Happy accidents? Music teacher perceptions of curriculum design at Key Stage 3 in the English secondary school.

Abstract

Classroom music teachers in English secondary schools, teaching Key Stage 3 (11 – 14 year olds), are required to design their own curriculum. Processes of curriculum design in music embody unacknowledged complexities, and tacit teacher planning practices. A consideration of music curriculum design is largely absent in music education literature, and there is a similar lack of approved curriculum formations in policy documentation. A paucity of discussion of music curriculum design also exists, both in initial teacher training, and in later career development opportunities for classroom music specialists. Teachers are, however, accountable for curricula that they implement, and consequential outcomes that are evident from their selected approaches. \n \nThis thesis addresses these problems by seeking to understand music teacher curriculum design processes and their enaction, and to recognise and theorise complex notions within curriculum design models of practice. It makes recommendations for music teachers, senior school leaders and policymakers on curriculum music in the lower English secondary school classroom for future practice, based on research findings. \n \nThe study draws on case study research in two pilot and seven main study schools, from the West and East Midlands in England, utilising semi-structured interviews, think aloud protocols and documentary analysis. Additional research strands include a questionnaire with 64 respondents, and two elite interviews for elucidation. Analyses of results were facilitated through methodologies of epistemic ascent, radically modified grounded theory and activity theory. \n \nMusic teacher perceptions of curriculum design, as revealed through the research project were developed into models: curriculum progression, curriculum activity, curriculum processing and curriculum dynamics. These models illuminate music teachers’ curriculum design practices, substantiating observations that these enactments represent more significant processes than ‘happy accidents’.

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