Contested issues in teaching and learning

It seems obvious that unless someone is learning something as a direct result of a teacher's intervention, no ‘teaching’ can be taking place in any meaningful sense of that word. This is the case even if someone who may be designated a ‘teacher’ appears to be involved. Teaching only occurs if, as a consequence, there is some change in a learner. This change may be the acquisition of new information, an enhanced skill, or a modified value position or attitude. Unless some change in the student results from the transaction, logically speaking there is neither learner nor teacher. As a respected previous editor of this journal delicately put it, ‘a child should emerge from a lesson a little altered’ (Salaman, Reference SALAMAN1983: 6). Put this way, it seems reminiscent of the fate of Augustus Gloop in Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, when he is shot up a pipe into the mincing, mixing, slicing machinery.

Most usually, educators in formal school and college settings now seem prepared to work to this model of lesson objectives and demonstrable student ‘alteration’, either shown on the spot or during some later form of assessment. This seems the case even for those who stress that student assessment should be essentially formative, what has been called the art of carefully considered feedback (Murphy, Reference MURPHY and Bresler2007). For any kind of feedback, however sensitive, carries with it the implication of observable outcomes to which we may respond, even if these outcomes are not predicted. Predicting desired outcomes is certainly evident in evaluating teaching in the UK, which is assessed by long lists of ‘standards’ which come into play at various stages of a professional career (Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), 2007).

Although this way of looking at teaching and learning is currently widespread, it has not always been so. Compliance with the dominant educational culture is lamented by, among others, John Finney, who tells us: ‘Our interest is in qualities far beyond the attainment of task criteria, for completing a task is in itself irrelevant to what I am thinking of as richer learning’ (Finney, Reference FINNEY2006: 2). Finney claims that musical understanding involves engagement that is both emotional and cognitive. He looks to teachers to initiate musical encounters rather than prescribe and deliver a set of outcomes. Others have taken similar positions. For example, Swanwick also sees the major task of music education in schools and colleges as increasing the likelihood of musical encounters and suggests ways in which this might be achieved (Swanwick, Reference SWANWICK1988).

Predicting or even merely observing change in students has a long and contested history and there are recognised difficulties with the input/output model of teaching and learning. One problem is that any alteration as a consequence of teaching may not be immediately visible but might be unobservable (Polanyi & Prosch, Reference POLANYI and PROSCH1975). Indeed, Polanyi concluded that ‘the idea of knowledge based on wholly identifiable grounds collapses, and we must conclude that the transmission of knowledge from one generation to the other must be predominantly tacit’ (Polanyi, Reference POLANYI1967: 25). Learning might also be delayed or deferred until such time as an individual is able either to assimilate new knowledge to existing schemas or alter these frames of reference to accommodate the impending change. Eisner (Reference EISNER1985) in the USA and Stenhouse (Reference STENHOUSE1975) in the UK also questioned the validity of simply predicting and observing behavioural change as a basis for evaluating the effectiveness of teaching and learning.

We should also remember that, although ‘learners’ are necessary for people to be said to be ‘teaching’, teachers are not always necessary for learning. Indeed, across the spectrum of lifelong learning, teachers are not always visible. Every lively person is to some degree an autodidact, a continuous learner, absorbing attitudes and information in the process of adapting to a physical and cultural environment. Learning is by no means confined to the formal situations of lessons in classrooms or music studios but is an ordinary everyday activity and, as such, is rarely problematic. In the case of music, Lucy Green shows how rock musicians teach themselves, perhaps with a little help from their peers. They tend to choose the music they want to work with and towards, learning informally, by aural copying from admired models, usually on CD or some other recorded format. During this process they move easily between the roles of audience-listening, composing and performing. They often work in haphazard ways, beginning by approximating whole pieces, and they are strongly influenced by peer groups (Green, Reference GREEN2001). This is reminiscent of Vygotsky's ‘zone of proximal development’, the space between any level of independent learning and additional levels of possible achievement, perhaps with adult guidance or in interaction with more advanced peers (Vygotsky, Reference VYGOTSKY1978).

The matter is further complicated by the fact that a great deal of music teaching is not carried out by general teachers in schools or by instrumental teachers working within conventional systems for assessing outcomes, such as student examinations. Over more than a decade there has been a massive growth of music educational ‘outreach’ expected from and initiated by arts agencies, orchestras, opera houses, community groups, music centres and many other agencies. There is a plethora of community musical activities being led, sometimes by ‘qualified’ teachers, sometimes not. Indeed, a wide range of people lead specific musical activities as part of a rich social fabric. In her now classic study of music in Milton Keynes during the 1980s, Ruth Finnegan found music in 92 schools, but also in eight brass bands, 100 choirs, 200 small bands – including pop, rock, folk and jazz – four classical orchestras and several chamber groups. There was also music-making in many of the 70 churches (Finnegan, Reference FINNEGAN1989). Activities of this kind were sometimes led by a general or instrumental teacher taking on the music leader role in his or her spare time but sometimes not. A music leader can be anyone with an interest in music who someone is willing to follow. This variety of ways in which music is taught and learned makes problematic any consistent and reliable form of classroom evaluation. How do we know if the teaching is ‘good-enough’?

