National Review of School Music Education - Murdoch Research ...

1990; Adaman & Blaney, 1995; Goleman, 1996; Hendricks et al., 1999). Listening to music could
be a method of coping with environmental stressors (White, 1985) and loneliness (Moore &
Schultz, 1983) for both adolescents and mature-age students.
Many other research studies which attest to the value of music education can be found on the
website of the Music Council of Australia (www.mca.org.au) and the Music Educators National
Conference (www.menc.org).
2.1.3 The quality of school music education
The perennial challenge of music education lies in developing, implementing and sustaining a
music curriculum that effectively engages students with the full range of benefits which could be
derived from being involved in music. The successful translation of curriculum statements into
practice is a critical process that directly impacts on the quality of school music education. Several
issues relating to this have been raised by Temmerman (1991). These include:
the adequacy of primary classroom teachers in terms of requisite knowledge, skills and
confidence as well as attitude to translate curriculum document statements into a successful
instructional programme; the role and attitude of the principal in determining the
establishment and development of a music programme (this includes support in the form of
time for teachers to attend in-service courses, if available, and time to design a programme,
and support in the provision of financial allocations to music for space equipment and basic
resources); parental (and perhaps community) expectations and attitudes towards music
education and its purpose in the primary school curriculum; and of course students’
expectations and attitudes towards music education, although these are often formulated and
influenced by parental and teacher attitudes. Other issues relate to the availability to schools
and teachers of quality State/Territory departmental coordination and resource facilities to
aid in the development of a well-balanced instructional programme specific to local needs but
in keeping with primary music curriculum document defined objectives. (p. 157)
Doreen Bridges, a doyen of Australian music education, points out perceptively the ‘inadequacy’ of
existing school structures in implementing the teaching of music in Australian primary schools. She
notes that
[t]his inadequacy may very well be camouflaged by the excellent choral and instrumental groups
which cater for the selected few but present a positive public image. The fact remains that the
vast majority of children do not have the opportunity of developing basic musical concepts and
skills at the age when these are most easily acquired. (Bridges, 1979/1992, p. 112)
Case study research between 1987 and 1990 of primary schools in USA (Stake et al., 1991) report
that where specialist teachers were not available, ‘there was little music in the schools….rarely was
there attention to the development of musical skills’ (p. 337). A recent study in the United
Kingdom by Hargreaves et al. (2002) found primary school teachers feeling ‘uneasy and lacking in
confidence in music’ and music being considered their ‘biggest headache’ by some schools (p. 14).
The study points out that ‘specialist help is seen as vital for success in music teaching’ at the
primary school level (Executive Summary).
At the secondary school level, a recent UK study found music to be ‘the most problematic and
vulnerable art form’ and ‘pupil enjoyment, skill development, creativity and expressive dimensions
were often absent’ (Harland et al., 2000, p. 4). Music has been described as a ‘failing arts subject’ by
Ross (1998, p. 187), particularly at Key Stage 3. He points to the OFSTED report of 1997/8 which
showed that over half of the 3000 students undertaking instrumental music in south England
dropped out at the transition to secondary school. Possible reasons for the poor attitudes towards
music in England have been identified by Swanwick (1996), Rainbow (1990) and Hargreaves
(1986) and include competing teaching methods that contributed to a lack of continuity, narrow
school curriculum that favoured western art music, an over-dependence on non-contextualised
skill acquisition, and teachers’ lack of understanding of the creative process in music.
Mills (1996) maintains that a drop in the quality of music teaching at secondary schools is greater
than in any other subject, acknowledging that many secondary teachers expect little of their
students and did not provide adequate educational challenges. An accurate understanding of the
state of primary school music and the musical learning of primary school students would be
needed to facilitate a more effective transition to secondary school. Most secondary school
teachers in a recent study O’Neill et al. (2001) report ‘substantial differences in musical activities’
which pupils experience at different primary schools (p. 21), and most cite the ‘difficulty of
progression from the junior to the secondary phase of education’ (p. 23). The study concludes that
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