make any substantial difference between multicultural and intercultural education. Both concepts are used extensively, in research as well as in practice. Even if the concepts have different origins they overlap each other and gain different emphasizes depending on discourse, situation and perspective. There has recently been an increasing interest among researchers in the Nordic context concerning various aspects of multicultural music education. Few studies, however, have approached this topic from the angle of Critical Multicultural Education. In this presentation we aim to discuss the findings from this study within the framework of CME. References Dervin, Fred, Paatela-Nieminen, Martina, Kuoppala, Kaisa & Riitaoja, Anna-Leena (2012). Multicultural Education in Finland: Renewed Intercultural Competences to the Rescue? International Journal of Multicultural Education: 14(3) Georgii-Hemming, Eva & Westvall, Maria (2010). Music Education A personal matter? Examining the current Discourses of Music Education in Sweden. British Journal of Music Education. 27, Hebert, David G., & Karlsen, Sidsel (2010). Editorial introduction: Multiculturalism and music education. Finnish Journal of Music Education, 13(1), Heimonen, Marja & Hebert, David G. (2012). Nationalism and Music Education: A Finnish Perspective. In David G. Hebert & Alexandra Kertz-Welzel (eds.) Patriotism and Nationalism in Music Education. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, Holm, Gunilla & Londen, Monica. (2010). The discourse on multicultural educational reform in Finland: education for whom? Intercultural Education 21, 2, p Holm, Gunilla & Zilliacus, Harriet (2009). Multicultural education and intercultural education: is there a difference? In M. Talib, J. Loima, H. Paavola & S. Patrikainen (eds.) Dialogs on diversity and global education. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, p

5 Holm, Gunilla (2013). Näkökulmia suomenruotsalaisen koulun identiteettirakennelmaan pääkaupunkiseudun opettajat kielen ja kulttuurin rajapinnoilla. In J.-E. Mansikka, G. Holm & M. Londen (eds.) Kaksikielinen koulu tulevaisuuden monikielinen Suomi / Tvåspråkig skola ett flerspråkigt Finland i framtiden. Jyväskylä: Suomen kasvatustieteellinen seura, p Juntunen, Marja-Leena Musiikin didaktiikka opettajankoulutuksessa. In Tuula Kotilainen, Maaria Manner, Jukka Pietinen & Riitta Tikkanen (eds) Musiikki kuuluu kaikille. Koulujen Musiikinopettajat ry. 100 vuotta. Jyväskylä: KMO, Karlsen, Sidsel (2012). Multiple repertoires of ways of being and acting in music: immigrant students' musical agency as an impetus for democracy. Music Education Research, 14(2), Karlsen, Sidsel, & Westerlund, Heidi (2010). Immigrant students' development of musical agency exploring democracy in music education. British Journal of Music Education, 27(3), Mansikka Jan-Erik och Holm Gunilla (2011) Teaching minority students within minority schools: teachers conceptions of multicultural education in Swedish speaking schools in Finland. Intercultural Education 22 (2) Räsänen, Rauni (2010) Inter cultural education and education for global responsibility teacher education. Finnish Journal of Music Education: 13(1), Westvall Maria (2009). Webs of Musical Significance. A study of student-teachers musical socialsation in Ireland and Sweden. VDM Verlag. Westvall, Maria & Carson, Charles, D. (2013) Utmanas trygghetszonen? Musikundervisningens roll i det mångkulturella samhället. In: Øivind Varkøy och Johan Söderman: Musik för alla. Filosofiska och didaktiska perspektiv på musik, bildning och samhälle. Lund: Studentlitteratur.

