Presentation by: Beth Tuinstra
Session: E | Time: 11:05AM – 11:45AM | Location: Room 204A
Premise
Every person has their own story, background, and cultural identity; and those may not fit neatly within one category. Caused by a desire to be more inclusive in my own music teaching practice, I sought to discover the ways in which music educators across British Columbia (BC) have incorporated non-Western musics (nWM) in their teaching practices, especially with the introduction of BC’s new curriculum (BCs Ministry of Education, 2015/2018/2019). Conducting a mixed-methods study via surveying BC K-12 music teachers, I researched the current practices and attitudes of music educators in BC regarding the inclusion of non-Western musics, and if BC’s new curriculum has influenced or altered these practices.
Results
Through my research, I have received confirmation that 68% of teachers currently utilize nWME in their practices (nWME does not include: classical, jazz, rock, pop, modern classical, contemporary, or Western-based musics). Due to BC’s new curriculum, 33% of respondents who include nWME have changed their teaching practices and 65% of respondents have not changed their teaching practices. Of those who include nWM but have not changed their nWM practices because of the new curriculum, they experienced the following issues: they had been using nWM before the curriculum change, they have a desire to change, they need more resources, they have issues with how vague the new curriculum is, or they are a new teacher that has always used the new curriculum. Therefore, I seek to demonstrate how the new curriculum supports the inclusion of non-Western musics, including Indigenous musics, and how teachers have responded to the non-Western component of the new curriculum.
Bibliography
BC Ministry of Education. (2015/2018/2019). BC’s new curriculum: Building student success. Retrieved from curriculum.gov.bc.ca
First Nations Education Steering Committee (2008). First Peoples’ principles of learning. Retrieved from www.fnesc.ca/learningfirstpeoples
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015a). Honouring the truth, reconciling for the future: Summary of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Retrieved from www.myrobust.com/websites/trcinstitution/File/Reports/Executive_Summary_English_Web.pdf
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015b). Truth and reconciliation commission of Canada: Calls to action. Retrieved from www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf
Abstract: 581