The Silenced Discourse: Students with Intellectual Disabilities at the Academy of Music in Sweden

In this article, based on a larger research project, the ambition is to critically discuss the first collaboration between students with intellectual disabilities and the Academy of Music in Sweden. The article presents an analysis of video observations of lessons in rhythmics, related to an encounter between the students with intellectual disabilities and a group of student teachers. The theoretical and methodological framework emanates from post-structuralist and social constructionist theories. The results show that the silenced discourse, the unspoken, is constructed from the fact that the students with disabilities both are insufficiently skilled for the task as leaders in rhythmics, and less skilled than the student teachers. Finally, the silenced discourse is discussed, where assumptions of normality and issues of inclusion are addressed as well as a hegemonic discourse in the Swedish politics of education

Musiklärares val av undervisningsinnehåll. En studie om musikundervisning i ensemble och gehörs- och musiklära inom gymnasieskolan

The way in which music teachers choose and use the subject content in ensemble and music theory in the upper secondary school is focused in this study. The point of interest is the everyday classroom teaching of music teachers. The intentions that music teachers have with their teaching is also studied. This thesis is a study of music teaching and is a subject-didactic investigation, inspired by variation theory. The overarching aim of the thesis is to study how music teachers in upper secondary school choose teaching content when teaching ensemble and music theory. The teachers’ use of the teaching content implies that they choose to focus and teach certain parts in their teaching. This choice of content and how it is used is in focus in this study. The research questions are: How do music teachers choose teaching content when teaching ensemble and music theory in upper secondary school? How do music teachers use the teaching content in their teaching? The data collection includes video-documented lessons and qualitative interviews with five music teachers in upper secondary school in 2004. The analysis reveals two different choices of content. When the teachers have music and theory as the content of their teaching, it is the content that guides the teaching methods, where the teacher uses a fixed content, which is then presented in different ways; this was mainly in music theory. When the content is music activities, the music teachers adjust the activity-based content in accordance with the level of the pupils’ skills in ensemble. The differences that occur in the variation theory results are closely related to the teaching content. The foundations of the two different choices of content that are made by the music teachers, as well as the significance of the learning objects, are finally discussed

Practical and Theoretical Knowledge in Contrast : Teacher Educators´ Discursive Positions

Higher education in general and teacher education in particular have been subjected to significant changes. As there are few studies examining how actors rhetorically position themselves within this context, the ambition of the paper is to study conversations between teacher educators related to norms and values in education. The aim of the paper is to study interpretative repertoires and subject positions that are constructed in conversations between teacher educators and to discuss these in relation to qualities in teacher education.The theoretical framework emanates from post-structuralist and social constructionist theories. The empirical material consists of group conversations with teacher educators. The findings reveal that the practical and theoretical appear to be in contrast, which in turn seem to affect education quality. Finally, implications of the findings are discussed, where a future diagonal diverse discourse, combining theoretical and practical knowledge, is argued for

Studenter med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning i rytmikundervisning inom högre musikutbildning : subjektspositioner, identitet och kunskapsbildning

This article is based on a larger research project where the overall ambition is to critically discuss the encounter between students with intellectual disabilities and the Academy of Music. The aim of the article is to study the subject positions that are offered to the students, and how identity is constructed in interaction between the participants in teaching situations. The aim is also to describe the knowledge formation in a broad sense. The theoretical points of departure are the poststructuralist and the social constructionist theories, where the subject is considered as an agent that constructs reality in social interaction, but also as restricted by prevailing discourses. Discourse analysis is being used, with the aid of analytic tools developed within discursive psychology. Two different promi- nent discourses in rhythmics are identified: the protective therapeutic discourse, and the reproductive musical discourse. As a final conclusion, subject positions as well as knowledge formations contained in these discourses are discussed.

Interdisciplinary co-teaching in higher education: Comparing results from music-drama and music-physics partnerships in Sweden and Ireland

Few studies exist on the impact of interdisciplinary co-teaching in Higher Music Education. The aim of the present study is to compare and analyse the findings from two pioneer interdisciplinary co-teaching studies involving music/drama and music/physics co-teaching partnerships, conducted independently in Sweden and Ireland. Elements of Vygotskian scholarship informed the theoretical framework and a reflexive and thematic analytic methodology was employed. Four themes emerged similar to those from interdisciplinary scholarship in diverse disciplines. These include: a heightened awareness of subject synergies, problem solving as a catalyst for creativity, new/deeper insights into collaboration and expanded professional identity. In conclusion, didactical implications are addressed, related to potential challenges

