Education Curriculum Development: Perspectives, Challenges and Future Directions 1536176818, 9781536176810

Table of contents :
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1
A Review of Music Curriculum Reforms in Mainland China in the Twenty-First Century
Abstract
Introduction
Education Reforms in China in the Twenty-Fist Century
School Music Curriculum Reforms in the Past Two Decades
First Stage (2001~2010)
National Standardized Music Syllabi for Primary and Junior Secondary Education (2001 Trial)
National Standardized Music Syllabus for Senior Secondary Education (2003 Trial)
Second Stage (2011~2017)
National Standardized Music Syllabi for Primary and Junior Secondary Education (2011)
National Standardized Music Syllabus for Senior Secondary Education (2017)
Discussion and Implications
Top-Down Approaches as the Amplifier of Conceptual Changes
Bottom-Up Tunnel as a Hedging Force against the Reforms
Sustaining Academic Research as a Facilitator of Educational Change
Conclusion
References
Chapter 2
Challenges for Creativity and the Arts in School Music Education
Curriculum Development in Hong Kong, China
Abstract
Introduction
Background of the Cultivation of Creativity and Education in Hong Kong
Creativity, Arts Education, and Music Education in Hong Kong
Purpose of the Study
Background Information on the Sampled Schools
Research Questions, Methods, and Procedure
Research Questions
Methods
Student Survey Questionnaires and Interviews
Findings
Major Findings from the Students’ Pre-Course Survey Questionnaires
Summary of Findings from the Students’ Pre-Course Focus Group Interviews
Major Findings from the Students’ Post-Course Survey Questionnaires
Summary of Major Findings Comparing the Pre- and Post-Course Survey Questionnaires
Summary of Interview Findings after the Implementation of the Course
Discussion
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
References
Chapter 3
The Transition from Internationalization to Globalization: Japanese Curriculum Reforms in the Twenty-First Century
Abstract
Introduction
Method
Discussion and Finding
Background of the Post-WWII Japanese Curriculum System
Curriculum Revision in 1958
“Internationalization” of Japanese Education in the 1980s
Curriculum Revision in the Late 1990s and the 2000s
Curriculum Revision in 2008
The Revision of Basic Act on Education in 2006 and the 2008 Curriculum Revision
Diversifying Population
The Revision of The Course of Study in 2017
2017 Course of Study
Preamble
General Directions
Foreign Languages and Foreign Language Activities
Moral Education as a Special Subject
Special Curriculum for Children with Japanese Language Needs
Conclusion
References
Chapter 4
Nurturing Responsible Citizens: Pedagogical Practice in Teaching Ethical Reasoning
Abstract
Introduction
The Conceptual Framework of the Pedagogy Using Local Materials to Teach Ethical Reasoning
John Dewey
Lev Vygotsky
Henry Giroux
Implications for Developing a Pedagogy Using Local Materials to Teach Ethical Reasoning
The Setting of the Knowledge Transfer Project
Data and Research Methods
Empirical Findings
Results of the Assessment
Did the Pedagogy Facilitate the Teaching and Learning of Ethical Reasoning?
Using Local Issues as Teaching and Learning Materials
Providing Exemplary Articles as Reading Materials
Providing Instructional Scaffolding in Teaching and Learning Ethical Reasoning
Did the Pedagogy Enhance the Students’ Sense of Citizenship?
Developing Civic Awareness
Building Civic Engagement
Embracing Citizenship
Discussion and Conclusion
Acknowledgments
References
Biographical Sketch
Chapter 5
Concepts of Finnish Education: African Student Teacher Reflections at the Cultural Cross-Roads
Abstract
1. Understanding Multicultural Learning Environments in Higher Education
2. Learning How to Learn as a Student Teacher
3. The African Background and Developing Teacher Identities
4. Research-Based Finnish Teacher Education and Central Concepts
Research Questions
5. Methods
6. Ethical Views on This Study
7. Research Material
8. Results
9. Learning How to Learn as a Student Teacher
10. Discussion
References
Biographical Sketches
Chapter 6
Design of Nutrition Education Program for Elementary Schools in the Czech Republic: An Effective Education Curriculum Instrument
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Methods
2.1. Survey Instrument
2.2. Participants and Procedures
3. Research Results
4. Nutrition Education Programming in the Czech Republic
5. Discussion
Conclusion
Acknowledgment
References
Index
Blank Page

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EDUCATION IN A COMPETITIVE AND GLOBALIZING WORLD

EDUCATION CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES, CHALLENGES AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

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EDUCATION IN A COMPETITIVE AND GLOBALIZING WORLD Additional books and e-books in this series can be found on Nova’s website under the Series tab.

EDUCATION IN A COMPETITIVE AND GLOBALIZING WORLD

EDUCATION CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES, CHALLENGES AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

MARCO JUTILA EDITOR

Copyright © 2020 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic, tape, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the Publisher. We have partnered with Copyright Clearance Center to make it easy for you to obtain permissions to reuse content from this publication. Simply navigate to this publication’s page on Nova’s website and locate the “Get Permission” button below the title description. This button is linked directly to the title’s permission page on copyright.com. Alternatively, you can visit copyright.com and search by title, ISBN, or ISSN. For further questions about using the service on copyright.com, please contact: Copyright Clearance Center Phone: +1-(978) 750-8400 Fax: +1-(978) 750-4470 E-mail: [email protected].

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Jutila, Marco, editor. Title: Education curriculum development: perspectives, challenges and future directions / Marco Jutila, editor. Identifiers: LCCN 2020011899 (print) | LCCN 2020011900 (ebook) | ISBN 9781536176810 (paperback) | ISBN 9781536176827 (adobe pdf) Subjects: LCSH: Curriculum planning--Case studies. | Educational change--Case studies. Classification: LCC LB2806.15 .E355 2020 (print) | LCC LB2806.15 (ebook) DDC 375/.001--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020011899 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020011900

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. † New York

CONTENTS Preface Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

vii A Review of Music Curriculum Reforms in Mainland China in the Twenty-First Century Wang Miao Challenges for Creativity and the Arts in School Music Education Curriculum Development in Hong Kong, China Wai-Chung Ho The Transition from Internationalization to Globalization: Japanese Curriculum Reforms in the Twenty-First Century Yuri Ishii Nurturing Responsible Citizens: Pedagogical Practice in Teaching Ethical Reasoning Shun-hing Chan Concepts of Finnish Education: African Student Teacher Reflections at the Cultural Cross-Roads Brita Somerkoski and Päivi Granö

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61

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vi Chapter 6

Index

Contents Design of Nutrition Education Program for Elementary Schools in the Czech Republic: An Effective Education Curriculum Instrument Jana Kočí and Martin Chvál

151 171

PREFACE Education Curriculum Development: Perspectives, Challenges and Future Directions first reviews the process of music curriculum reform in different stages marked by the various versions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi. Particularly, the authors focus on the values of the new music curriculum and how they lead to quality education. A study is presented examining: students’ perceptions of creativity and creativity education, their perceptions of learning creativity in school music lessons, and their attitudes toward creative music and arts activities carried out in the school music curriculum. Continuing, the authors explore the idea that the Japanese school curriculum system that was established after the war within the paradigm of internationalization is facing difficulties due to the progress of globalization. This compilation also examines international students´ learning experiences in Finnish comprehensive school through a study based on the observation portfolios of 23 international student teachers during the first term of their undergraduate studies in Finland. The pedagogical aspects of health are addressed, specifically how to shape nutritional habits of elementary school students and how to systematically deepen the knowledge about healthy nutrition through the implementation of nutrition education programs. (Imprint: Nova)

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Chapter 1 - At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Mainland China launched significant education reforms to meet the need of “quality education,” which was regarded as one of the core strategies of state development. Michael Fullan, who is noted for his expertise on education reform, pointed out that large-scale educational change is an ongoing and complex process, rather than an event. This chapter will focus on the music curriculum in an attempt to probe into how specific school curriculum changes, implemented through China’s education reforms, have achieved the overall target of quality education. From the trial versions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi for Primary and Junior Secondary Education and Senior Secondary Education established in 2001 and 2003, respectively, to the official revisions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi in 2011 and 2017, respectively, conceptual and practical transformations and conflicts have taken place in China’s school music education. This chapter will review the process of the music curriculum reforms in different stages marked by the various versions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi and examine the essential changes that have taken place in the school music curriculum, as well as the process of how the new educational concepts were formed, shaped, and put into practice in the context of Mainland China. Particularly, the chapter will focus on the values, targets, and methods in the new music curriculum and how they have met the overall goal of quality education; how the new music curriculum has been interpreted and understood by education practitioners; how educational concepts and methods have been put into practice; and how these educational concepts have been reshaped by teaching practices during the course of the curriculum reforms. Finally, this chapter will argue that the music curriculum reforms in China in the twenty-first century have continued to evolve in a dynamic double-tunnel communication system in which various education stakeholders and music education practitioners have collaborated with each other to push forward large-scale changes in school music education nationwide. Chapter 2 - Creativity is an essential aspect of teaching and learning that influences worldwide educational development and that faces different challenges in curriculum reforms and teacher practices in school education.

