Education curriculum is a set of courses that a school undertakes at different grades to ensure periodic development of a subject. The curriculum helps in the planning of an education process through the content of activities chained to providing progress and development of a unit in education. In education, curricular and co-curricular activities are offered in a curriculum which ensures mental, physical, and emotional growth of students.
Music education is the study field, which involves music teaching, training, and learning (Elliott & Silverman, 2015). It is offered in schools at different levels through the music education curriculum. This is a curriculum which divides music into various levels and provides standard sequential teaching of music. Music education curriculum plays a vital role in the education system, and its importance should not be ignored.
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What are the goals and aims of music education?
Music education has various objectives and goals which range from personal musical development, Social purposes, physical growth, development of careers, and promotion of cultures and diversity. Music education aims at developing a clear, creative understanding of music, music background, and musicianship, which provides a way for further music education and development. Music education is based on the goal of preparing students for career developments and opportunities.
Music education has several essential values. Among these are self-knowledge, self-growth, and the emotional experience brought by the enjoyment that accompanies the music. It aims at developing students' musicianship and listenership in a progressive and balanced relation to a variety of musical challenges. When students are enabled to achieve the values of music education, it will contribute to the development of their proper self-identity and self-esteem. Music education also extends the range of people's expression and impression powers. It allows them to frame musical expression of emotions together with the interpretation of cultural ideological meanings.
It is also the aim of music education to enter into unfamiliar musical practices to activate self-examination and personal reconstruction of one's relationship, preferences, and assumptions. This is accomplished by linking the fundamental values of music and music education into the broader goals of humanistic education.
What is a curriculum?
A curriculum is a set of courses and academic content provided and offered at an institution of learning. Curriculum originated from curric which came from the Latin word curere , which means to run a course. It is planned and guided learning experiences and intended learning outcomes, which are usually formulated through systematic reconstruction of knowledge and experience. It is also a total guided learning experience designed to facilitate learning in an educational process. Music educational curriculum provides a guide on musical content and learning in schools.
The paraxial music curriculum is deliberately organized to engage the learner in musical activities, transactions, and interactions with closer approximation of real music cultures. The curriculum describes the totality of the learners’ experiences throughout the educational process.
What is traditional curriculum?
Traditional curriculum means a written plan. This is a conventional method of teaching where the teaching techniques do not change. It involves following established traditional guidelines and practices. Traditional curriculum was delivered mostly through oral citation where learners sit and listen to the teachers or their colleagues reciting in front of the classroom. The use of presentation and testing methods were common and characterized by a unified curriculum for learners.
In music, this curriculum includes a traditional approach in music, songs, and cultures. In the traditional curriculum, lessons, use of education materials, lecture, and homework are part of the designed standard system. The educational philosophy converts the subjects into the canon, which contain aesthetic, moral, and social values, and there is no structured destination identified before the beginning of another chapter.
What are the contents of a music education curriculum? How is it organized?
Music education curriculum consists of well-structured levels of learning and activities involved in each level. This ensures systematic teaching and development of music and music education. There should also be guiding principles to aid in the preservation and protection of music ethics. The principles also link the music activities in schools with the laws of a country or the people's traditions and cultures. The rationale for elementary music programs should be clearly stated and provided for in the curriculum. This ensures proper understanding of music as a subject and reasons for studying it. The goals of the program and music education are also provided for in the curriculum which is generated from the mission and vision of the course or the music department.
The curriculum also focuses on musical participation, musical technology, musical awareness and appreciation, and musical understanding. The musical participation states the stakeholders and those who participate in different music levels and traditions — for example, the teaching staff, students at each level and the external participants. The musical technology provides for technological advancement in music and music education. They include musical instruments development and diversifications of songs and musical education over time. Awareness and music appreciation shows the recognition of musical education in the society. Musical understanding varies among people depending on how they perceive it.
The music education curriculum should also contain the teacher candidate dispositions that declares the value of the program and create a dedicated teacher-student service. It should provide a suitable scheme of work that will provide progressive spiral learning and the interactive resources that may be needed. The curriculum should contain musicianship elements where students are not only taught and trained to play instruments but are also taught how to become a musician by having the instruments aside and allow them to do chorales. It should provide ear training, performance, composition and transcription, and improvisation.
It should also provide assessment measures for student learning across a range of standards representative of quality and a balanced music curriculum, which is despondence to music and also creating and performing music.
Organization of music education curriculum.
The curriculum should be organized in levels, stages, or grades in which teaching will be offered. This enables gradual and systematic progress of musical education and facilitate proper understanding among students with different abilities. There should be laboratories in schools for musical innovations where music teachers, classroom representatives, curriculum specialists, and researchers collaborate and work together to design and come up with the best music studies that will benefit their children. The music laboratory should give student's room to take instrument lessons, provide music listening programs, and allow music integrated learning in schools.
