AT A GLANCE
The ‘alternative’ placements in this course give trainees experience of music education beyond the formal classroom context. Many trainees work with music professionals other than teachers in projects that are within schools, yet outside the formal curriculum. For example: working with a musician-in-residence in a specialist performing arts college on a project for pupils at risk of exclusion.
Provision for learners
The provision for learners was unique to each project. For example: learners’ needs are clearly different when trainees are working with Gifted and Talented learners at a Saturday junior conservatoire session from a large group creative project with young people as part of a professional orchestra’s education outreach programme.
Model for working with trainees
Embedded/entitlement model.
These are technically part of their second school placement, with university tutors making visits to monitor progress and for Quality Assurance purposes. At the end of the placement, the supervisor/mentor on placement completes a short written report linked to the broad headings of the QTS standards. There is planned preparation for the wider context of music education in the taught university sessions, notably in the time spent with Trinity College of Music, our partners in the course.
ITT PROVIDER
Name of the project:
University of Greenwich PGCE Musicians in Education
Higher Education Institution:
University of Greenwich in collaboration with Trinity College of Music
ITE Course:
One year PGCE
No. of trainees involved:
18 in 2008-2009 (TDA target recruitment figure)
Subject area:
Music
Logistics:
During trainees’ second school placement. Each trainee spends 10 ‘school’ days of the PGCE course in alternative placements.
Provider motivation:
To give trainees experience of music education beyond the formal classroom context. This project fits in with the philosophy of a new course (started in 2005) which sets out to train music educators for the 21st century who can work and make links across formal and informal settings.
QTS Standards:
Q5, Q6, Q8, Q10, Q30, Q32
SETTING
- Musician in Residence - National Maritime Museum
- Pro Corda Plus – residential performing arts and life skills course for SEN pupils
- Musician in Residence - Sedgehill School (Performing Arts College)
- Musician in Residence - Forest Hill School (Performing Arts College)
- Greenwich Rock & Pop Rehearsal Scheme (mentoring and coaching on weekend informal learning project)
- Greenwich Music-Makers 0rchestra (collaborative composing and performing project after school and during school holidays)
- Royal London Hospital – hospital music and arts project
- Charlton School – musician in residence SEN project
- Marvels Lane School - Music & Dance Project for Key Stage 2 pupils
- LPO Playerlink scheme
- LPO Concertlink scheme
- Morpeth School Rock Project
- Junior Trinity (Saturday junior conservatoire at Trinity College of Music)
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
This course aims to develop student teachers’ subject knowledge and musicianship in preparation for teaching music in a wide variety of educational contexts. The course specifically addresses the aim that “…we need coordination and collaboration between all music providers, both in and out of school”. (Music Manifesto Report No.2 - 2006)
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Each trainee undertakes two ‘alternative context’ placements on one day per week for most of the second term of the one year course. We aim to give each participant two contrasting experiences although, in a small number of cases (for example: a Special Needs project), in-depth, sustained involvement for the whole term is seen as beneficial for both learners and the trainee. Placements are usually personalised to trainees’ strengths and interests with, for example, talented instrumentalists given the opportunity to work with the London Symphony and London Philharmonic Orchestras’ outreach programmes, and trainees keen to develop knowledge of music technology able to work on projects with a strong ICT focus.
OUTCOMES
The experience gives trainees a more holistic and arguably more inclusive view of music education. In job interviews they are able to draw on a broad number of experiences and discuss the range of contexts where young people are making music. A number of trainees have taken work in non-formal contexts such as Local Authority music services with a specific remit to make links with classroom practice. During the final term school mentors, the external examiner and the trainees themselves commented on how they were making excellent use of their musicianship in teaching and generally employing an imaginative, flexible and creative approach which was clearly a result of their wider experience. This is in line with planned outcomes of the course i.e. that trainees are:
- able to adapt their musicianship to a wide variety of different music
- able to apply creativity to a wide variety of musical contexts
- able to reflect on the nature, background and values of a wide variety of different music
There is some evidence that supervisors/mentors in the alternative placements who have not trained as teachers gain a better understanding of issues such as planning and management of learning, as well as being able to articulate a clear rationale for their work as a result of working alongside the trainee teachers.
SURPRISES
Good planning, relevant resources and attempts to personalise learning were seen as fundamentals for success in all situations. This helped trainees to concentrate on developing an overarching philosophy for music education, applicable in all contexts.
KEY SUCCESS FACTORS
The quality of partnerships. With most schools already engaged in ITT through various routes and a range of providers, there is already a common understanding in schools of the requirements for qualifying to teach, coaching, mentoring and so on. This is not established in most of the ‘alternative context’ organisations where our trainees are placed. The challenge here is to identify mentors and train them consistently for their role in the programme. Often, as freelance musicians, funding to take time out for training is a real issue and, as yet, this is not seen as part of their core activity. Perhaps the solution is to concentrate on developing a deeper relationship with fewer key partners and try to promote and seek funding for the mentoring role in the wider context of Continuing Professional Development and career development.
