Title: Musical Education: purposes beyond the curriculum
1Musical Education Purposes Beyond The
Curriculum Thursday 2 September 2004 Professor
Bart McGettrick
2We educate young children to have the capability
of serving their communities in the common good.
This includes a concern for creativity, so
readily developed through music.
3There can be little doubt that the main thrust of
learning is changing. There was a time when
learning was essentially led by the knowledge to
be learned, and skills and values and emotions
were recognised to come in the wake of that
knowledge and understanding.
For many that is the current view of education.
4Amongst the other blessings (which God gives) it
is to be reckoned not least that by assiduous
study man may win the pearl of knowledge. This
shows him the way to live well and happily and
its preciousness opens the door for him to
understand the mysteries of the universe it
helps and raises to distinction those that were
born in the lowest places. (Nicholas V, Bull of
7 January 1451, Glasgow University Archives)
5For to what purpose is the toil and bustle of
this world? What is the end of avarice and
ambition? Adam Smith The Theory of Moral
Sentiments, 1759
6Education thus presents itself as at once
preparation for life and an irreplaceable part of
life itself Hence the good school is to be
assessed not by any tale of examination
successes, however impressive, but by the
extent to which it has filled the years of youth
with security, graciousness and ordered freedom,
and has thus been the seed-bed for the
flowering in due season of all that is of good
report. Secondary Education A Report of The
Advisory Council on Education in Scotland, 1947
7The intellect has become free through the later
part of the twentieth century and the emotions
remain in chains. Education needs both to
flourish for the development of the whole
person.
8A Spirit of Leadership To the fearful heart
everything is threat To the greedy eye everything
is possession To the loving person everything is
possible
9Current educational systems are however rather
focussed on performance and action. The concern
is for what people know or have the capacity to
know. Learning is centrally concerned about what
we learn and the subsidiary issue is about how
we learn. The leader needs to reflect on how to
reverse these priorities.
10In times of change learners inherit the
earth while the learned find themselves
beautifully equipped to deal with a world that
no longer exists. Eric Hoffer, 1995
11Yet we are faced with a real challenge The
priorities that are expressed nationally include
a concern for creativity, and also for attainment
and achievement. The challenge is that these
are contradictory, so long as attainment is
assessed by cognitive measures e.g. test items.
12Creativity is recognised as being a priority by
government. The question really is whether this
is capable of being developed adequately while
other pressures of cognitive accountability are
so severe?
13The purposes of education include The formation
of people of
- Love, care and compassion,
- Who have a sense of hope,
- Who appreciate and create beauty, and
- Who will serve the world by their gifts.
14Education is concerned with exposing children to
good, to truth, to beauty, to honesty, to love,
to compassion, to integrity. These are the
qualities which must inspire education and our
music. It is only possible to know about these
qualities of life when we have experience of
them. Experiencing music is an enriching part
of life
15Does this imply that there are certain kinds of
music which are educationally significant and
others which may not be?
Does it imply some kind of differentiation of
types of music?
Does it have implications for music making and
for musical experience and appreciation?
16The greatest challenge for all teachers is
knowing the effects of educational and life
experiences. They need to be experienced seen
and felt in the practical aspects of daily life
in the school. The sounds of the school, the
artwork on display, the movement and dance at
celebrations, etc.
17A Model for Learning
Content Principles, Knowledge, Concepts, Ideas,
Skills
Disposition to Learning The Love of Learning.
18Qualities for Education
- To remember children have memories
- To encourage and feed dreams
- To express our care for children
- To rid society of the pain of the fearful heart
- To encourage risks and know there is safety in
the school - To know that the teacher does care
19Areas for Consideration
- Teaching approaches
- The climate and ethos for learning
- The relationships established by the educator
- What is to be learned and how this takes place
(context)
20A full education in the Arts engages the heart
and soul of the learner. This should pay
attention to all aspects of learning. A
hierarchy of learning pays attention to
? Learning how to become ? Learning how to
be ? Learning how to do ? Learning how to
learn ? Learning how to repeat
21It is the active participation of both learning
and teaching which characterises an effective
education. The educator is most effective as a
witness or role model, and this has a profound
impact on the learner. In so many ways the
creative educator is also a creative learner.
22This will mean putting dignity before price, and
humanity before economy. Creativity is not
susceptible to complete description by measured
outcomes and identifiable targets.
23We should not continue to see creativity and
especially music as marginal activities of the
elite or the eccentric. We have to re-orientate
our concerns in education towards a world of,
care, love, compassion and so develop a society
which genuinely values the creative impulse.
24The barometer of humanity is the quality of how
we work with children, the vulnerable and the
marginalised.
25The culture of an Education Authority matters to
schools The culture of a school matters to
teachers The culture of teachers matters to
students The culture of students matters for
humanity
26Pace of Culture Change takes 3 years in a
Primary School 6 years in a Secondary
School 8 years in an Education Authority
27There is a professional ethical imperative in all
that we do in education At the heart of
education is the development of humanity. The
language we use has to move from the technical to
the humane The attitudes and values also have to
reflect that greatest gift to humanity music.