6 Abstract symposium 90 minutes Cecilia Ferm Thorgersen, Professor in music education, LTU, Sweden Olle Zandén, PhD in music education, LNU, Sweden John Vinge, PhD in music education, NMH, Norway Ninnie Andersson, Phd-student in education, LTU, Sweden Johan Nyberg, PhD-student in music education, LTU, Sweden Commentator: Lauri Väkevä, Professor in music educaiton, SIBA, Finland Assessment as learning in music education - the risk of criteria compliance replacing learning in the Scandinavian countries Recent reforms in England and USA give evidence that teaching methods and content can change rapidly, given a strong external pressure, for example through economic incentives, inspections, school choice and public display of schools and pupils performances. Educational activities in the Scandinavian countries have increasingly become dominated by obligations regarding assessment and grading. A common thread is the demand for equal and just assessment and grading through clear criteria and transparent processes. Torrance (2007) states that clarity in assessment procedures, processes and criteria has underpinned widespread use of coaching, practice and provision of formative feedback to boost achievement, but that such transparency encourages instrumentalism. He concludes that the practice of assessment has moved from assessment of learning, through assessment for learning, to assessment as learning, with assessment procedures and practices coming completely to dominate the learning experience and criteria compliance replacing learning. Thus, formative assessment, in spite of its proven educational potential, threatens to be deformative (Torrance, 2012). In the symposium we will explore to what extent and how this development is visible from four perspectives. Four examples of assessment investigation of dance and music education in primary, lower and upper secondary schools will function as entrances to the dilemma. The symposium will start with an introduction of assessments demands in general and in the Scandinavian countries specifically, ending up in the theories of Torrance, and the risk of assessment as learning or even. Thereafter the following perspectives and settings will be described. Professionalism in Action Music Teachers on an Assessment Journey If assessment practices within education have led, as Torrance (2007) claims, to instrumentalism in the form of assessment as learning [and] criteria compliance (p ), how can teachers and researchers reclaim the exploratory notions of (music) education? In an ongoing collaborate Research and Development and Participatory Action Research project, a group of Swedish upper secondary school music teachers together with a researcher investigates issues regarding assessment, for instance why equality is not spelled exactly the same thing and how teachers balance professionalism with accountability. Demands on documentation of dance knowledge in upper secondary schools in Sweden how does that processing assessment practice? In the syllabuses from Gy11, expressed dance performance can be seen as an embodied action. Though, students and teachers are asked to evaluate themselves and fill out a written rubric in the same way as all other subjects at studied upper secondary schools. The focus on criteria-referenced feedback can have coherence to assessment as learning instead of

7 assessment for learning. Based on observations, conversations and written reflections teachers are expressing the insufficiency with the rubric in combination to dance. How is the demand on documentation processing the assessment practice? Through a study of grading conversation teachers conception of qualities are illuminated. What is the base for what is assessed and communicated and how is that effect the teaching professionalism? What is prepossessing teachers conceptions of qualities? An outline of an understanding of assessment as didactical self-defence strategies The findings of Vinge (2014) indicate a clear tendency towards a systematic criterion based assessment practice in the compulsory music subject in lower secondary schools in Norway. This change in practice follows the implementation of the latest curriculum reform (LK06, the knowledge reform), a curriculum reform initiated to enhance student learning within the frames of international competency comparison. Music teachers make use of new assessment principles and techniques designed to enhance student learning, associated with the so-called assessment for learning concept. However, the analysis indicates that these principles and techniques are being used mainly for grading purposes and settings assessment of learning. All though teachers seem to face lots of difficulties in the construction of various assessment schemes; once adopted they seem to become important tools in the teachers strive for effectiveness and control. This poses a central question, which will be elaborated in this presentation: Who is assessment actually for? Is it for the students or the teacher? Teaching for learning or teaching for documentation: on the effects of a curriculum reform The Swedish 2011 curricular reform brought considerable change to the school system. Among other changes, grading was to take place from school year 6 and not from year 8 and a new grading regime was introduced with more grades and more detailed criteria than in the preceding curricula. In this presentation, preliminary results from a survey among music teachers in Swedish compulsory school will be discussed. The survey is based on the findings in a qualitative study of music teachers perceptions of this reform (Zandén & Ferm, forthcoming) and aims at giving a representative picture of the effects of the reform on music education and music teachers professional situation. Finally Lauri Väkevä will draw lines between the different contributions, comment critically, and conclude with with a Finnish perspective.

8 Symposium Music Education Never as Important as in Early Childhood? Introduction Papers and presentations concerning early childhood education and care (ECEC) have until recently been rare in Nordic Network for Research in Music Education. There is a long tradition in music education studies to teach music development and then emphasizing the first phases of life. However, didactics of music education in early childhood seems less emphasized, some places only offered in early childhood teachers curricula. Recently, we have seen a stronger focus on ECEC in general, thus also on research in ECEC and on early childhood music education. This symposium presents contemporary music education research in Nordic ECEC and discusses the important of this research related to music. Torill Vist Title: Early childhood music education and research in Norway Vist will describe and discuss some tendencies in early childhood education and research in Norway, related to music. The discourse of developmental psychology and the sociological study of childhood have both - at different times been the dominant discourse in Norwegian ECEC. Today s discourse emphasizes seeing the children as subjects and in a context. Thus, has the Norwegian ECEC improved its ability to see the children as musical subjects? And in that case how is musicality understood in ECEC? The mandatory credits in music in early childhood teacher s education have decreased dramatically the last decades. How does that reflect music s role in ECEC today? How does it reflect research on music in ECEC? Some of the latest educational research programs from the Research Council of Norway have explicitly asked for research related to aesthetic experience and learning. The project Searching for Qualities: relations play aesthetics learning is a result of this. It is a 4-year RCN-funded project with 12 researchers, investigating the quality in Early Childhood Education and Care for children under the age of 3 years. Vist s part of the Symposium reveals some of the theoretical topics that are investigated as part of this project, related to music. Helga Rut Gudmundsdottir Title: Conceptions in early childhood musical abilities In this paper Gundmundsdottir will review the literature on music in early infancy and toddlerhood. More is known about music perception in the first year than about music production abilities. However, by learning about infants abilities early in life we may better understand how we can foster and nourish musical abilities. First, there is a review on the musicality of the infant and the idea of the innateness of music in the human being. Then, the importance of sound at the very beginning of life is discussed, with references to research on the perception abilities of the newborn. This is followed by a summary of studies on music perception and musical enculturation early in life, leading into a section about what is known about music production abilities early in life such as singing and moving to rhythm.