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This chapter will present a study on a curriculum development project that included a series of planned music and creative arts lessons in formal school education, which was administered in two volunteering secondary schools in Hong Kong between January and May 2018 to 10 classes of junior secondary school students in Grade 7 through Grade 9 (ages 11 to 15). The study aimed to examine the ways in which music and creative arts can be realized in three aspects: students’ perceptions of creativity and creativity education; their perceptions of learning creativity in school music lessons; and their attitudes toward creative music and arts activities carried out in the school music curriculum. Self-designed pre-course and post-course questionnaires were adopted in the study to measure the impacts of the study, and interviews with a sample of students regarding creativity, creativity education, and music and other creative arts were conducted. The results of the study suggest that there is potential value in promoting creativity and cultural awareness in school education, as students can apply creativity to cultural appreciation and understanding in various ways and on a multitude of levels. Reviewing global trends pertaining to creativity research toward the end of the second decade of the twenty-first century, this chapter will also consider the policies and reforms that could impact creativity and the teaching of creative music and arts subjects. Chapter 3 - It is widely accepted that globalization is a process already underway in the world today. The phenomenon has activated exchanging all kinds of information, triggered people’s movement across borders and accelerated global economic and technological competition. It has also changed social values and norms. Contemporary school education is trying to respond to the various demands arising from globalization. In order to shed light on how education in each country is dealing with globalization, this chapter investigates Japan’s recent curriculum reforms in primary and lower-secondary school education. Its focus will be on foreign languages in primary schools, moral education and education for children with Japanese language needs. These are all the most significant changes in the reform. After a brief discussion of globalization, nation state and school education, the development of the Japanese school curriculum system after

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World War II will be overviewed. Then, the current process of curriculum reform will be discussed. Through the discussion, this chapter explores the idea that Japanese school curriculum system that was established after the war within the paradigm of internationalization is facing difficulties due to the progress of globalization. Chapter 4 - Many students in Hong Kong find ethics difficult to learn due to the discrepancy between Western theories and the local context. In 2017–2018, the author partnered with the Curriculum Development Institute of the Education Bureau to undertake a knowledge transfer project using local materials to teach ethical reasoning in Hong Kong’s secondary education. The educational value of this project was premised on the belief that understanding ethical reasoning is the basis of nurturing responsible citizens. An assessment of the impacts of the pedagogical practice in five secondary schools showed that the students’ scores generally increased after comparing their pretests and posttests. The teachers and students generally agreed that the teaching and learning materials were useful in acquiring the skills of ethical reasoning. Three levels of civic responsibility were identified in the focus group interviews with the students, including developing civic awareness, building civic engagement, and embracing citizenship. A number of students affirmed that they had learned how to discuss social issues as a citizen and had become more concerned about public policies in Hong Kong. Chapter 5 - The aim of this research was to study international students’ learning experiences and the concepts they are using when describing Finnish comprehensive school. The study is based on the observation portfolios of 23 international student teachers during the first term of their undergraduate studies in Finland. The results indicate, that the student teachers describe their early school years in their homeland in terms of educational ranking, the connection and influence of relatives, disciplines, control, and authorities. Their reflections of the Finnish school system, based on their observation reports, were connected to three main concepts – individuality, equality and freedom. Chapter 6 - Obesity and overweight of children are a major global problem nowadays. According to the Regional Office for Europe (2016),

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obesity has risen three times over the last two decades worldwide. The attention is currently focused on population-wide health promotion and disease prevention through comprehensive health education, starting in the early age of individuals, aimed at slowing down the increasing incidence of obesity and related health issues. This chapter discusses the pedagogical aspects of health, specifically the options of how to shape nutritional habits of elementary school students and how to systematically deepen the knowledge about healthy nutrition by implementation of nutrition education programs. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between dietary habits and healthy nutrition knowledge of ninth graders from the elementary schools in the Czech Republic, who have completed the compulsory school attendance. The research was aimed to design a nutrition education program for the Czech grammar schools. The designed program reflects current nutritional habits and knowledge about nutrition of Czech students and nutritional recommendations for the Czech population targeted to children, which also corresponds to the nutritional topics integrated into the National Health Curriculum Recommendations for Czech Elementary Schools. The program has been inspired by The Nutrition Education Program developed by Nebraska Extension of University of Nebraska Lincoln that is being delivered in 32 counties in Nebraska (program was funded in part by USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Expanded Food & Nutrition Education Program - EFNEP). A validated Nutritional survey (analyzing nutritional habits, attitudes towards proper nutrition and basic health nutrition skills) and Nutritional knowledge quiz (analyzing the level of knowledge related to nutrition for secondary school students) were designed to determine the relationship between knowledge and behavior of ninth grade students from elementary schools in the Czech Republic. The research group consisted of 1,028 ninth graders from 25 different elementary schools. Current nutritional habits and knowledge of Czech ninth graders were analysed. The study has brought a number of more or less surprising findings, describing the hygienic habits of Czech children, their diet and drinking regimen or the content of the students diet. Pearson's correlation coefficient between

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nutrition related knowledge and nutritional habits of examined respondents (0.327 at the reached level of significance of the p test was less than 0.001) confirmed the relatively high association of variables (the null hypothesis was also rejected at 0.01% significance level). The Nutrition Education Program - a comprehensive curriculum for teachers and set of educational and didactical materials for Czech elementary schools was designed based on the research findings, as well as experience from practical trials of the Nutrition education programs designed by the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. The program appears to be a suitable instrument for effective nutrition education and a popular tool for the organization of education among teachers. Designed Nutrition Education Program allows one’s knowledge, behavior and attitudes to be shaped in desired direction while letting students have fun and incorporate newly adopted behavioral patterns into their everyday lives.

In: Education Curriculum Development ISBN: 978-1-53617-681-0 Editor: Marco Jutila © 2020 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 1

A REVIEW OF MUSIC CURRICULUM REFORMS IN MAINLAND CHINA IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY Wang Miao* School of Art and Architecture, New Campus of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, P.R.C

ABSTRACT At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Mainland China launched significant education reforms to meet the need of “quality education,” which was regarded as one of the core strategies of state development. Michael Fullan, who is noted for his expertise on education reform, pointed out that large-scale educational change is an ongoing and complex process, rather than an event. This chapter will focus on the music curriculum in an attempt to probe into how specific school curriculum changes, implemented through China’s education reforms, have achieved the overall target of quality education. From the trial versions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi for Primary and Junior Secondary Education and Senior Secondary Education established * Corresponding Author’s Email: [email protected].

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Wang Miao in 2001 and 2003, respectively, to the official revisions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi in 2011 and 2017, respectively, conceptual and practical transformations and conflicts have taken place in China’s school music education. This chapter will review the process of the music curriculum reforms in different stages marked by the various versions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi and examine the essential changes that have taken place in the school music curriculum, as well as the process of how the new educational concepts were formed, shaped, and put into practice in the context of Mainland China. Particularly, the chapter will focus on the values, targets, and methods in the new music curriculum and how they have met the overall goal of quality education; how the new music curriculum has been interpreted and understood by education practitioners; how educational concepts and methods have been put into practice; and how these educational concepts have been reshaped by teaching practices during the course of the curriculum reforms. Finally, this chapter will argue that the music curriculum reforms in China in the twenty-first century have continued to evolve in a dynamic double-tunnel communication system in which various education stakeholders and music education practitioners have collaborated with each other to push forward large-scale changes in school music education nationwide.

Keywords: China’s educational change, music curriculum reform, quality education, conceptual transformation

INTRODUCTION A substantial body of literature has discussed the strategies and practices of education reforms (Fullan, 2005, 2006a, 2006b; Hargreaves, 2005; Li & Li, 2010; Liu & Fang, 2009; Pepper, 2000). According to Michael Fullan (2005), researches concerning educational change have referred to both the theory of education (i.e., what kinds of changes have been made) and the theory of change (i.e., how best to make these changes). Some research work has focused on the route of education reforms (such as Fullan, 1993; Hall & Hord, 2006), that is, whether the changes taking place are top-down or bottom-top. Fullan (1993) has argued that neither centralization nor decentralization alone works for large-scale education reforms; instead, both top-down and bottom-up approaches to

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change should be implemented concurrently during the course of education reforms. Some research has discussed different levels and aspects of educational change, such as school administration (Datnow, 2000; Elmore, 2006; Leithwood et al., 2004), school district reforms (Shannon & Bylsma, 2007; Sharratt & Fullan, 2006), classroom teaching and learning (Fielding, 2001; Gordon, 2005; Hargreaves, 2003; Rudduck, 2007), and teachers’ professional development (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005; Dufour et al., 2006; MacLaughlin, 2006, Ryan et al., 2009). These existing researches have provided various perspectives from which to understand the political and cultural contexts and relevant meanings of educational change, and have explored practical strategies to solve problems in different aspects of education reform. However, most of the research has focused only on the general issues of education reform, although some research has shed light on the changes in core subjects, such as language and mathematics. Meanwhile, there has been even less research on the subject of music, most of which has focused on changes in the advocacy and philosophy of music education reforms (Peterson, 2011; Reimer, 2004; Swanwick, 1990); nonetheless, these research works have helped clarify the meanings and trends of changes in music education in the twenty-first century. Other research has focused on the impact of policies on music education reforms within political and cultural contexts (Branscome, 2012; Fautley 2019; Fautley & Murphy, 2016; Horsley, 2009). Fullan (2005) pointed out that changes happen when the meaning of education reform is transferred into practical action in school settings. Research on education reform has also shed light on the way the meanings of change are put into practice. This chapter will review the process of the large-scale education reforms that have taken place in Mainland China, and it will particularly focus on the school music curriculum to answer the question of how an underestimated “non-core subject” has established and practiced its new meaning of change and stabilized its status in the school curriculum. “Quality education” is the major theme of education reforms in China in the twenty-first century. It was first proposed in the government document “Guidelines on Education Reform and Development,” which

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stated that school education in China should shift from “examinationoriented” to “quality-oriented” to enhance the overall quality of China’s population in terms of ideology and morality, humanities and sciences, labor skills, and physical and psychological qualities (State Council, 1993). According to the document, the major goals of quality education were to implement holistic education for all students, especially aesthetic education which included music education; to shift from examination-oriented knowledge-based education to an education of problem-solving abilities and creativity; and to develop student-centered teaching methods. With the guidance of the concepts of quality education provided by the “Guidelines on Education Reform and Development,” large-scale school curriculum reforms were first carried out in 2001 under the banner of “suzhi jiaoyu (quality education)” (Dello-Iacovo, 2009). This chapter will focus on the music curriculum to probe into how specific school curriculum changes have achieved the overall target of quality education in Mainland China through its education reforms. The chapter will also trace the timeline of music curriculum reforms and examine the essential changes that have taken place in the school music curriculum, as well as the process of how the new educational concepts were formed, shaped, and put into practice in the context of Mainland China. Specifically, for the music subject, the chapter will focus on the values, targets, and methods in the new music curriculum and how they have met the overall goal of quality education; how the new music curriculum has been interpreted and understood by education practitioners; how educational concepts and methods have been put into practice; and how these educational concepts have been reshaped by teaching practices during the course of the curriculum reforms. Finally, the chapter will argue that the music curriculum reforms in China have continued to evolve through a process of interaction and balance between concepts and practices, during which the meanings of the changes have been recognized, reshaped, and advanced.

