Ideas of new directions for music teacher education. A discussion based on current Nordic Research in relation to challenges of the present and the future.

• The purpose of this symposium is to stimulate discussion of new directions for generalist and specialist music teacher education in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The symposium incorporates research from the three Nordic countries and the discussion will be based on results from the research projects. This research has been going on for several years and has recently been completed or is in the final phase. Common to all projects are the critique of status quo in music teacher education and the call for changes and new directions in relation to the needs and challenges in our contemporary societies. By this, we join all those scholars who for decades have addressed democracy and social justice in relation to music education. However, because democracy is an open and socially constructed concept (Woodford, 2005), we make no claim to a specific common paradigm in this presentation. Rather, we will present three research initiatives by contextualizing the results within the respective Nordic countries as democratic societies. And from there, we will take the opportunity to raise and discuss some questions about how to set forth a music teacher education agenda for the future: How should music teacher education evolve to increase equity, inclusion and access in music education? Curriculum discourses indicate teacher education as a field of tension, marked by negotiations and struggles between competing policies, philosophies and views of music, culture and education. Can such tensions have potential for change? How can teacher education prepare student music teachers for a complex and diverse school life? How can we approach digital tools in educational spaces that can promote critical reflection about challenges of the present and the future? How can we rethink the selection principles for the music teacher programs?

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)