Start Date
1-6-2011 2:30 PM
End Date
1-6-2011 3:00 PM
Description
Despite their qualifications, professional experience, expertise and commitment to their vocation, many internationally educated music teachers in Ontario are estranged today from the music education mainstream. This process of separation results in the feeling of frustration and professional dissatisfaction among music educators-newcomers (Sprikut, Bartel, 2010, 29th ISME World Conference, Beijing). Increasingly, internationally trained music teachers choose to leave the teaching profession altogether, taking with them the wealth of knowledge, long history and rich traditions of their genuine pedagogic culture. This paper focuses on the phenomenon of the pedagogic cultural adaptation. The attempt is made to examine music pedagogy as a culture-specific discourse system, and some of the factors that facilitate the estrangement of the internationally educated music teachers and contribute to the disappearance of authentic pedagogic cultures are identified and explored. During the past few years, a variety of difficulties, immigrant educators experience while striving to integrate into the existing educational structure has been addressed in the literature. International scholars (Bascia, 1996; Beynon et al. 2004; Cho, 2010; Deters, 2006; Faez, 2010; Ng, 2006; Peeler, Jane, 2005) have started gaining deeper insight into the plight of these teachers in host societies around the world, and some of the issues that impede the newcomers’ successful integration were examined. However, while the existence of the problem is generally acknowledged, it appears that the paternalistic approach to the internationally educated teachers and their pedagogies still dominates the field. As a result, these teachers are denied a right to participate on an equal basis in both the educational discourse and educational process. In contrast, the set of examination lenses specific to music pedagogic culture, recently proposed by Bartel (2010) appears to be more culture sensitive, as it constitutes a significant shift away from the “cultural superiority” approach and towards recognizing cultural pedagogic equality in the context of pedagogic multiculturalism. In this paper, within Bartel’s general theoretical framework, a few aspects of the concurrent existence of diverse music pedagogic cultures are examined. In conclusion, some practical suggestions are offered for generating meaningful cultural dialogue and bridging the gap between diverse music pedagogic traditions and practices that coexist today in our society.
Bridging the Gap: Music Pedagogies as Culture-Specific Discourse Systems
Despite their qualifications, professional experience, expertise and commitment to their vocation, many internationally educated music teachers in Ontario are estranged today from the music education mainstream. This process of separation results in the feeling of frustration and professional dissatisfaction among music educators-newcomers (Sprikut, Bartel, 2010, 29th ISME World Conference, Beijing). Increasingly, internationally trained music teachers choose to leave the teaching profession altogether, taking with them the wealth of knowledge, long history and rich traditions of their genuine pedagogic culture. This paper focuses on the phenomenon of the pedagogic cultural adaptation. The attempt is made to examine music pedagogy as a culture-specific discourse system, and some of the factors that facilitate the estrangement of the internationally educated music teachers and contribute to the disappearance of authentic pedagogic cultures are identified and explored. During the past few years, a variety of difficulties, immigrant educators experience while striving to integrate into the existing educational structure has been addressed in the literature. International scholars (Bascia, 1996; Beynon et al. 2004; Cho, 2010; Deters, 2006; Faez, 2010; Ng, 2006; Peeler, Jane, 2005) have started gaining deeper insight into the plight of these teachers in host societies around the world, and some of the issues that impede the newcomers’ successful integration were examined. However, while the existence of the problem is generally acknowledged, it appears that the paternalistic approach to the internationally educated teachers and their pedagogies still dominates the field. As a result, these teachers are denied a right to participate on an equal basis in both the educational discourse and educational process. In contrast, the set of examination lenses specific to music pedagogic culture, recently proposed by Bartel (2010) appears to be more culture sensitive, as it constitutes a significant shift away from the “cultural superiority” approach and towards recognizing cultural pedagogic equality in the context of pedagogic multiculturalism. In this paper, within Bartel’s general theoretical framework, a few aspects of the concurrent existence of diverse music pedagogic cultures are examined. In conclusion, some practical suggestions are offered for generating meaningful cultural dialogue and bridging the gap between diverse music pedagogic traditions and practices that coexist today in our society.