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EDUCATION REFORMS IN CHINA IN THE TWENTY-FIST CENTURY At the turn of the twenty-first century, education reforms were launched in Mainland China that were regarded to be the most radical and wide-reaching in the history of the country. The theme of these education reforms was quality education, which aimed at cultivating students’ “allround” ability and developing an “ideal learner who loves learning, is able to solve problems in real-life situations through inquiry and creativity, and has the capacity to be a lifelong learner” (Paine & Fang, 2006 p. 282). The major targets of the education reforms included the following: implementing holistic education for all students, especially aesthetic education which included music education; shifting the teaching and learning focus from examination-oriented knowledge and skills to increasing capacities in critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity; developing student-centered teaching methods; and exploring a greater variety of textbooks and learning resources (CPC Central Committee & State Council, 1999; State Council, 1993, 2001). In order to achieve the overall goal of quality education, a systematic transformation occurred for each subject of the school curriculum in the aspects of curriculum goals, subject knowledge structure and teaching content, teaching and learning approaches, and curriculum assessment (Ministry of Education, 2001). To guarantee the practices of these education reforms, the government put forth legislation, policies, and curriculum standards in the form of official guidelines. The large-scale education reforms that have taken place in China were promulgated in steps. The establishment of new curriculum standards and syllabi in general were initiated in 2001, which was the starting point of the trial period for new curricula for various subjects. Ten years later, in 2011, curriculum reforms entered the second stage with major revisions of the trial versions of the curriculum standards and syllabi.

Wang Miao

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SCHOOL MUSIC CURRICULUM REFORMS IN THE PAST TWO DECADES School music curriculum reform has been an important agenda in the ongoing education reforms in Mainland China over the last 20 years, which can be divided into two stages. In the first stage, the music curriculum reforms were top-down by the state. The trial versions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi for Primary and Junior Secondary Education and Senior Secondary Education were established and released by the Ministry of Education (MoE) in 2001 and 2003, respectively, and were piloted in 38 selected districts across the country. During the 10-year trial period, problems, confusion, and conflicts emerged in response to the new music education concepts, practices, and teaching methods. This led to the second stage, which involved a bottom-up process of change. The state modified the trial versions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi and promulgated the finalized versions for primary and junior secondary education and senior secondary education nationwide in 2011 and 2017, respectively, which were milestones in the music curriculum reforms in Mainland China.

First Stage (2001~2010) Music curriculum reforms at the beginning of the twenty-first century were initiated by two important government documents on education reforms in China, namely, “Decision on Deepening Educational Reform and Comprehensively Promoting Quality Education” (CPC Central Committee & State Council, 1999) and “Decision on the Reform and Development of Basic” (State Council, 2001). These documents highlighted that aesthetic education is an indispensable part of quality education, and much importance should be attached to art education as the dominant means of aesthetic education. The two government documents further highlighted the status and values of the music subject in the school context. In 2000, a panel comprised of musicians and music educators was

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formed by the MoE to compose the National Standardized Music Syllabi. One year later, in July 2001, the trial version of the National Standardized Music Syllabi for Primary and Junior Secondary Education was published, and it was promoted in 38 experimental districts across the country in 2004, which comprised about 70 to 80% of all primary and junior secondary schools, and to the rest of the country in 2005.

National Standardized Music Syllabi for Primary and Junior Secondary Education (2001 Trial) In this version of the National Standardized Music Syllabi, school music education was defined as aesthetic education in accordance with the definition of art education in the “Decision on Deepening Educational Reform and Comprehensively Promoting Quality Education” and “Decision on the Reform and Development of Basic Education,” with reference to the Western philosophy of music education as pointed out by Reimer (1970, p. 6), who proposed the aesthetic philosophy of music education in his first edition of A Philosophy of Music Education: Music education has struggled with the problem of justifying its existence to the society on which it depends…. Justifications for music education have dealt richly with matters of outward utility and poorly with matters of inward significance.

Reimer’s (1970) aesthetic philosophy was widely accepted by music educators in China (Cai, 2015, 2018; Meng, 2014). In the National Standardized Music Syllabi (Ministry of Education, 2001), the music curriculum was an important part of humanities education, a major field of aesthetic education and a compulsory subject for school education. The National Standardized Music Syllabi further presented guidelines for the music curriculum based on the philosophy of “school music education as aesthetic education”: (i) aesthetic experience as the basis of the music curriculum; (ii) students’ interest as motivation for music education; (iii) music education for all students; (iv) paying attention to individual students’ development of musical abilities; (v) emphasis on musical experience; (vi) including students’ musical creativity; (vii) encouraging

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subject integration; (viii) promoting Chinese culture; (ix) understanding multiculturalism; and (x) improving the teaching assessment system. In order to provide more specific guidance in the teaching and assessment of school music curricula, the National Standardized Music Syllabi established three dimension goals of school music education: (i) emotions, attitudes, and values, including interest in music; love of nature, human beings, family, and others; a positive attitude toward life; and patriotism, a sense of social responsibility, and understanding and respect of world cultures; (ii) learning processes and methods, including abundant musical experiences; skills in comparing music with different styles and genres; explorative activities and critical thinking in music; and cooperative abilities through music activities; and (iii) musical knowledge and skills, including knowledge of music history and music cultures and basic knowledge and skills in singing, instrument performance, music creation, and drama. Based on these education goals, the teaching content was extended and structured into four domains: music perception and appreciation; music performance; music creation; and music and relevant cultures. Under the four domains music curriculum framework, sub-targets were established according to different levels and grades of students. Suggestions for music teaching, assessment, and textbook compilation were also provided by the National Standardized Music Syllabi.

National Standardized Music Syllabus for Senior Secondary Education (2003 Trial) In the first stage of the music curriculum reforms, the release of the National Standardized Music Syllabus for Senior Secondary Education was two years after that of the music syllabi for primary and junior secondary education. The music syllabus for senior secondary education emphasized the aesthetic values of school music education, which was consistent with the guidelines and basic concepts of the music curriculum stated in the National Standardized Music Syllabi for Primary and Junior Secondary Education. The syllabus (Ministry of Education, 2003) established a credit system for the music curriculum in senior secondary education and prescribed six elective learning domains: music appreciation; vocal

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performance; instrumental performance; music theory and music composition; music and dance; and music and drama. Each learning domain was one credit and took 18 teaching hours to complete, except for music appreciation, which was two credits and took 36 teaching hours to complete. Three credits from the music curriculum were compulsory for senior secondary students. The credit system and prescribed elective learning domains manifested the guidelines for music education for all students and for individual students’ development. During the first 10 years of the music curriculum reforms, new concepts in school music education, the content structure of the music curricula, and new methods of music teaching and assessment were stipulated by the National Standardized Music Syllabi and were popularized among school music teachers nationwide through the hierarchical top-down music teacher training and development system. Simultaneously, there was a bottom-up collection of problems, experiences, and comments from school music teachers and music education administrators about the practices of the new music curricula. Two-way communication facilitated the reflection, rethinking, and revision of the National Standardized Music Syllabi that took place in the second stage of the music curriculum.

Second Stage (2011~2017) Ten years after the trial version of the National Standardized Music Syllabi for Primary and Junior Secondary Education was implemented, problems, confusion, and controversies about the new music curricula emerged. In response, the National Standardized Music Syllabi were revised under the guidance of the government document “Outlines of the National Plan for Medium and Long-term Educational Reform and Development (2010-2020)” (Ministry of Education, 2010) and released in 2011. The document stressed the requirements for quality education in socio-economic and cultural contexts and outlined national educational development strategies, such as moral education as the first priority in

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school education, competence cultivation as the core of school education, and the abilities of innovation, creativity, and problem solving as the major targets of school education.

National Standardized Music Syllabi for Primary and Junior Secondary Education (2011) The 2011 National Standardized Music Syllabi for Primary and Junior Secondary Education (Ministry of Education, 2011 p. 4) echoed the concepts stated in the “Outlines of the National Plan for Medium and Long-term Educational Reform and Development (2010-2020)” by claiming that the music curricula should “cultivate aesthetic feelings, nurture aesthetic taste, develop harmonious body and mind and build up [a] healthy personality.” The 2011 National Standardized Music Syllabi highlighted moral education and patriotism education in the music curricula (Ministry of Education, 2011), retaining the same structure of and most of the concepts and statements in the 2001 version. As worldwide interaction and communication between music educators and researchers increased, some new concepts were adopted and reinforced in the new version of the National Standardized Music Syllabi, for example, the concepts of music creativity and praxial music education (see Elliott, 1999, 2002). In the 2011 National Standardized Music Syllabi (Ministry of Education, 2011), the concept of music education as aesthetic education was extended to include the following ideas: (i) school music education is not a one-way aesthetic experience that happens between the students and the music pieces; instead, it should develop students’ aesthetic perceptions, inspirations, and understandings from diversified cultural perspectives; and (ii) school music curricula should be based on domestic traditional culture and be inclusive of diversified world cultures based on the redefined concept of the syllabi as generalized in the three traits of the music curriculum: humanities education; aesthetic education; and practical education. The three dimension goals have remained the overall goal of the school music curricula. In order to make the education goal more instructive in both teaching practice and assessment, the 2011 version of the National

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Standardized Music Syllabi put forth the concept of “music accomplishment” and further specified the composition of music accomplishment: musical knowledge and skills; cultural perspectives; music auditory and appreciative abilities; and music performance and creative abilities. In the 2011 version, the National Standardized Music Syllabi modified some statements in the curriculum guidelines and reshaped them into the following items: aesthetic experience as the basis of and students’ interest as the motivation for music education; provide abundant musical experiences and cultivate students’ creativity; highlight the characteristics of music and encourage subject integration; promote traditional Chinese music and folk music and understand the diversity of world cultures; and music education for all students and for individual students’ development. The curriculum guidelines in this version of the National Standardized Music Syllabi were integrated into the new items by removing the item “improve the teaching assessment system,” adding the item “highlight the characteristics of music,” and changing some phrasing of the items to make the guidelines more explicit, such as “understanding multiculturalism” was rephrased as “understanding the diversity of world music cultures.” As a result of these changes in advocacy, the school music curriculum officially included popular songs for the first time in the 2011 National Standardized Music Syllabi (Ho, 2014), while retaining the four domains of learning in the 2001 version and providing some specific suggestions on how to highlight the characteristics of music.

