The introduction of creative music education in Victorian state secondary schools, 1957 to 1988

This thesis investigates the introduction of creative music education in state secondary schools in Victoria (Australia) 1957-1988. The issues and contentions and the methodology used in the thesis are first identified. A review of the relevant substantive literature then contextualizes this study. Victoria has always been influenced by overseas curriculum developments, first from England and then the USA during the 1960s. After nearly fifty years of curriculum stagnation, Victoria introduced a radical curriculum initiative in the late 1960s that is still effecting music education in the state today. During this period, a number of Victorian state secondary school music teachers took advantage of this development and introduced the English creative music movement that had developed during the early 1960s. Creative music education in the USA developed differently to that of England. The introduction of creative music education has been a contentious issue for classroom music education in England, the USA and to an extent in Victoria. The advancements made in technology and the changes in society during the Cold War introduced a number of far-reaching curriculum initiatives to education in the USA that involved the search to discover students with creative potential. These initiatives effected the development of creative music education. The way in which universal secondary education was established in England during the 1950s and Victoria in the 1960s, consequently effected how creative music education developed. The complex nature of creativity and the research that led to the development of creative music education in the USA Vlll and England is first explored. In subsequent chapters, the new curriculum initiatives that effected creative music education are investigated. A number of broad-based themes have been chosen as a method of constructing the historical information for this study. The themes are; curriculum developments and conflicts, skill development and curriculum reform, the creative music innovators, research and policy review, integrated studies and small group work, teacher education: preservice and in servicing. As well as these six themes, developments in creativity research will discuss the development of creativity in the USA and England and the effect this research has had on creative music education in those countries. Three contentions have been selected as a means of interpreting the data. The counterproductive short-term curricula reform discusses the difficulty music teachers in England the USA and Victoria have faced in dealing with the continual introduction of short-term curricula reforms that have been part of education since the 1960s. Applying curriculum philosophies and rationales to schools discusses the effect two contrasting philosophies of education have had on the development of creative music education in the USA, England and Victoria. The third contention, the recurring accountability and assessment cycle in education discusses the difficulties many schools have faced in attempting to introduce the measures of accountability that different IX governments since the 1960s have enacted in an attempt to improve standards in education. The final chapter draws together the themes that ran throughout the chapters of this thesis. Conclusions are given regarding the three contentions that were discussed at the start of the thesis and the thesis concluded.