How should the curriculum be evaluated?
Curriculum evaluation is the process of examining the impact of the curriculum staged on students, achievements, and societal acceptance. A curriculum can be evaluated by units such as the ministry of education and various educational authorities in the country. Special committees may also conduct the evaluation process which comes in the forms;
Scientific-positivistic evaluation model- This model focuses on the use of quantitative data which is generated by learners in order to determine the level of success of a curriculum. The results are statistically analyzed and compared so that conclusions are made from it.
Humanistic, and naturalistic Evaluation models- This model looks at an individual learner rather than the larger numbers. Qualitative data is used to obtain results. It involves capturing narratives through interviews focused groups and even direct observations on what is going on in the classrooms. Reflective practicums are forms of humanistic models used to assess the level in which the learners capture the lessons provided in class. It also entails paying more attention to the practical values and theories and examining the practice both reflectively and reflexively.
There is also the use of a process portfolio where the success of a learner is facilitated. Process portfolio involves four main steps of portfolio assessment, which include collection, selection, reflection, and connection.
Other evaluation methods include;
Formative evaluation
Formative evaluation is conducted when learning is on-going. Student and teachers' development is examined, and the weaknesses and strengths of the curriculum are stated. This evaluation enables stakeholders to come up with strategies to facilitate proper and full implementation of the curriculum as learning goes on (Green, 2017).
Student evaluation is done through, observation of the student participation and interest development on the music subject, music room activities, and class tests. If most of the students are actively participating and developing positive attitudes and interests towards music as a subject, the curriculum is becoming successful. At the same time, when the students in music rooms are learning music activities and the use of musical instruments as well and performing well in tests indicates a positive outcome of a curriculum (Hietanen, 2016).
Summative evaluation
This evaluation is carried out at the end of a study subject. The summary information on all the activities of all the levels is provided. What has been learned, the teaching process, the adherence to the guiding principles, and the general performance of both the teachers and the students is provided for. Summative evaluation measures the learner outcomes and achievements concerning the expected results of the curriculum.
What role does multicultural studies have in the curriculum?
Multicultural studies boost and encourage academic success among the students since the students can share and fuse culture diversity since the students are introduced to different ideas. It fosters equality since teaching is diversified to include different cultures and encourage the contribution of various diverse groups.
Multicultural studies also promote the preservation of minority group cultures by exposing them to the outer world where they will be recognized (Write & Davis, 2017). Students are equipped with values, skills, and knowledge necessary to participate in societal changes, enabling them to engage with all people in their musical carriers.
Education versus schooling
Schooling is a restriction to classrooms, teachers, and books. A student spends most of the time in school being taught and following all the school rules. Schooling restricts individuals to a specific curriculum which runs the course. Education focuses on learning. Individual’s ideas and urge for knowledge drives him to search for it anytime and anywhere without being restricted to a teacher or a classroom for a specific time (Gage et al., 2019). Talents are developed through education rather than schooling because schooling restricts students to a curriculum. Elliot writes that education is about student growth and appreciation of values and that quality is directed and measured by the master-performer and the earned expertise.
Education is basically what a person learns through their life regardless of going to school or just through normal day-day activities in or outside a school. Education gives individuals a chance for a wide range of choices in life, considering one's interest and ideas.
In conclusion, educational performance and development depend much on the type of curriculum and its implementation. A well-structured curriculum with well stated and examined guiding principles is bound to be successful leading to the achievement of the expected outcomes. The curriculum should often be evaluated to determine its weaknesses and strengths for future changes. The curriculum should involve multicultural studies to promote student diversity and talents. It also encourages equality and justice and improves the overall performance of students. An educational curriculum also should be staged such that it gives students a chance to exploit their ideas and creative works rather than being restricted to classrooms and teach lessons. This encourages education rather than schooling.
References
Elliott, D. J., & Silverman, M. (2015). A Response to Commentaries on Music Matters: A Philosophy of Music Education, (2015). Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education, 14(3).
Gage, N., Low, B., & Reyes, F. L. (2019). Listen to the tastemakers: Building an urban arts high school music curriculum. Research Studies in Music Education , 1321103X19837758.
Green, L. (2017). How popular musicians learn: A way ahead for music education . Routledge.
Hietanen, L., Ruokonen, I., Ruismäki, H., & Enbuska, J. (2016). Student teachers’ guided autonomous learning: Challenges and possibilities in music education. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 217, 257-267.
Wright, R., & Davies, B. (2017). Class, power, culture, and the music curriculum. In Sociology and music education (pp. 57-72) . Routledge.