National Standardized Music Syllabus for Senior Secondary Education (2017) Like the first stage of the music curriculum reforms, in the second stage, the new version of the National Standardized Music Syllabus for Senior Secondary Education was released a few years after the National Standardized Music Syllabi for Primary and Junior Secondary Education. After 14 years of music teaching practices for senior secondary education beginning in 2003, the amendment of the National Standardized Music Syllabus was launched in 2017 by the MoE. The theme of the senior secondary music curriculum reforms was to establish the National

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Standardized Music Syllabus according to the theory of key competences that was proposed at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and prescribed in the government document “Suggestions on Deepening the Curriculum Reform, Implementing Moral Education and Holistic Education” (Ministry of Education, 2014). The document declared that a “key competence system of student development” should be established to provide explicit guidance on quality education during various periods of school education. The construct of the music subject’s key competences was the major task of the music curriculum reforms at this stage. Research teams were assigned by the MoE to work on the overall key competence system of student development and the music subject’s key competence system, respectively. In 2016, the key competence system of student development was released, which consisted of three aspects: literacy; self-directed development; and social participation. The three aspects were further divided into six domains of key competences: humanistic connotations; scientific spirit; learn how to learn; healthy lifestyle; sense of responsibility; and practice and creativity. Each domain was subdivided into three specific competences, for example, “aesthetic taste” was in the domain of “humanistic connotations.” Referring to the key competence system of student development, the National Standardized Music Syllabus for Senior Secondary Education was reconstructed in 2017. Since the key competence system of student development highlighted the aspect of humanistic connotations, the 2017 National Standardized Music Syllabus reinforced the value of humanistic education in music education. The description of the characteristics of the music curriculum was changed into the following items: humanities education; aesthetic education; practical education; contemporary education; basic education; multi-elective education; and systematic education. The National Standardized Music Syllabus established the music subject’s key competences, which included three areas: aesthetic perception; artistic expression; and humanistic understanding. Based on the music subject’s key competences, the curriculum guidelines were formulated as follows: (i) highlight the aesthetic function of music education and enhance students’ musical taste; (ii) emphasize musical

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experiences and explore students’ creative potential; (iii) deepen emotional experiences and attach more importance to cultivating student’s musicianship; (iv) promote Chinese culture and understand the diversity of world cultures; (v) diversify choices in the music courses and satisfy individual needs in music learning; and (vi) improve the curriculum assessment system based on the music subject’s key competence system. In the 2017 version of the National Standardized Music Syllabus, the credit system was retained, while the learning areas in the music subject were enriched and more choices were added for students according to their music study needs. The music subject’s learning content was classified into three different levels of elective course modules: compulsory courses, including music appreciation, vocal performance, instrumental performance, music composition, music and dance, and music drama; optional compulsory courses, including choir, orchestra, dance performance, drama performance, music theory, solfeggio, and ear training; and elective courses, such as school-based music courses. Students are now required to select two credits (36 teaching hours) from the first module and one credit (18 teaching hours) from courses in the three modules during the senior secondary study period. The structure of the elective course modules also manifests the student-centered teaching method and curriculum guidelines to “[d]iversify choices in the music courses and satisfy individual needs in music learning” (Ministry of Education, 2017, p. 10; translated by the author of this chapter). According to a document released by the State Council (2015), namely, “Suggestions on Reinforcing and Improving School Aesthetic Education,” students’ artistic learning assessment was incorporated into the students’ academic achievement assessment system. The MoE (2015) followed up with the document “Measures for Students’ Artistic Quality Assessment” to guarantee the implementation of the art curriculum assessment. These government documents facilitated the construction of the music subject’s key competence system and stimulated a mass of research and discussion on the issue of music curriculum assessment. Finally, in the 2017 National Standardized Music Syllabus, music curriculum assessment criteria were established according to the music

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subject’s key competences system, and these innovations brought school music education into another era of curriculum reform. The following Table 1 below demonstrates the major changes that have taken place in the different versions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi, tracing the theoretical and practical development of school music education in the past two decades: From Table 1, it can be concluded that the four versions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi released in the past two decades have retained a consistent structure, which includes the following: (i) definitions of school music education; (ii) goals of the music curriculum; (iii) characteristics of the music curriculum; (iv) teaching guidelines for the music curriculum; and (v) domains of learning in the music curriculum. From a comparison of the different versions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi, school music education as aesthetic education is the basic concept of the music curriculum, which is the premise for setting curriculum goals, content, methods, and assessment. During the course of the music curriculum reforms, music educators have attempted to establish an explicit and instructive curriculum goal that will provide a reasonable structure for the establishment of the curriculum content and assessment system (Wang, 2018; Wang & Wang, 2012). The three dimension goals that were established in 2001 continued to function through 2016. During those one and half decades, the major concern of the curriculum goals shifted from converting knowledge-skills-oriented music education to aesthetic-experience-oriented music education and to specifying the musical accomplishments that should be achieved in the music curriculum. In 2017, the music subject’s key competence system was established, and three key competences were set as the curriculum goals in the National Standardized Music Syllabus for Senior Secondary Education. In the first stage of the music curriculum reforms, there was a general description of the characteristics of the music curriculum that pointed out the humanistic and aesthetic traits of the school music curriculum and the indispensable status of the music curriculum in school education. In the second stage, the characteristics of the music curriculum were generalized into three traits in

Table 1. Conceptual changes in school music education in the National Standardized Music Syllabi Domains of Music Curriculum Reform Relevant Government Documents

Music Syllabi

Definitions of School Music Education Goals of Music Curriculum

Characteristics of Music Curriculum

First Stage: Music Curriculum Reforms during 2001~2010

Second Stage: Music Curriculum Reforms during 2011~2017

“Decision on Deepening Educational Reform and “Outlines of the National Plan for Comprehensively Promoting Quality Education” Medium and Long-term Educational (CPC Central Committee & State Council, 1999) Reform and Development (2010“Decision on the Reform and Development of Basic 2020)” (Ministry of Education, Education” (State Council, 2001) 2010) Music syllabi for Music syllabus for Music syllabi for elementary and elementary and junior senior secondary junior secondary schools in 2011 secondary schools in 2001 schools in 2003 Set up “school music Emphasize “school Ensure “school music education as education as aesthetic music education as aesthetic education” education” aesthetic education” Achieve three dimension goals for school music education:

“Suggestions on Deepening the Curriculum Reform, Implementing Moral Education and Holistic Education” (Ministry of Education, 2014) “Suggestions on Reinforcing and Improving School Aesthetic Education” (State Council, 2015) Music syllabus for senior secondary schools in 2017

(i) emotions, attitudes, and values; (ii) learning process and methods; and (iii) musical knowledge and skills Convert from knowledgeAdjust the relationship skills-oriented to aestheticbetween musical experience-oriented music knowledge and skills education and aesthetic experience

(i) aesthetic perception; (ii) artistic expression; and (iii) humanistic understanding Highlight the characteristics of music in the curriculum:

Music curriculum is an important part of humanity education, the major field of aesthetic education, and a compulsory subject for school education

(i) Put forth the concept of music accomplishment; (ii) Specify the compositions of music accomplishment: musical knowledge and skills; cultural perspectives; music auditory and appreciative abilities; music performance; and creative abilities Three traits: (i) (ii) (iii)

humanities education; aesthetic education; and practical education

“School education as aesthetic and humanistic education” Develop students’ key competences:

(i) (ii)

emphasize humanistic understanding of music cultures; and strengthen moral education through music curriculum

Characteristics of the music curriculum: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii)

humanities education; aesthetic education; practical education; contemporary education; basic education; multi-elective education; and systematic education

Table 1. (Continued) Domains of Music Curriculum Reform Teaching Guidelines of Music Curriculum

First Stage: Music Curriculum Reforms during 2001~2010 (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) (viii) (ix) (x)

Domains of Learning in Music Curriculum

aesthetic experience as the basis of music curriculum; students’ interest as the motivation for music education; music education for all students; pay attention to individual students’ development of music abilities; emphasize musical experience; include students’ music creativity; encourage subject integration; promote traditional Chinese music; understand multiculturalism; and improve the teaching assessment system

Four domains: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

music perception and appreciation; music performance; music creation; and music and relevant cultures

Six domains (electives):

Second Stage: Music Curriculum Reforms during 2011~2017 (i)

aesthetic experiences as the basis of and students’ interest as the motivation for music education; (ii) provide abundant musical experiences and cultivate students’ creativity; (iii) highlight the characteristics of music and encourage subject integration; (iv) promote traditional Chinese music and understand the diversity of world music cultures; and (v) music education for all students and for individual students’ development Four domains: (i)

(i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

(v) (vi)

music appreciation; vocal performance; instrumental performance; music theory and music composition; music and dance; and music and drama

(ii) (iii) (iv)

music perception and appreciation; music performance; music creation; and music and relevant cultures

(i) (ii) (iii)