The good-enough teacher

Consistent evaluation of music teaching and learning under so many varied conditions becomes problematic and is not susceptible to standardised itemised check-lists. What is required is a strong sense of the fundamental qualities that characterise what is sometimes called ‘best practice’. The psychoanalyst, Donald W. Winnicott, long ago, coined the phrase the ‘good-enough’ mother, defined as one who tries to provide what an infant needs, but progressively leaves a time lag between these needs and their satisfaction, thus increasing independence and a sense of personal control and creation (Winnicott, Reference WINNICOTT1953). The concept of ‘good-enough’ is very apt, suggesting not some idealised perfection but simply moving in a positive direction, contributing quality to the milieu of children's development with their independence in mind, creating what Winnicott calls ‘potential space’ (Winnicott, Reference WINNICOTT1971). This concept has been explored for arts education by Malcolm Ross, who considers that the good-enough teacher can have a life-enhancing effect upon pupils by working in this potential space, developing the field of cultural activities that lies between subjective and objective realities (Ross, Reference ROSS1978). Others in different ways have also identified what Swanwick calls the ‘space between’, where we create meaning, articulating and communicating experience (Swanwick, Reference SWANWICK1999), and Popper, with his concept of ‘World Three’, which is the distinctively human world of symbolic forms (Popper, Reference POPPER1972).

What then characterises the good-enough teacher of music? The good-enough music teacher is able to facilitate students' immersion in this environment of the symbolic world and promote the growth of their musical autonomy. How is this to be done? Elsewhere it has been argued that there are three principles for teachers which may foster the musical environment (Swanwick, Reference SWANWICK1999). These are:

• • care for music as a vital, living form of human discourse;

• • recognition of the contribution to musical discourse that students bring to the classroom transactions, which takes in the concept of student independence;

• • the promotion of musical fluency.

These are not difficult concepts. ‘Discourse’ is here used in a non-technical sense and is close in meaning to ‘conversation’, the expression of ideas, meaningful interchange. Discourse is not only verbal activity, it runs through all symbolic forms. For example, Kress and Van Leeuwen (Reference KRESS and VAN LEEUWEN1996) have convincingly demonstrated a grammar of visual design. Musical discourse involves thinking and communicating in musical images, in tones and tunes. Fluency is the ability to share, produce and collaborate in the production of these sonorous images. This is analogous to but not the same as fluency in a language. It is discourse in music not about music.

The arguments advanced for these fundamental principles for music education cannot be elaborated here, except to say that, in musical discourse, sounds are perceived as linked into expressive shapes and these expressive gestures may be combined into organic forms of feeling which have the power to reach into and relate to our personal and cultural histories. These qualities characterise musical encounters and permeate the musical environment. We should therefore be aware of them in all educational transactions, whatever the setting, genre or technical level. Care for musical discourse, the musical autonomy of students and musical fluency may be to some extent observable, revealed in the activities of teachers and students. Even though they are not necessarily predictable, they are looked-for outcomes in music education. Lights flash on, so to speak, when these qualities appear. These are recognisable virtues, even though their manifestation may not be predicted or take the form of specific behavioural objectives.

To these specifically musical criteria we should add a non-musical element. This arises from the complexities of educational networks and social structures in contemporary society. In order to promote a musical environment, teachers also need some understanding of the context in which they and their students work. It is mainly these elements that are worked out in such detail in the Professional Standards for Teachers, though taken by themselves the ‘standards’ may not significantly enhance the quality of actual musical transactions (TDA, 2007).

Youth music

The guiding principles associated with musical encounters can now be contextualised. We have seen that music education can take many forms. One of these involves music leaders. It is to this broad role that we now turn. This is a category of music educators whose activities usually take place beyond the definitions of general class or instrumental teachers and who may not even regard themselves as teachers, but would rather see themselves as musicians, wishing only to communicate their ways of making music to others.

There are many agencies involving music leaders and among them Youth Music plays a substantial role (Youth Music, 2007). Youth Music was set up in 1999 as a national charity with three main roles; allocating funding, working as a development agency and that of advocate. The aim is to provide high quality and diverse music-making for 0–18-year-olds. In particular it seeks to involve young people in areas of social and economic need, especially those who might miss musical opportunities available in other and more formal contexts. For this reason, a very large number of music leaders have become implicated in many and various projects.

Youth Music declares five guiding objectives (Youth Music, 2007).

• • Access – for those with the least opportunity.

