COURSE OFFERED SPRING 2026
Teaching institution: Royal College of Music, London
Course Tutor: Dr Mary Stakelum
Contact email: mary.stakelum@rcm.ac.uk
Course level: Postgraduate
Contemporary Ideas in Music Education
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This module is for performers and composers who want to develop their critical understanding of contemporary ideas in music education, and explore the impact of tradition and innovation on their own creative practice and that of others.
We will work with ideas from philosophy, sociology, psychology and human geography, and draw on the scholarship of leading contemporary thinkers such as Biesta, Koza, Monbiot, Murris, Voegelin and Westerlund.
Topics include World Centred Music Education; Conceptions of Musicality; Rewilding Music Education; Developing the Musician; Soundworlds; Partnership Pedagogy in Theory and Practice; Understanding the Learner: Voice, Agency and Lived Experience.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this course students will be able to:
- Apply this interdisciplinary knowledge base and understanding to their own creative practice
- Critically engage with, and demonstrate an understanding of, contemporary ideas in music education
- Consider the wider implications of these ideas for practice, policy and research, including the impact they have on debates around inclusion, ownership and voice, and value(s) in music education