Abstract:
Musical Futures is an approach to music teaching that originally aimed to develop high levels
of student autonomy and criticality. Devised in the first decade of the 21st Century the
Musical Futures project was typical of trends in education generally that acknowledged the
potential of informal learning as a means for increasing curricular relevance and engagement.
This study investigates how a small number New Zealand music teachers utilise and
understand the Musical Futures programme. To understand the teachers’ approach, semistructured
interviews were conducted with four teachers. Due to an unexpected finding of a
structural change within the programme developed out of Australia and followed in New
Zealand, the three key figures of the Australian programme were subsequently invited to
participate in the study. Analysis of the responses of all the participants indicate that there has
been a recontextualisation of Green’s original programme motivated by a belief that some
guidance and scaffolding of student learning is required for the development of autonomy.