(iv) (v) (vi)

highlight aesthetic function of music education and enhance students’ musical taste; emphasize musical experience and explore students’ creative potential; deepen emotional experience and attach more importance to cultivating student’s musicianship; promote Chinese culture and understand the diversity of world cultures; diversify choices in music courses and satisfy individual needs in music learning; and improve the curriculum assessment system based on the music subject’s key competence system

Three course modules with 13 elective domains (3 credits: 2+1): (i)

(ii)

(iii)

Compulsory courses (elective, 2 credits required): music appreciation; vocal performance; instrumental performance; music composition; music and dance; and music and drama Optional compulsory courses: choir; orchestra; dance performance; drama performance; music theory; solfeggio; and ear training Elective courses: school-based music courses

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the 2011 National Standardized Music Syllabi, which included practicalness as one of the traits of the music curriculum. In the 2017 version of the National Standardized Music Syllabus, in addition to the three traits, four more traits for the music curriculum were added to highlight the functions and status of the music curriculum in senior secondary education. As for the teaching guidelines of the music curriculum, there were no significant changes in the contents of the National Standardized Music Syllabi in 2001, 2003, and 2011, except for reorganizing the guidelines in a more concise way. However, the 2017 National Standardized Music Syllabus shed more light on music practices, emotional experiences, and music creativity and suggested attaching more importance to cultivating student’s musicianship. The structure of the curriculum contents of the 2001 and 2011 National Standardized Music Syllabi for Primary and Junior Secondary Education remained unchanged from the original four domains. However, the curriculum contents of the 2003 National Standardized Music Syllabus for Senior Secondary Education were expanded from six domains to 13 domains in 2017, which diversified the music learning content and paid more attention to improving students’ musicianship and aesthetic tastes. To sum up, tracing the four versions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi, although some terminologies have changed, the structure and basic concepts have remained the same, while the concepts and guidelines for school music education have become more and more explicit and specific. The government documents previously mentioned set milestones for the different versions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi and initiated changes in school music education, for example, defining music education as aesthetic education, reinforcing the function of moral education in the music curriculum, highlighting aesthetic experiences and artistic creativity in music education, and establishing the music subject’s key competence system. In short, the music curriculum reforms in China have been a ship that has been steered by the government.

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DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS The curriculum reforms in the twenty-first century have brought great changes to school music education in China. During the past two decades, the understanding of quality education has shifted from examinationoriented education (State Council, 2001) to developing students’ key competences (Zhong & Cui, 2018). Centered on the theme of quality education, conceptual and practical changes have taken place in the school curriculum, particularly the music curriculum. The education system has explored a double-tunnel communication system to put the changes into practice (see Figure 1). China has a hierarchical education system, from the State Council, the Ministry of Education, and the Department of Physical Health and Art Education to various education administration departments at the provincial level, city level, district level, and school level. Accordingly, there is a hierarchical teacher training system that translates and conveys the concepts of change to teachers and facilitates conceptual changes in teaching practices, while the double-tunnel communication system has developed top-down and bottom-up approaches to involve all the stakeholders in the school music education reforms.

Top-Down Approaches as the Amplifier of Conceptual Changes At the starting point of the education reforms in the twenty-first century in China, the government deployed procedures and strategies. The first stage of the music curriculum reforms was the trial stage, in which trial versions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi were carried out in assigned districts and schools, and then generalized nationwide. In the first stage of the music curriculum reforms, the definition of music education as aesthetic education and the establishment of the structure of the music curriculum were the threshold of the changes in school music education in the twenty-first century. The aesthetic philosophy suggested that music teaching should be based on aesthetic experiences (Reimer, 1970). Based on this understanding, the student-centered method was

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introduced in the music curriculum. In order to highlight aesthetic experiences, musical knowledge and skills were greatly weakened while music appreciation and music activities were highly recommended in the music curriculum. The concepts and methods sounded reasonable; however, when they were delivered top-down to the music teachers, their advocacy was exaggerated and to some extent became confusing and problematic in teaching practices.

Figure 1. Double-tunnel communication system for music curriculum reforms in China.

In the first few years after the implementation of the new 2001 National Standardized Music Syllabi, there was a conceptual shift from a knowledge-skills-oriented music curriculum to an aesthetic-experiencesoriented music curriculum. Through propaganda from the education department and training conducted by teacher development institutions, the importance of aesthetic experiences was overemphasized, while the

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function of musical knowledge and skills was underestimated. This led to a detachment between musical knowledge and skills and aesthetic experiences. Although music classrooms became more vibrant, the students’ musical capacities did not improve as expected (Xu, 2011). The gap between new music education concepts and practical results emerged in the classroom context, which led to extensive reflection on curriculum objectives, teaching methods, teaching and learning strategies, and teachers’ professional development.

Bottom-Up Tunnel as a Hedging Force against the Reforms Although changes had been expected by music educators, when the curriculum reforms were implemented, sometimes the rhetoric of the reform concepts met with resistance or was not achieved in practice (Guan & Meng, 2007). Ryan, et al. (2009) further pointed out that one of the important reasons for this resistance in the school context and the underachieved practical results of the curriculum reforms was that China had been engaged in systemwide reforms but it had attempted to implement radical, countrywide curricula and pedagogical reforms. Therefore, after a few years of practicing the new 2001 National Standardized Music Syllabi, many efforts were made to promote effective and sustained teacher development to achieve the desired educational outcomes (Ryan et al., 2009). China started to explore professional learning communities (PLCs) (Borko, 2004; Fullan, 2001), which involved educators at all levels of the education continuum. Through the PLCs, music teachers conducted collective lesson preparations, peer classroom observations, teaching reflections, and so on. The teacher mentorship system played an important role in the PLCs, especially for music teachers who did not pay equal attention to subjects compared with the “core” subject teachers in the school context. Teacher development institutes at the provincial, city, and district levels coordinated the PLCs in an effective way and provided professional training programs, organized teaching research activities, and supervised individual teachers in their teaching

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practice. During the course of the interactions and communications among the PLCs, teaching effectiveness, student achievement, and problems and deficiencies in the practices of the new concepts and methods were collected, reflected, and resolved. In this way, the music teachers were highly involved in the process of curriculum reforms. When the concept of aesthetic education was promulgated in schools, music teachers were confused about the balance between aesthetic experiences and musical knowledge and skills. This confusion and resulting problems were collected and conveyed bottom-up via the teachers’ professional development system and the PLCs. Reinterpretations and adjustments were made to the aesthetic education concepts, and more specific guidance was provided in the next versions of the National Standardized Music Syllabi. Furthermore, an inquiry system was established to build connections between academic researchers and education administrators in order to eliminate the gap between music teachers, policymakers, and education researchers.

Sustaining Academic Research as a Facilitator of Educational Change In order to provide sustainable support to these large-scale education reforms, the MoE established 18 Research Centers for Basic Education Reform at various universities and institutes. As the education reforms were carried forward, more and more education institutes and scholars joined the research on the ongoing educational change in China. The editorial board of the National Standardized Music Syllabi was made up of various kinds of music education practitioners, mainly academic researchers and education administrators. It was criticized at the preliminary stage of the curriculum reforms that the National Standardized Music Syllabi were constituted by those who were disconnected from classroom practices, which caused a gap between concepts and practices (Xu, 2011). Fullan (2006a) has argued that standards-based reform by itself does not address changing the setting in which people work. Therefore,

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strategies have been explored to fill this gap. The government established research funding and assigned research projects to encourage academic scholars to conduct empirical research in the school context. Further, the MoE assigned an important project to a research team at Beijing Normal University to formulate a key competence system for students, which became the backbone of the 2017 National Standardized Music Syllabus. Simultaneously, communication and interaction between music teachers and academic scholars increased through the teachers’ professional development system, where they exchanged viewpoints through lectures, seminars, and collaborative teaching and research. As indicated in Zhang’s (2016) article, there has been a significant and sustainable increase in publications on the topic of school music curriculum reforms since 2003. These publications have provided insights into the aesthetic and humanistic concepts of music education, music teaching methods and strategies, music curriculum assessment, and music teachers’ professional development, and have introduced diversified theories and practices in music education worldwide. These empirical studies and teaching researches have narrowed the gap between concepts and practices in the music curriculum reforms. In this sense, academic research has acted as the coordinator and facilitator between policies, concepts, and practices as these education changes have taken place.

CONCLUSION To sum up, the changes brought about by the music curriculum reforms have been promulgated to classroom practices via a hierarchical education administrative system. The top-down tunnel has disseminated the concepts of the music curriculum reforms to different levels of education stakeholders, while the top-down approaches have exerted administrative power on the implementation of these changes. The bottomup tunnel has reacted to and reflected the changes through a multilevel music teacher professional development system. The bottom up approaches have also helped to reshape and refine conceptual changes.

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Academic research has facilitated the consensual understanding of these changes and has moderated the conflicts and misunderstandings between policymakers and education practitioners. The music curriculum reforms in China in the twenty-first century are ongoing in the dynamic double-tunnel communication system for educational change, in which various education stakeholders and music education practitioners have collaborated with each other to push forward the large-scale changes in school music education nationwide.

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standardized music syllabi version 2011 for basic education]. Beijing: Beijing Normal University Publishing Group. Xu, H. S. (2011). The current situation and potential strategies for the curriculum reform of basic education in China. Journal of the Central Conservatory of Music, 4, 106-113. Zhang, Y. X. (2016). School music education policy transformation and curriculum reform since 1980s. In D. H. Yu et al. (Eds.), Music education in China, (pp. 21-83). Shanghai: Shanghai Conservatory of Music Press. Zhong, Q. Q. & Cui Y. K. (2018). Hexin suyang yanjiu [Study on key competences]. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press.

