Description
Recent reports have consistently highlighted the crisis facing music education in England, often arguing that governmental policy associated with increased accountability measures has significantly marginalised music within the curriculum (Daubney et al., 2019; Savage & Barnard, 2019). Such measures have also been directly connected to low teacher morale, an erosion of teacher agency and, for music teachers specifically, profound pedagogical tensions (Natale-Abramo, 2014)Within this paper, I draw on a discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1992) of student teachers' reflective writing from throughout their Initial Teacher Education year to discern the impacts of the current neoliberal educational context on their development. Far from pointing the finger at the ‘enemy out there’, I will draw on one particular student’s final reflection to highlight how university (or indeed my own) pedagogical discourse often stands at odds with current school practices, and how this in turn can cause profound professional challenges for student teachers. I therefore aim to highlight ad critique the ethical ramifications of encouraging a musical pedagogy that is deliberately resistant to current accountability agendas.
Through drawing on a Žižekian conceptualisation of subjectivity (Žižek, 1989), I present three specific literary exemplars (Zamyatin, 1924; Kerouac, 1957; Eliott, 1964) to explore the theoretical implications of resistance and how differing approaches may variously erode or enable teacher agency. In the face of ever-increasing pressures on (music) teachers, I conclude that there is indeed a mandate for change, but that this needs careful ethical consideration.
| Period | Jul 2024 |
|---|---|
| Event title | International Society for Music Education (ISME) world conference |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Helsinki, FinlandShow on map |