Music teachers talking: Views on secondary school curriculum content

Abstract

The New Zealand Curriculum is intended to set ‘the direction for teaching and learning … but it is a framework rather than a detailed plan … schools have considerable flexibility when determining the detail’ (Ministry of Education, 2007, p. 37). There is, however, the presence of a more prescriptive driver of curriculum content in secondary schools in the Achievement Standards required for national qualifications, but even the purpose and realisation of these standards can be a dynamic and localised process. Teachers in New Zealand work in an environment with a peculiar mix of progressivism and neoliberal-driven performativity; however, a strong commitment to students’ well-being and development remains prevalent as teachers attempt to align official discourses for learning and assessment with broader learning ideals. This chapter reports on a survey of secondary school teachers (n = 99) concerning the styles of music and dimensions of musical learning they choose to include in the curriculum – in other words what knowledge they value through curriculum inclusion – and the influences on those choices. The chapter provides a ‘snap-shot’ of what teachers consider important in curricular content and the challenges they perceive in their work.