In: Education Curriculum Development ISBN: 978-1-53617-681-0 Editor: Marco Jutila © 2020 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 2

CHALLENGES FOR CREATIVITY AND THE ARTS IN SCHOOL MUSIC EDUCATION CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN HONG KONG, CHINA Wai-Chung Ho Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China

ABSTRACT Creativity is an essential aspect of teaching and learning that influences worldwide educational development and that faces different challenges in curriculum reforms and teacher practices in school education. This chapter will present a study on a curriculum development project that included a series of planned music and creative arts lessons in formal school education, which was administered in two volunteering secondary schools in Hong Kong between January and May 2018 to 10 classes of junior secondary school students in Grade 7 through Grade 9 (ages 11 to 15). The study aimed to examine the ways in which music and creative arts can be realized in three aspects: students’ perceptions of creativity and creativity education; their perceptions of learning creativity in school music lessons; and their attitudes toward creative music and arts activities carried out in the school music curriculum. Self-designed precourse and post-course questionnaires were adopted in the study to

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Wai-Chung Ho measure the impacts of the study, and interviews with a sample of students regarding creativity, creativity education, and music and other creative arts were conducted. The results of the study suggest that there is potential value in promoting creativity and cultural awareness in school education, as students can apply creativity to cultural appreciation and understanding in various ways and on a multitude of levels. Reviewing global trends pertaining to creativity research toward the end of the second decade of the twenty-first century, this chapter will also consider the policies and reforms that could impact creativity and the teaching of creative music and arts subjects.

INTRODUCTION Arts education owes much to its development in the progressive education movement (as a reaction against the traditional style of teaching) at the beginning of the twentieth century. In his historical perspective of the arts in the curriculum, Geahigan (1992) argued that the drive toward comprehensive mass education in the nineteenth century challenged arts educators, who made available a variety of rationales for the introduction of these subjects into the curriculum. John Dewey (1859 –1952) is best known as a leading proponent of American education reforms and a principal figure in the progressive education movement from the 1880s to the early 1900s. Dewey believed that the arts were a fundamental component in education because they fostered creativity and selfexpression (see Dewey, 1934). Elliot Eisner (1933–2014) is widely known for his work in arts education, curriculum development, and educational evaluation. Eisner advocated the importance of artistic forms in developing an arts-based research methodology with his graduate students at Stanford University, and he received support from the American Education Research Association (AERA) from the late 1980s through the 1990s. Eisner focused on the need to develop a more personally referenced curriculum and argued for distinctive forms of thinking in the practice of arts education to help children’s intellectual growth (see Eisner, 1993, 1998, 2002). Eisner (2006, 2008) accredited the aims of arts education as those that lie within arts-based and arts-related outcomes, both of which

Challenges for Creativity and the Arts in School Music Education … 31 should involve the use of arts and creativity in and out of the classroom (also see Barone & Eisner, 2012). Howard Gardner (1983, 1993, 1999), an American developmental psychologist, is notable for his theory of multiple intelligences, in which people possess many intelligences in various dimensions. Gardner’s theory has served to open up the school curriculum to the potential of alternative modes of expression and creative cognition. These contemporary notions of arts education and creativity continue to be challenging topics and themes in and across the curriculum. Creativity in teaching and learning has influenced worldwide education policies and is often highlighted as expertise that is essential for successful education. For example, Ken Robinson (2011, 2016), one of the world’s foremost arts and education experts and a champion of the importance of creativity in education, clarified the need for all children to have a creative layout in “All our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education,” a British national strategy for creative and cultural education for the whole curriculum, which was published to wide acclaim (National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education, 1999). By 2008, the “Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians” provided a variation on the national educational avenue to creativity by prioritizing “creativity” over “arts” in Australian schools. The report “Arts in Daily Life: Australian Participation in the Arts” (a quantitative study carried out in late 2013) built up the leading role of the arts in both cultural life and education more broadly, with 66% of Australians regarding the arts as a big influence on child development (Harris & Ammermann, 2016, p. 106). In 2012, the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Education, released the findings of the first nationwide arts survey about the state of arts education in public elementary and secondary schools, which provided a clear sense of how the No Child Left Behind Act 1 affected arts education in the United States (Parsad & Spiegelman, 2012). Gardner (1988) argued that intellectual growth is an 1

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was the main law for school education in the U.S. from 2002 to 2015. It was the most recent version of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The law held that schools were accountable for how children learned and achieved, and it provided federal funding to school districts for extra educational assistance to educate disadvantaged children in return for improvements in their academic progress.

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asset of having arts in the curriculum, because students who grow to be more well-rounded individuals are not only learning the basic core curriculum but also developing multiple intelligences. The curricular aims of general creative and critical thinking, along with problem solving, regulating emotions, and creating products within a certain social construct, are demonstrated in arts education (including music education). Creativity is the interaction among the capacity, process, and environment by which an individual or group creates a discernible product that is both narrative and practical as defined within a social context (Plucker, Beghetto, & Dow, 2004). Amabile (1983) stated that when all the social and environmental elements that might influence creativity are pondered, most can be found in the classroom. Most classroom research has focused on the distinction between “open” traditional classroom climates (Amabile, 1983, p. 205). Openness in classroom instruction is often considered a style of teaching that involves flexibility of space, student-selected activities, combining of curriculum areas, richness of learning materials, and more individual or small-group than large-group instruction (Horwitz, 1979). Webster (2002) considered “creative thinking as a dynamic process of alternation between convergent and divergent thinking, moving in stages over time, enabled by certain skills (both innate and learned), and by certain conditions, all resulting in a final product” (p. 26). Hickey and Webster (2001) also suggested that teachers should encourage their students to think creatively and persuade them to imagine sound in all musical activities (also see Paynter, 1982).

BACKGROUND OF THE CULTIVATION OF CREATIVITY AND EDUCATION IN HONG KONG Due to the lack of natural resources, the development of Hong Kong has long relied heavily on industrial construction and economic activities. Since the 1960s, Hong Kong has changed its focus from an entrepot trading port to a manufacturing-oriented economy, and then to an amalgam

Challenges for Creativity and the Arts in School Music Education … 33 of manufacturing and service industries before eventually becoming the international financial center it is today. In the past two decades, the Hong Kong Government has attempted to support more research and development projects to encourage people to develop the fabric of creativity in society and in education. In 2004, the Hong Kong Government commissioned the Centre for Cultural Policy Research at the University of Hong Kong to devise a framework for a Creativity Index (CI), and one of the major aims was to demonstrate the multifaceted manifestations of creativity in society. Opened in 2008, the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre, which was transformed by the Hong Kong Government from the former Shek Kip Mei Factory Estate, is now positioned as a multidisciplinary arts villages and arts center, signifying its commitment to supporting arts development, mainly in visual arts, performing arts, and applied arts. In April 2009, the Government’s Task Force on Economic Challenges identified the cultural and creative industries as one of the six sectors in which Hong Kong has advantages, and a dedicated office to lead the development of Hong Kong’s creative industries—the Create Hong Kong Office (CreateHK)—was set up later that year in June to promote and speed up the development of local creative industries (Hong Kong Ideas Centre, 2009, p. 4). To further raise public awareness of and interest in creativity and to nurture creativity among the younger generation, it was recommended that the 18 district councils of Hong Kong strengthen the creative component of district activities and organize events, festivals, and competitions on creativity, such as painting and writing (Hong Kong Ideas Centre, 2009, p. 7). The government has also set up the West Kowloon Cultural District, which sits on 40 hectares of waterfront land, to promote the development of cultural and creative industries. The various policy addresses presented by the Hong Kong Government have focused on making Hong Kong a creative hub and expanding support measures for creative industries. In 2001, the Chief Executive’s Policy Address noted that Hong Kong’s education reforms should raise the general standards of school education, enabling each student to enjoy learning and to be creative, innovative, and a good communicator. In

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recognizing that arts education (including music and other arts subjects) is important in facilitating learning and enhancing creativity in students, the recent education reforms in Hong Kong have sought to promote arts education and encourage creative expression through different art forms. The 2013 Policy Address emphasized that developing students’ creative thinking should be one of the learning goals of school education, which can be developed through different subjects. It has been found that artsenriched learning elements and playfulness in the classroom setting can enrich individual students’ creative performance (Hui, Chow, Chan, Chui, & Tam, 2015). The 2018 Policy Address stressed that innovation and creativity should also be goals in constructing creative industries in Hong Kong. It also supported enriching students’ experiences in both classroom and out-of-classroom learning activities for whole-personal development through experiential learning, which will begin in the 2019–2020 school year.

CREATIVITY, ARTS EDUCATION, AND MUSIC EDUCATION IN HONG KONG Hong Kong is well known for its “examination-dominated culture,” and its public examinations have long been challenged by the public and educational practitioners such as teachers (Fok, Kennedy, Chan, & Yu, 2006, p. 1). Education has long been focused on the results of school and public examinations; at the same time, local public schools have not placed sufficient emphasis on creativity in learning (Leong, 2010). Though a new curriculum introduced in 2009 reduced the number of public examinations from two to one, a six-year study by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University revealed that more than 60% of students in their final school year found the new curriculum to be upsetting and students felt that the curriculum left little room to exhibit their talents (Cheung, 2017).