Synergies in subject parallels : Coteaching “music-drama”

This case study contributes with a new coteaching design, in which experienced teachers from two different aesthetic subjects are planning, teaching and evaluating together in higher education, more specifically in general preschool teacher education. The aim of the study is to analyse how two drama teachers and a music teacher reflect on their coteaching. Coteaching, when teachers teach together with shared re- sponsibility to meet their students’ learning needs, is a pedagogical approach to enable an active learning process. Research and practice in coteaching have emerged, mostly designed with coteachers within the same subject. However, more research is needed about teachers from different subjects coteaching together. The theoretical framework is sociocultural, with special emphasis on aspects of learning from ‘the other’ in praxis by working in a zone of proximal development (ZPD). Analysed data consist of field notes and audio-recorded teacher group conversations. Main findings show synergies in subject parallels, based on the analysis of coteachers’ reflections as learning processes within their ZPD. In conclusion, a major contribution in terms of synergy in coteaching appears in subject parallels related to specific subject matter concepts, where music and drama are intertwined in the classroom as “music-drama”, as a new dimension.

Musicianship and Personal Knowledge Management

In today’s information focused world, most days involve contact with some form of screen and keyboard for work and leisure purposes. Learners must be dexterous and agile to effectively respond to shifting labour market requirements reflecting fast-changing technological needs and expectations. Information is available in a myriad of forms and successful engagement requires effective and efficient skills and understanding. With this background, this paper asserts that a musical skill set broadens the way that learners subsequently engage with and manage their information acquisition and use. This provides a broader base for ongoing knowledge management. Using philosophical and reflective approaches, it draws on life experiences from arts education by way of a duoethnographic approach. Two narratives provide insights of individual experiences, subsequent acquisition and engagement with information and consequent enhanced knowledge. These are analysed using a personal knowledge management model, providing a visualisation approach to the collaboration through knowledge sharing. The dialogic results demonstrate how the background of musical competence enriched subsequent learning capability in structuring and operationalising knowledge acquisition and management

Studenter med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning i rytmikundervisning inom högre musikutbildning : subjektspositioner, identitet och kunskapsbildning

This article is based on a larger research project where the overall ambition is to critically discuss the encounter between students with intellectual disabilities and the Academy of Music. The aim of the article is to study the subject positions that are offered to the students, and how identity is constructed in interaction between the participants in teaching situations. The aim is also to describe the knowledge formation in a broad sense. The theoretical points of departure are the poststructuralist and the social constructionist theories, where the subject is considered as an agent that constructs reality in social interaction, but also as restricted by prevailing discourses. Discourse analysis is being used, with the aid of analytic tools developed within discursive psychology. Two different promi- nent discourses in rhythmics are identified: the protective therapeutic discourse, and the reproductive musical discourse. As a final conclusion, subject positions as well as knowledge formations contained in these discourses are discussed.

Musicianship and Personal Knowledge Management

In today’s information focused world, most days involve contact with some form of screen and keyboard for work and leisure purposes. Learners must be dexterous and agile to effectively respond to shifting labour market requirements reflecting fastchanging technological needs and expectations. Information is available in a myriad of forms and successful engagement requires effective and efficient skills and understanding. With this background, this paper asserts that a musical skill set broadens the way that learners subsequently engage with and manage their information acquisition and use. This provides a broader base for ongoing knowledge management. Using philosophical and reflective approaches, it draws on life experiences from arts education by way of a duoethnographic approach. Two narratives provide insights of individual experiences, subsequent acquisition and engagement with information and consequent enhanced knowledge. These are analysed using a personal knowledge management model, providing a visualisation approach to the collaboration through knowledge sharing. The dialogic results demonstrate how the background of musical competence enriched subsequent learning capability in structuring and operationalising knowledge acquisition and management

Tensions in communication Teachers and academic facilitators in a critical friendship

This paper concerns the complex relationships between external facilitators and teachers in action research, as they work in a critical friendship to develop interaction in specific ways that open up rather than shut down communication and learning. The aim is to contribute with knowledge about interpersonal communication between academic facilitators and teachers in a development process where the teachers had a lack of influence in the initial phase of the project. The findings reveal that communication in a context of incompatible positions and professional distance did not lead to further communication, whereas communication in a context of confidence, mutual reliance, and challenge opened up possibilities for further dialogue. We identified three aspects affecting communication: absence of ownership of specific problems, trust without relationship, and courage before trust. Implication for the action research community is the importance of making strategies for critical friendship explicit. This assists for teachers to internalize the role