Critical aspects of cultural diversity in music education: examining the established practices and cultural forms in minority language schools in Finland

Abstract

This article addresses the role of general music education within the framework of cultural diversity. It is generally thought that music itself has a universal dimension that connects people. With the increase in migration and globalisation, music is often described to be 'on the move' or travelling through different cultures and being influenced by new elements (e.g., Rao 2011). Is this notion also valid within the music classroom and how is diversity approached by teachers? Is music education reproducing either a uniform or diverse set repertoire of skills or does it challenge students to develop a broader relationship to music, based on an inclusive, critical and multicultural approach? We have chosen to investigate this topic by carrying out a case study in Finland, since we have found that the specific Finnish context, with its historical cultural diversity combined with a more recent wave of immigration, can inform us about intercultural processes on a more general and international level. We focus on teachers in Swedish-speaking schools in Finland to investigate how their own minority position in the country might or might not, influence their understanding of cultural diversity in music education. The article begins with a description of the situated context and a theoretical background in which we draw out our position in relation to multicultural and intercultural education. We then present some empirical evidence based on a study in which interviews were conducted with teachers in four Swedish-speaking schools in Finland. In these interviews, teachers were asked questions concerning their understanding of the relationship between general music education and cultural diversity. The article concludes with a discussion of the social, educational and musical consequences of a culturally diverse approach to and within music as part of general education.

A scoping review of international mindedness and related concepts in music education, 2000–2020

“…When compared to the above, I only found a relatively small number of studies that focus on middle and secondary educational contexts (Abril, 2009;Chen-Hafteck, 2007a, 2007bCostes-Onishi, 2013;Gibbs-Singh, 2018;Ho, 2015;Ho & Law, 2009;Jackson, 2001;Karlsen, 2013Karlsen, , 2014Legette, 2003;Mansikka et al, 2018;Nethsinghe, 2011Nethsinghe, , 2012aNethsinghe, , 2012bWalling, 2016;Zalar, 2015;Zhang, 2017). For example, Gibbs-Singh (2018) explored world music education, in seven post-16 British secondary classrooms.…”

“…Six studies in this area focus on multicultural music education in relation to immigrant and minority students (Blackmon, 2011;Karlsen, 2013Karlsen, , 2014Mansikka et al, 2018;Rakena et al, 2015;Shaw, 2016). For example, through a multi-sited ethnographic study, in three Nordic countries, Karlsen (2013) explored what meanings immigrant students ascribed to the music from their own, or their parents', countries of origin, and how this music was negotiated within their respective school contexts.…”

Richness of Diversity: Music of the World and Intercultural Education

“…Riječ je o poticanju poštovanja i promicanju dostojanstva među kulturama, osobito ondje gdje su neki u manjini, a drugi u većini. Cilj interkulturnog odgoja i obrazovanja temelji se na pretpostavci da pluralnost i kulturna raznolikost nisu samo moguća nego i glavna pretpostavka odgoja i obrazovanja (Mansikka, Westvall i Heimonen, 2018). Suvremeni nastavni kurikulumi u većini europskih i svjetskih zemalja ističu, kao glavne ciljeve odgojno-obrazovne politike, kompetencije koje bi učenici trebali steći u školi.…”

Analysis of cultural heritage in music didactic materials in Galicia

“…However, a recent investigation carried out by Mansikka et al (2018) focuses on teachers in Swedish-speaking schools in Finland to investigate how their own minority position in the country might or might not, influence their understanding of cultural diversity in music education. The results show that, in general, teaching music within minority language schools does not seem to differ, with respect to multicultural education, from teaching music in majority language schools.…”