Riding the Wonky Donkey of Evidence-Based Practice: Resisting the Neoliberalisation of Education Through Active Work in the Music Classroom

Abstract

Research suggests that the neoliberal vison for the global reform of education through Neoliberalised Evidence-based Practice (NEBP) has been smuggled into education policy in NSW and the NSW government is using NEBP to make unwarranted, ideologically driven interventions into the practices of classroom teachers. This shift in policy has resulted in a pendulum swing towards a back-to-basics approach to classroom teaching which is incongruent with progressive music education ideals. The resulting conflict is embodied in the documents such as What Works Best (WWB) which provide conflicting information to classroom music teachers (CMTs) about “what works best” compared to the advice provided in syllabus documents.

This dissertation argues that NEBP is not what works best for classroom music education and that CMTs need to resist the neoliberal agenda and the associated unwarranted expectations about the role of evidence in their practices. Instead, CMTs should champion an educative evidence-based practice (EEBP) approach using pedagogical reasoning to integrate information from research evidence, classroom expertise, the student’s values and circumstances, and the classroom context. To achieve this, CMTs need to reinvent themselves as intellectuals and cultural critics through a reconnection to the significant ideas, concepts, and theories about music education lying dormant in our rich literature. To prevent a regression to the passive and inert recipiency championed in documents like WWB, CMTs are urged to form research-informed communities of practice centred around dialogic critically reflective practice to foster an active, creative classroom music education based on the belief in the unique power of music to make life special, meaningful.