9 Music seems to elicit strong reactions from infants. Those who spend some time with infants and small children will probably notice that music attracts their attention very easily. Whether it is through recordings from loudspeakers, musical toys, live instruments, human singing or other forms. Music often induces physical reactions such as rhythmic movements followed by positive emotional behaviour which looks very much like dancing and musical enjoyment in older children and adults. Parents and caretakers are often amazed at these responses in very young infants because such responses give an impression of a sophisticated perception and behaviour not necessarily associated with early infancy. But how much is known about the musical abilities of infants and toddlers? The paper will draw upon results from research and discuss how this information can be useful in the discussion of the role of music in the life of infants and toddlers. Sven-Erik Holgersen Title: Music education between student achievement and existential meaning During the past decade, educational reforms at all levels have shown increasing interest in classroom management and student achievement. This general tendency marks a shift in the educational culture away from focus on subject knowledge and towards objective knowledge. Following this tendency, music as a teaching subject must prove valuable in objective terms and as a result, important dimensions of musical meaning that are not described as objective learning goals may be neglected. How, within this assessment paradigm, can music education for young children be described and appreciated? In musical as well as other aesthetic practices, existential themes related to children s life worlds become visible and are negotiated through aesthetic forms of expression. After all, existential aspects of meaning may be described as learning outcomes in their own right, perhaps even as objective knowledge. In curricular terms, however, there is a missing link between objective musical skills and the existential level of meaning. Holgersen s contribution to the present symposium is to present a theoretical framework for research and teaching with a particular focus on existential aspects of music education in the early years. The presentation will especially draw on existential phenomenology in combination with didactical and psychological theory. Ingeborg Lunde Vestad Title: The Kindergarten Teacher as Music Educator Is there an Available Subject Position? In this paper Vestad focuses on the role of the kindergarten teacher as a music educator. The paper is based on her recently completed PhD dissertation that explores the interpretative repertoires that children themselves, parents and kindergarten teachers draw on to regulate how and explain why children between 3 and 6 years of age use recorded music (music CDs, Mp3 files etc.) in their everyday lives. Based on observations and interviews in two kindergartens/day care facilities and nine family homes respectively, available interpretative repertoires were identified in the children s

10 actual uses of music, as well as in the participants talk. None of the participants were professional musicians or music teachers. The results show that music as important is a strong and highly available interpretative repertoire. However, the kindergarten teacher s role in children s musical lives is discursively complicated. Vestad draws attention to the curious point that, on one side, a lack of knowledge in and of music is brought out verbally in the data by the participants themselves, especially by the kindergarten teachers. On the other hand the kindergarten teachers own as well as the remaining staff s competence and qualifications in music are not acknowledged. For instance, the kindergarten assistants who participate in the study possess vast musical knowledge gained in their everyday lives and through participation in informal learning arenas, both in terms of musical repertoires and skills and of how music can work in everyday life settings, also in kindergartens. This kind of knowledge is not transferred into the conscious, pedagogical thinking, and is not intentionally used as a resource. The findings suggest that the professional discourse on music in kindergarten does not include recent knowledge developed within adjacent research fields, such as the sociology of music/music education, the cultural study of music, and positive psychology. This is a paradox, considering that sociological conceptions of the child, for instance the child as a competent subject, is a clear basis for the pedagogical thinking in kindergarten in general. The kindergarten teachers strive to fit themselves and the kindergarten s work with music into the rather narrow frames of what they find to be the proper knowledge in and of music. Skills are underscored, discursively strongly connected to notions of the talent, the musical genius and so forth. Within this discursive framework, they speak of themselves as unknowing and without competence. Compared to the parents uses of music together with their children, kindergarten teachers have a lot to learn from the parents, who are less constrained by discourses of musical knowledge and skills, and see their own everyday experiences with music as a resource. A paradox as far as the musical education of kindergarten teachers goes, is that compared to the kindergarten assistants, the professional discourse available to younger kindergarten teachers seem to put constraints on their musical engagement, rather than enhancing the kindergarten teachers scaffolding behaviours towards the flourishing of children s musical lives in kindergarten. Vestad argues that one needs to work towards making available a subject position between the genius and the unknowing within the professional discourse of music in kindergarten.