• • Breadth – music of all styles and all cultures.

• • Coverage – rural, urban, coastal and UK-wide.

• • Development – music leaders get increasingly better at what they do.

• • Quality – encouraging high standards for all.

At the time of writing, it is estimated that Youth Music has reached more than 1.4 million young people, making over 1800 funding awards and distributing finances totalling £66 m. It has made an input into music education in 99% of local authorities and many other agencies. Youth Music has a grant from the National Lottery through the Arts Council totalling to date £80 million each year. Around £33 million has been attracted in partnership funding from other sources. The activities and projects supported by the available funding are intended to complement music in the National Curriculum by supporting activities held mainly outside of school hours, working with non-profit making organisations. Twenty-one Action Zones in England and two in Wales have been set up by consortia of partners involving organisations from the public, voluntary and private sectors.

Youth Music has supported its objective of breadth of music-making by creating employment for over 6000 music leaders and funding training for them. The range of music in contemporary society is so wide that diverse musicians are necessarily being drawn into music education as music leaders, rather than in the traditional and more formal roles of general class music teacher or instrumental instructor. This raises important questions about how music leaders are identified, the extent to which they relate to the traditional teacher colleagues and the ways in which they are initiated into their projects and supported in their development. How is their work to be evaluated?

Identifying and supporting music leaders

Youth Music has a website specific to music leaders (musicleader.net) with the following aims:

• • to enable music leaders to develop their skills and practice;

• • to encourage new music leaders into the sector;

• • to improve standards of music making activity;

• • to increase the understanding of working practices across and between the music, youth, education and learning communities;

• • to increase financial investment in workforce development from external sources.

The current web page (musicleader.net) gives the following information. Although their page is under review, it seems important to give excerpts in some detail to show the scope of the organisation.

Potential participants are encouraged to register as personal members or to take up enhanced membership – requiring more career information – should they wish to be associated with projects. Projects are defined as either a sequence of linked sessions or just one-off musical events (MusicLeader, 2007).

We can now see that both the management of these projects and the range of those who participate as music leaders open up a Pandora's box which continues to exercise Youth Music. These musicians may or may not have any teaching background, professional training or qualification. The range of music they represent could cover any genre at any level. While they may be less likely to be associated with the ‘formal’ music curriculum in schools or with conventional instrumental instruction, a number of projects do interact with these activities. The concept of music leaders is thus extremely wide and their proliferation and formal recognition raises important issues of training, quality assurance and evaluation of teaching and learning. To facilitate professional development, regional Music Leader networks have been set up in London, the West Midlands, North West, Yorkshire, the North East (also impending in the South West). To take just one example, the West Midlands regional centre currently offers one-to-one surgeries focusing on professional development, mentoring arrangements, improvisation evenings, and what are called ‘formal/non-formal marketplaces’, giving teachers and freelance music leaders opportunities to meet. There are various training courses; including a national programme for those working or aspiring to work at Key Stage 2 in group instrumental tuition (further information is available via the Music Leader web pages cited above). This kind of programme may point the way to future modes of collaboration between formal and informal music teaching.

The evaluation methodology

Evaluations of previous Youth Music projects have exposed variable musical and teaching skills among musicians aspiring to work with young people as music leaders (Youth Music, 2007). These projects included those titled Dynamo 2002, Music Maker 2003, First Steps 2003, Plug into Music 2004, Singing Challenge 2004. To address the issue of uneven quality, research was commissioned to investigate the effectiveness of the music leader professional development programme in five geographical regions. The commissioned evaluation team, TrainingTrax, monitored development over a year.

The methodology of this evaluation centred on ten individual cases. Multiple case studies of this kind can be seen as a form of ‘quota sampling’, described by Cohen and Manion in their classic text, where categories of individuals are sampled with reference to criteria which locate participants over a specified range (Cohen & Manion, Reference COHEN and MANION1980). To meet the criterion of range, two music leaders from each of the five areas were involved in the project. Between them, these ten people represented a wide range of music, including samba, hip hop, rock, vocal, choral, classical orchestral, beginner woodwind, early years teaching, music technology, and improvised percussion playing. They came from socially and ethnically diverse backgrounds and from different geographical areas and they had various levels of musical involvement in different working contexts. The music leaders were each offered up to £500 to contribute to continuing professional development during this time and they could choose how best to use these resources.

Data sources included:

• • the participants keeping monthly diaries of professional development and work experience;

• • two observations of complete teaching sessions 10–12 months apart;

• • these teaching sessions were also DVD-recorded – video moderation included a scoring system for leadership qualities;

• • music leaders were asked to evaluate their teaching on each DVD recording;

• • two interviews with each participant focused on the diaries, the observations and the recordings – there were also opportunities for email reflections in correspondence with the evaluation team;

• • there were five group discussions with young people who were directly participating in the current music projects.