Challenges for Creativity and the Arts in School Music Education … 35 Today in the twenty-first century, changes in social, economic, cultural, and educational frames have resulted in the need to find new ways of thinking about the arts (including music), culture, and creativity to help students become more active, expressive, and creative in and responsible for their own learning and their society. The value of creativity as an element of twenty-first century education advancement has received extensive recognition not only in Western nations but also in Asian Chinese societies (see Elliot, 1999). Many educators believe that cultivating creative people should be the theme of school education in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) (1999) trumpeted the mission of the arts education reform as “Creativity for All” and asserted that arts education is “the key to meet the challenges of the 21st century” and “the way to achieve quality education” (p. 2). The Curriculum Development Council (CDC) (2000) identified nine types of generic skills that students should develop, including creativity, critical thinking skills, communication skills, collaboration skills (e.g., appreciation, listening, and negotiation), information technology skills, mathematical skills, problem-solving skills, self-management skills, and self-learning skills (pp. 36–37). The aims of education for interdisciplinary arts in school education are spelled out in both the Music Curriculum Guide (CDC, 2003a) and the Visual Arts Curriculum (CDC, 2003b): music should be related with other arts subjects using related concepts (CDC, 2003a, p. 62), while visual arts should be associated with other arts subjects through a prevailing theme or other complementary materials (CDC, 2003b, p. 38). Students are encouraged to gain learning experiences from different disciplines and to create multidisciplinary experiences to achieve learning outcomes (see CDC, 2017a, 2017b). The four aims of the arts curriculum are therefore to: develop creativity, critical thinking, and communication skills; thrive in the skills, knowledge, and positive values and attitudes in the arts; obtain pleasure, recreation, and satisfaction through arts participation; and pursue a life-long interest in the arts (CDC, 2017b, p. iv). However, “creative music” in Hong Kong schools was long undermined before the British colonial period to the return of Hong Kong’s

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sovereignty to China (see Ho, 1996). A survey questionnaire conducted by the Hong Kong Curriculum Development Institute (1998) among Hong Kong secondary school music teachers showed that creative music-making was considered the most difficult area to be taught, while creative music activities were not marked as important as other music activities. Leong (2013) criticized that the prevalence of “non-creative” music activities in local schools contradicts the government’s education reform efforts, which have advocated creative education since their launch in 1999. Drawn from the data of 529 responses (including 305 music students and 224 visual arts students) in Leong’s (2013) survey questionnaire distributed to 16 government secondary schools between 2007 and 2008, only 6.5% of the Secondary Two (Grade 8) students reported that they had learned creative thinking in their primary school music classes (p. 81), and more than 70% noted that no creative activities were carried out in their music lessons in secondary school. It has also been shown that creative music-making is allocated very limited time in the school curriculum and music is not creative or creatively taught in practice (Leung, 2000). In the context of learning music with information technology, Ho (2007) noted that the three music activities most welcomed by secondary school students were music appreciation, composition, and singing (p. 40). All of these findings indicate the prevalence of non-creative music activities in Hong Kong’s secondary schools.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Despite efforts to integrate other disciplines or subject areas with music to promote creativity and arts education in school programs in Hong Kong, music tends to be taught as a specific subject area. This is reflected in the daily routine of curriculum development and scheduling in Hong Kong as music is always allocated a specific time on the school timetable. In response to these problems and challenges, the study included five continuous music and creative arts lessons (i.e., non-traditional music lessons) and the major objectives were: (1) to create, try out, and inquire

Challenges for Creativity and the Arts in School Music Education … 37 into arts education using different kinds of music and arts exploration; and (2) to develop students’ knowledge, ideas, and skills as music lovers or arts lovers, both personally and collaboratively. No extant study directly comparing the learning of creativity education and school music education in the development of the school curriculum in Hong Kong has been found. With particular reference to the two partner schools, the project was designed to study the status of music and the arts in creativity education in Hong Kong to provide a fuller understanding of the process of creativity in school music learning. The focus of the study was the way in which the program adopted an integrated approach to curriculum development, with music and other creative arts as the core, and how students perceived this planned curriculum after its implementation. The rationale for selecting this target group was that all the students had experienced at least six years of music education in their primary school studies.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE SAMPLED SCHOOLS Two partner secondary schools volunteered to participate in the study. Both were co-educational, aided Catholic secondary schools with a mission to provide a conducive and holistic learning environment to nurture students to be independent life-long learners. The two schools encouraged students to learn collaboratively, think critically, and build a greater sense of well-being in Hong Kong’s changing society. They also aimed to provide the best quality education to encourage students to become competent, literate, creative, conscientious, and caring youths by instilling in them logical and creative thinking, fostering a sense of social and communicative awareness and cultivating proper moral and aesthetic values for their personal growth toward transcendence. As found in other secondary schools, their school subjects followed the eight key learning areas to be implemented from the curriculum, including Chinese Language Education, English Language Education, Mathematics Education, Science Education, Technology Education, Personal, Social and Humanities Education, Arts Education (including Music and Visual Arts), and Physical

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Education. The aim of arts education in the two schools was to enable students to facilitate a creative education and to develop their creative, imagination, and critical thinking skills through a range of arts activities, as well as to advance communication and social skills. The sample size was comprised of junior secondary school students from the two partner schools, including four classes from Grade 7, four classes from Grade 8, and two classes from Grade 9. Each class had an enrollment of about 30 students. The selection of these classes was made by the school authorities, and the classes contained students of mixed abilities. In regard to the teaching schedule, School A followed a six-day schedule and School B adopted a seven-day pattern, with a duration of one hour and 10 minutes for each music class in their respective cycles. Teaching was supported by an adequately equipped music room with a piano, some musical instruments, a computer, and stereo equipment, which provided a strong potential for music-making.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS, METHODS, AND PROCEDURE The empirical case study work was undertaken by the researcher from mid-January 2018 to early May 2018, with a five-week schedule in the school term. 2 The researcher intended to cultivate students’ behavioral changes and their experiences of creativity and creative arts in their learning environment. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach that intended to explore how the effective integration of creativity and arts education helped develop and motivate learning among junior secondary school students. The study was comprised of two major phases (i.e., the beginning and the end of the scheduled program) and employed both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods for various purposes. 2

Between January and May 2018, the two schools had public holidays, such as the Lunar New Year, Ching Ming Festival, Easter, Labor Day, and Buddha’s Birthday. Besides these school holidays, the two schools also had mid-term tests and other school functions/events. Under these circumstances, the planned curriculum had to be carried out in accordance with the schools’ official timetables assigned to the music subject. Therefore, the five-week teaching schedule for all involved classes in the two schools did not finish on the same date.

Challenges for Creativity and the Arts in School Music Education … 39 As the study was focused on fostering creativity from a social perspective, musical testing was not applicable or suitable for the students.

Research Questions The study proposed three principal research questions, as follows: 1. To what extent do secondary school students enjoy creativity learning in their school education? 2. How do students describe their learning of music and creative arts in school music education? 3. How do gender and grade level influence the way junior secondary school students experience and perceive creativity in arts education in the curriculum?

Methods Student Survey Questionnaires and Interviews Self-designed questionnaires and focus group interviews with students conducted at the beginning and the end of the program were used in the study as they were valuable tools for gaining insight into how the students learned and thought about music activities, arts education, and creativity in education. The study adopted self-administered questionnaires designed to investigate the students’ sources of creativity learning and their preferences for creativity in education as well as creativity and music education in the curriculum both pre-course and post-course. The post-course questionnaire included questions similar to those in the pre-course one, but a few questions were added to examine the students’ attitudes toward their creative experiences, including their learning experience with creativity, their perception of learning diverse music styles and activities, and the collaborative creative arts activities in the planned curriculum. The student survey questionnaires were completed during the first and the last lessons, respectively.

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In addition to the questionnaires, semi-structured interviews were conducted to probe into and clarify the interviewees’ perceptions, views, and interpretations (Merriam, 1998). The students’ focus group interviews were carried out before and after the implementation of the program in January 2018 and in May 2018, respectively. The questions were openended and the student interviewees were encouraged to explain their views in detail. The focus group interviews were conducted in each school, all with the same content, before and after the implementation of the study. In total, 22 students were involved in the focus group interviews that were carried out during lunch breaks and after school, with a duration of approximately 20 minutes for each group. The student interviewees were chosen by their respective music teachers, who attempted to choose both instrumental learners and non-instrumental learners. The students’ interview questions were themed on their attitudes toward creativity education and their preferred activities for music and creative arts education in school music education in line with the first two research questions.

FINDINGS The study had some limitations, including its small scale and the nonrepresentativeness of the subject schools and the participants. The researcher had no intention, however, of generalizing the study’s findings to students in other schools inside or outside Hong Kong. The total number of student respondents of the pre-course and post-course survey questionnaires conducted in the two schools was different as some students in one school had an inter-school sports event during the pre-course survey. The school music teacher did not find that it was appropriate to ask these absentees to answer the questionnaires during their other subject periods.

Challenges for Creativity and the Arts in School Music Education … 41

Major Findings from the Students’ Pre-Course Survey Questionnaires The survey questionnaire was drafted in traditional Chinese, which was the subject students’ language adopted in the school curriculum.3 The questionnaire included some closed items, multiple-choice questions, and structured ratings using five-point Likert scales to allow the students to express degrees of agreement and importance. The survey questionnaire served two broad purposes: (1) to gather the students’ demographic information (gender, grade attended, age, instrumental learning, and sources of learning creativity); and (2) to collect information regarding their perceptions of creativity education in school music education. The question items in the pre-course survey questionnaire were found to have high reliability, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.67. A total of 225 completed copies of the survey questionnaire were returned. Of the returned questionnaires, 100 (44.44%) were from boys and 124 (55.11%) were from girls. Regarding the distribution of grades, 64 attended Grade 7 (28.44%), 76 Grade 8 (33.78%), and 85 Grade 9 (37.78%). The respondents ranged in age from 12 to 17 and above. Of the students, 175 (77.78%) said that they were learners of musical instruments, and the rest claimed that they were not learning any musical instruments. The three most popular musical instruments learned by the students were recorder (61 responses), piano (60 responses), and violin (56 responses). Their learning experience was mainly limited to one to four years. Three students claimed that they learned piano for 10 years, five for nine years, and nine for eight years. The responding means for the students’ perceptions of liking music, creativity, and being a creative person were 3.63 (SD = 0.94), 3.59 (SD = 0.91), and 3.17 (SD 0.92), respectively (from 1 = “highly dislike” to 5 = “highly like”) (see Table 1).

3

In Hong Kong, Cantonese is the dominant dialect, while people write in traditional Chinese. As its name implies, this is a more traditional version of Chinese that has been written by people for thousands of years.

