An investigation into teaching practice in NSW years 7 - 12 music classrooms from 1978-2021

Abstract

The central purpose of this study is to investigate pedagogical practices in the teaching of music in New South Wales (NSW) secondary schools in the period 1978¬–2021, while simultaneously investigating the changes that occurred in the music curriculum over the period. The study explored the pedagogical practices and perspectives of three generations of secondary music teachers spanning 40 years of NSW music curriculum history. The three different perspectives (experienced music teachers, current music teachers and preservice music teachers) enable the researcher to highlight similarities, differences and changes over time in respect of one or more variables or participants within and between the groups of participants (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007). The perspective of participants is examined using Wenger’s ‘Communities of Practice’ (1998) as a lens. Borrowing from Wenger’s theory regarding the concept of practice, the participants ‘shared enterprise’ shown in each stage of their careers as music teachers naturally forms ‘communities of practice,’ and their pedagogical practice as revealed through interviews, serves to “reflect both the pursuit of (their) enterprises and the attendant social relations” (p. 45). The participants discussed how their pedagogies have changed and developed over the years, especially in relation to the components of composition, performance and listening, which have undergone significant shifts over 40 years. They gave an account of the impact technology has had on their subject and how it has developed and changed the delivery of the teaching of composition across both junior and senior music classes. Specifically, through a document study of the syllabi over the period, these findings report on the historical patterns of the NSW music curriculum in the context of general curriculum change, addressing a gap in information related to NSW secondary classroom music practices in the delivery of the curriculum since the 1960s.