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Teaching for learning or teaching for documentation? Music teachers’ perspectives on a Swedish curriculum reform

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2014

Olle Zandén  and
Cecilia Ferm Thorgersen
Olle Zandén
Affiliation:
Department of Music and Art, Linnaeus University, 351 95 Växjö, Swedenolle.zanden@lnu.se
Cecilia Ferm Thorgersen
Affiliation:
Department of Art, Communication and Education, Luleå University of Technology, Box 744, 941 28 Piteå, Swedencefe@ltu.se
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Abstract

This study analyses 10 Swedish music teachers’ descriptions of how a new music syllabus and a new credit scale have influenced their practice. In the new curriculum, grading is introduced in year 6 and not, as previously, in year 8. We have therefore focused on the effects of this change on school years 5–7. The new syllabus is much more precise and explicit than the earlier one, and it is reported to have strongly affected both teachers’ and pupils’ work in the classroom. Teachers are facing a number of dilemmas when trying to combine the demands of the syllabus with their conceptions of quality in music education.

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Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Music Education , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 37 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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