Embracing Music Diversity: Integrating Pedagogies for Culturally Diverse Music Education into the NSW Primary School Classroom

Abstract

Classroom music education in Australia is guided by curricula which note the extrinsic value of studying culturally unfamiliar music traditions. Culturally diverse music education, which situates the interactions with music through monocultural, multicultural, intercultural, or transcultural lenses, aims to reconcile the rationales outlined in curricular documents with the realities found in and beyond the classroom. This qualitative multiple case study examined six music educators’ perceptions of culturally unfamiliar music traditions and culturally diverse music education, their pedagogical approaches to culturally diverse music education in their own practice, and the challenges they experienced in its implementation. Through a series of semi-structured interviews, data revealed that although there was a wide spectrum of pedagogical approaches to culturally diverse music education, music educators shared a common recognition of its extra-musical value in developing young people’s cultural competence. However, it was also evident that music educators face many challenges in conducting culturally diverse music education which centre around systemic issues regarding training and support. The findings of this study promote the need for greater collaboration amongst all parties involved in culturally diverse music education and advocates for further research about its place and role in Australian classroom music education.