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Table 1. Students’ perceptions of liking music, creativity, and being a creative person in the pre-course questionnaire Highly Dislike Neutral Dislike 1 2 3 Overall, I like music very much 6 14 77 (2.67%) (6.22%) (34.22%) Overall, I like creativity very much. 2 20 85 (0.89%) (8.93%) (37.95%) Overall, I like being a creative person. 7 40 103 (3.13%) (17.86%) (45.98%)

Total

Mean

SD

4

Highly Like 5

88 (39.11%)

40 (17.78%)

225 (100%)

3.63

0.94

78 (34.82%)

39 (17.41%)

224 (100%)

3.59

0.91

56 (25.00%)

18 (8.04%)

224 (100%)

3.17

0.92

Like

The students were allowed more than one response to the question concerning those who influenced their creativity. The surveyed students’ background showed that the Internet, other social media, friends, and popular idols, rather than school music teachers, were the most important sources of their creativity (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Students’ perceptions of those who influenced their creativity learning.

Moreover, the students were asked to give their perspectives on four areas in relation to creativity in school music lessons: (1) to assess whether

Challenges for Creativity and the Arts in School Music Education … 43 it was important to introduce creativity in school music education; (2) to reflect whether it was important to emphasize the importance of creativity in school music lessons; (3) to determine their agreement on the relationship between creativity and learning diverse music types; and (4) to examine the increase in creativity power through participation in diverse music and creative arts activities. The overall responding means of these four realms were 3.61 (SD = 0.91), 3.03 (SD = 0.92), 3.36 (SD = 0.88), and 3.42 (SD =0.85), respectively (from 1 = “highly disagree” to 5 = “highly agree”) (see Table 2). When asked about whether they would be happy to participate in creative music and arts activities to execute their creative ideas in school music lessons, the overall mean was 2.30 (SD = 0.89). Table 2. Students’ perceptions of introducing creativity in school music education in the pre-course questionnaire Highly Highly Disagree Neutral Agree Disagree Agree Total Mean 1 2 3 4 5 I believe that in school the importance of creativity should be highly valued in school music education. 6 10 88 83 38 225 3.61 (2.67%) (4.44%) (39.11%) (36.89%) (16.89%) (100%) I believe that schools should emphasize creativity in school music lessons. 11 44 105 49 12 221 3.03 (4.98%) (19.91%) (47.51%) (22.17%) (5.43%) (100%) I believe that my creativity power can increase through learning diverse music types. 5 25 97 74 20 221 3.36 (2.26%) (11.31%) (43.89%) (33.48%) (9.05%) (100%) I believe that my creativity power can increase through participating in diverse music and arts activities. 5 18 96 83 19 221 3.42 (2.26%) (8.14%) (43.44%) (37.56%) (8.60%) (100%)

SD

0.91

0.92

0.88

0.85

Summary of Findings from the Students’ Pre-Course Focus Group Interviews In total, 22 students were involved in the focus group interviews, including three group compositions from each school consisting of Grade 7, Grade 8, and Grade 9 students. Most of the interviewees (except for one

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student who was against this view and four students who responded “no comment” in the interviews) considered that the twenty-first-century learning framework for school music education should reflect principles of creativity. They provided some examples of ways to promote creativity in school music education in the classroom: “I think creativity in music composition is important to learn.” “I would prefer having different types of music activities in the music lessons (not solely based on singing).” “I think learning more music styles would help me understand musical creativity.” “I enjoy creating some rhythmic patterns in my classroom music activities.” “My major interest is an attempt to compose my own music using GarageBand for iPhone and iPad ….” “Creativity can help us express ourselves, for example, we may choose major or minor keys to express a particular mood.”

A few students made no comments on the importance of creativity, while a few did not agree that creativity was an important element in their school music education as reflected in their comments: “a waste of time to promote creativity,” “not important to further my studies in senior secondary school education,” “creativity not applicable to all school subjects, and my belief on creativity is only in the physics subject,” “I do not have an interest in music, and thus I do not find teaching creativity to be important in the music curriculum,” and “I do not like music…I also rarely listen to music. I find computer games to be more interesting and more challenging.” Most of the students expressed that school subjects like “Chinese and English, especially in writing,” “visual arts,” and “InnoMaster” (an integrated school curriculum with Science, Computers and Technology, Arts and Design, Arts, Mathematics, and other subject disciplines for scientific research in school education) were more appropriate for introducing creative learning in the school curriculum. Questions on their opinions of creativity education in the school music curriculum included learning diverse music styles, preferred types of music activities in creativity learning, and the use of music technology. The students mentioned that “classical music,” “popular music,” “Korean pop,”

Challenges for Creativity and the Arts in School Music Education … 45 “Cantonese pop,” “English pop songs,” “old film music,” and “computer music” were keys to heightening creativity in music and music education. Many students acknowledged that creative music activities for classroom music lessons should be composed of “learning jazz percussion,” “melody writing,” “rhythmic writing,” “attending popular music concerts,” “lyrics writing,” and “mixing the sounds of different types of music styles and melodies.” One student emphasized that classical music inspired his imagination and provided a reference for him in composing music; another student in the same group remarked that listening to English rock songs awakened and inspired his creativity. The students generally viewed that they would like to have creative music-making and arts education in their music lessons. Their reasons given were: “more interesting to combine music, movements, and drama together in a performance or in an activity,” “have fun,” “very different from our normal music lessons,” “should know more about creative art forms and have more experiences with creativity,” and “a change from traditional music lessons.”

Major Findings from the Students’ Post-Course Survey Questionnaires The question items in the post-course survey questionnaire were found to have high reliability, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.78. A total of 303 completed copies of the survey questionnaire were returned. Of the returned questionnaires, 139 (45.87%) were from boys and 163 (53.80%) were from girls. Regarding the distribution of grades, 129 attended Grade 7 (42.72%), 111 Grade 8 (36.75%), and 62 Grade 9 (20.53%). The respondents ranged in age from 11 to 17 and above. The average mean of the students who liked their school music lessons was 3.59 (SD = 1.00) (from 1 = “highly dislike” to 5 = “highly like”). The students were asked to use a five-level tier of agreement to rate their perceptions of liking music, the arts, and being a creative person, the means of which were 3.81 (SD = 0.87), 3.53 (SD = 0.96), and 3.33 (SD = 0.99), respectively (from 1 = “highly dislike” to 5 = “highly like”) (see Table 3).

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Table 3. Students’ perceptions of liking music, the arts, and being a creative person in the post-course questionnaire Highly Dislike Neutral Dislike 1 2 3 Overall, I like music very much. 3 13 71 (0.99%) (4.29%) (23.43%) Overall, I like the arts very much. 5 35 111 (1.65%) (11.55%) (36.63%) Overall, I like being a creative person. 11 42 122 (3.63%) (13.91%) (40.40%)

Total

Mean

SD

4

Highly Like 5

135 (44.55%)

81 (26.73%)

303 (100%)

3.81

0.87

100 (33.00%)

52 (17.16%)

303 (100%)

3.53

0.96

90 (29.80%)

37 (12.25%)

302 (100%)

3.33

0.99

Like

Table 4. Students’ perceptions of introducing creativity in school music education in the post-course questionnaire Highly Highly Dislike Neutral Like Dislike Like Total Mean 1 2 3 4 5 Overall, I liked the music and creative arts lessons in the planned curriculum. 10 30 82 82 111 303 3.66 (3.30%) (9.90%) (27.06%) (27.06%) (36.63%) (100%) I believe that I experienced creativity through music and creative arts in the planned curriculum. 4 27 109 188 44 302 3.56 (1.32%) (8.94%) (36.09%) (39.07%) (14.57%) (100%) I believe that learning diverse music styles helped me increase my creativity power. 4 25 92 139 42 302 3.63 (1.32%) (8.28%) (30.46%) (46.03%) (13.91%) (100%) I liked our collaborative creative music and arts activities in the planned curriculum. 8 20 103 103 67 301 3.67 (2.66%) (6.64%) (34.22%) (34.22%) (22.26%) (100%)

SD

1.04

0.90

0.87

0.98

They were also asked to evaluate the following four statements concerning their attitudes toward the planned five-lesson music curriculum in music and creative arts: “Overall, I liked the music and creative arts lessons in the planned curriculum,” “I believe that I experienced creativity through music and creative arts in the planned curriculum” (from 1 = “highly not sufficient” to 5 “highly sufficient”), “I believe that learning diverse music styles helped me increase my creativity power” (from 1 = “highly disagree” to 5 = “highly agree”), and “I liked our collaborative creative music and arts activities in the planned curriculum” (from 1 =

Challenges for Creativity and the Arts in School Music Education … 47 “highly dislike” to 5 = “highly like”). The means of the four statements were 3.66 (SD = 1.04), 3.56 (SD = 0.90), 3.63 (0.87), and 3.67 (0.98), respectively. (see Table 4) The students noted that their most preferred activities in the five lessons were “music-composing with an iPad,” “music arrangements with apps,” “collaborative works with my classmates,” “enjoyment found in music performance,” “electronic music,” “free to improvise my music,” “music with visual arts,” “music and drama,” “enjoyed watching other groups’ music and creative arts performance,” “enjoy rhythmic creations,” and “understanding how music can be created with different musical instruments.” Some students also included some comments on their creativity learning in the five lessons, for example: “Interesting and knowing fresh concepts of music and creative arts forms.” “Knowing more about different dimensions of creative arts forms.” “I could only tell that these five lessons were different from our normal music lessons.” “These five lessons were not boring (quite different from our ordinary music lessons).” “I had space to develop my interests.” “I learned how to respect and to appreciate other people’s views.” “Very practical and intellectual.” “Surprising to have new knowledge.” “Surprising to have new skills to know more about music and creative arts.” “More thought-provoking elements were introduced in the lessons.”

When asked about their perspectives on whether their school and the Education Bureau (a local organization responsible for implementing education policies) should continue creativity education, most of them maintained a positive response, with a mean of 3.77 (SD = 0.97): six responses for “highly dislike” (1.99%), 19 for “dislike” (6.29%), 90 for “neutral” (29.80%), 110 for “like” (36.42%), and 77 for “highly like” (25.50%).

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Wai-Chung Ho

Summary of Major Findings Comparing the Pre- and Post-Course Survey Questionnaires To compare the pre-and post-course survey questionnaires, a factor known as “before and after” was adopted. With reference to Gignac and Szodorai (2016), the effect size was interpreted as