Music education in South African Schools after apartheid: teacher perceptions of Western and African Music

Drummond, Urvi (2015) Music education in South African Schools after apartheid: teacher perceptions of Western and African Music. Ed.D thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The South African classroom music curriculum has changed in the twenty years since the transition from apartheid to democracy in 1994. The broad imperative for the main music education policy shifts is a political agenda of social transformation and reconciliation. Policy aims are to include many more learners in the music classroom by promoting the study of diverse musics that were previously marginalised and by providing a framework for music education that allows learners to progress at their own pace. This research study investigated to what extent music teachers are able and likely to fulfil the requirements of the new, post-apartheid curriculum, with particular reference to the National Curriculum Statement music policies (NCS). Specifically, it considered whether teachers have a particular allegiance to Western and/or African music. Twelve South African music teachers were interviewed for this purpose.
The latest music curriculum revision in the form of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS, 2011) has modified knowledge content by streaming music into three distinct but parallel genres. In addition to Western music, the curriculum incorporates Indigenous African music and Jazz as representative of the diverse cultural interests of South Africans. An analysis of post-apartheid music policy documents draws on post-colonial thought to frame the affirmation of African music by giving it a prominent place in the curriculum. In order to appreciate the role different musics are expected to play in the curriculum, the work of prominent ethnomusicologists provides a means to conceptualise the range of emerging musics, including World Music, Global Music and Cosmopolitan Music, and their differences.
For teachers to comply with the policy directive to teach different musics to diverse learners, they are required to expand their knowledge and adapt their teaching styles to achieve these aims. This study highlights a lack of resources and of structured teaching support through continuing professional development as well as a need for policy to give clearer direction in the way it instructs teachers to execute the changes demanded of them in the curriculum. An investigation of teachers’ own musical education and their views of the new curriculum reveals that they are willing to teach a variety of musics. Their perceptions of the differences between Western and African music illustrate a reflective understanding of the challenges they face in this undertaking.

• Item Type: Thesis (Ed.D)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: South Africa, school music education, CAPS, Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement 2011, social transformation, South African music teachers, post-apartheid, IKS, Indigenous Knowledge Systems.
• Subjects: L Education > L Education (General); L Education > LA History of education; L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools; L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education; L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2361 Curriculum; L Education > LG Individual institutions (Asia. Africa)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Education
• Supervisor's Name: Enslin, Professor Penny and Patrick, Dr. Fiona
• Date of Award: 2015
• Depositing User: Dr Urvi Drummond
• Unique ID: glathesis:2015-6298
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 29 Apr 2015 12:34
• Last Modified: 29 Apr 2015 12:35
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/6298