Four vignettes

The following are short edited extracts, snapshots only, extracted from the detailed notes of the evaluation team. These include observations of teaching and learning on two DVDs taken at about a year apart along with some comments from the music leaders. The purpose here is not to make comparisons but to give a flavour of the quality of the musical environment, to identify ‘good-enough’ teaching. The objective is to illustrate and to some extent test out the three principles of care for music, care for the music of the students and their independence, and the promotion of musical fluency. The data were also sifted for evidence on the music leaders' understanding of their working context, though this will become more apparent in the next section.

Each vignette focuses briefly on one music leader.

1. 1. During on-going vocal workshops for students in a girls' high school the first recorded observed session began with warm-ups, humming, buzzing and improvising over ostinati with soloists taking the lead. Through aural copying and improvising these girls were developing vocal and musical skills. As a group and individually, performances were fluent showing a high level of confident independent learning with more experienced singers taking a leading role while less experienced singers memorised the songs. The view of the music leader when observing the DVD was that it seemed like a juggling act to keep the session energised, neither boring the experienced ones nor rushing the newer members of the group. For this reason she felt it important for participants to teach their peers. During the second recorded session there was evidence of further development of vocal technique, including unaccompanied close harmony singing and syncopated rhythms. The less experienced members of the group were observed to be becoming more secure in pitching. The method of aural imitation contributed to general fluency and students teaching their peers left some room for the second principle of care for the musical discourse of students, introducing an element of autonomy.

2. 2. This was a small beginner percussion group in an on-going project located in the premises of an arts organisation. The emphasis was on aural rhythm work, with groups repeating rhythm patterns interspersed with individual improvisation; using African djembe drums to make their own piece. Call and response activities helped to develop a sense of pulse and the ability to reproduce complex rhythms, using a range of instruments including body percussion. There was extensive demonstration and modelling with inspirational, energetic and enthusiastic leadership. The young people acquired new skills requiring physical, intellectual and creative effort. On observing the DVD, the music leader noted that the whole group might have been taught each separate part to keep everyone active and involved. In the second recorded session, there were samba, Iraqi and hip-hop rhythms, first rehearsed then performed in a public space. Modelling included a great deal of physical movement. The participants were learning a lot about performing, presentation, musical cooperation and concentration through the ensemble work. All three performance pieces were under control with expressive musical elements, including a range of dynamics and textures. Observing the second recorded session, the music leader observed that he felt much more confident compared to a year ago, especially in managing the group. Musical fluency was once again evident along with the expressivity of associated movement; commitment to music as lively and meaningful discourse.

3. 3. There were three sessions during the first recorded project, which took place in a nursery school with children of ages 2–3 years. The aim was to explore music information technology, specifically what Midi-creator sounds are available and how they are made, encouraging musical interactions between the children. Children took turns at investigating sounds, then playing in pairs, finally playing together. These children were developing new understandings by exploring sounds, listening, and discovering the difference between fast and slow and were able to make changes of pitch with a variety of timbres. They listened attentively and seemed to enjoy creating the sounds. The second project recorded on DVD was a one-off session with a small group aged 10–12 years who were learning to play new instruments such as drum kit, guitar and keyboard as backing to vocals and to create a group performance. Even within the context of the session, i.e. learning to play instruments new to them, these participants were observed to be able to make music and care for musical discourse, though not with any great fluency.

4. 4. The sessions in this project took place in a community hall and were part of an ongoing project ending with a performance in a local Market Square. A range of samba pieces and rhythms were fluently modelled, imitated and practiced along with improvised rhythms and call and response games. Drumming techniques were developed and, eventually, extended musical compositions were created and performed with a sense of enjoyment and enthusiasm. Peer group leadership was encouraged and the leader communicated her own enthusiasm for the musical discourse and the contribution of the students. Sometimes this led to situations where it was, as she said, difficult to hear the explanations ‘amidst the stray rim shots and chatter’ though, on seeing the DVDs, she noted that in the second session she seemed more in control, ‘in a gentle way’.

Main findings

In this article we are focusing on the contribution made by music leaders to the musical environment, the extent to which they were ‘good-enough’ teachers, able to immerse their students in the ‘potential space’ of musical activity. These qualities can be described and operationalised in terms of the three ‘principles’ identified earlier: care for music as human discourse; care for the musical contribution of students and their musical autonomy; the promotion of musical fluency. This interpretation of the evidence on specifically musical qualities is supplemented by the extent to which the participants were also aware of the significance of the organisational context in which they were working. We can now bring together in summary some of the main findings and perceptions of the evaluation team and interpret them from the perspective of these over-arching criteria. It is important to bear in mind that the characteristics of the good-enough teacher were not at the outset shared with the evaluation team, though it would be interesting in the future to conduct lesson observations purely on this basis.