Spring
at last – finally! While on break,
members of sMAG continue to work through and make submissions to reviews. We hope that the music education community
benefits from the continued application.
The Education State -
Launch.
The Andrew’s government’s vision and
financial commitments to The Education State within the launch paper asserts
transformational change is ahead. http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/educationstate/launch.pdf .
The clear aspiration towards equity across
the State is to be highly commended. Of
particular importance to the music education community is the clear commitment
to The Arts and particularly Music, which is stated with such
intention. This is greatly
welcomed. While we do not yet know the
full implications, a reading of the document provides foundation for great hope
that support for music and The Arts will be extended.
Highlights
for music taken from The Education State Launch document:
- The aspiration “Over the next 10 years, more Victorian students will reach the highest levels of achievement in the arts.”
- The news of a new curriculum, particularly in Music; http://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/the-arts/music/curriculum/f-10
- The “$21.6 million to make sure our teachers and schools are supported to implement the new curriculum.” Including Music as a named targeted subject.
- The professional learning program that “will develop best practice specialist curriculum programs in areas including STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), digital coding, early years literacy, critical thinking, music and financial literacy.”
- That the professional learning program in each named targeted subject, including Music, will be led by an expert teacher
- The implementation of Gonski funding.
- Regional leadership and support structures as well as Principal development programs
- The $18 million Insight Assessment Platform, The “LOOKOUT” initiative and the “NAVIGATOR” initiative
- The 8 new Technical secondary colleges – where we would hope a Music department is designed from inception.
- Community/School partnerships programs – where we believe local Musicians would be keen to get involved.
Clearly
the commitment to developing excellence in education comes through the
document. Please take the time to read
‘The Education State – Launch’ paper, and become familiar with the vision and
aspirations.
As
we move towards 2016, we see ways towards furthering
music education provisions against the recommendations from the Victorian
Inquiry into the Extent, Benefits and Potential of Music Education. As such, we continue to engage in all avenues
available to make a case for continued improvement, including writing to the
Education Minister, Mr. Merlino, with a request for a meeting.
VICTORIAN REVIEWS – sMAG Submissions
Programs for Students with Disabilities Review
The sMAG
Teacher Training Working Party submitted a substantial paper to the PSD Review
with a focus on Music Education. A substantive quote from our paper:
“Music seems to provide an outlet
for expression and communication for children
and young people with complex special needs with others in an otherwise
strange and confusing universe. Indeed, some may possess extraordinary musical
gifts and talents despite sometimes severe, profound and multiple limitations
in other domains. Other research, expert input, and
comprehensive analysis that informs the efficacy of music in special and inclusive education
includes Doidge, 2010; Levitin
and Bellugi, 1998; Levitin, 2008; Miller, 1989; Ockelford, 2007; Ockelford,
2008; Ockelford, 2012; Sacks, 2007.
The
position paper respectfully implores members of the PSD Review to carefully
ponder the evidence base to inform potential innovative solutions to the very complex and profound issues as recommendations are
conceptualised. The sMAG (Vic) committee would propose that
every child with a special need would benefit from inclusion of a Music
curriculum delivered by an expertly trained music specialist, with training in
the area of special needs students.”
Our six
final recommendations were based on the above premise, and we hope that the PSD
committee will undertake to include music education to meet the developmental
needs of these students, delivered by teachers substantially trained in both
special needs and music.
Further,
our submission recommended that a professional research occur into the
outstanding piano teaching work of Daphne Proietto.
We thank
Dr. Helen Farrell for her leadership in making this submission, drawing on her
specialized expertise in the area of Students with Disabilities and Music
Education. THANK YOU, HELEN!
The review is still open, and you are invited
to participate: Online
survey
Principals,
teachers, parents, students and all other members of the public are also
invited to participate in an online survey about key themes and
preferences. To participate in the survey, see: PSD Review online survey
The
survey closes at 5pm Friday 16 October 2015. For more information or assistance,
email: psd.review@edumail.vic.gov.au
The Education State – Early Childhood
Consultation Paper.
sMAG is currently working on an extensive response to this
process.
The consultation
paper outlines proposals as discussion starters to engage the public and
professionals in the conversation. It
identifies the need to focus on early childhood as the foundation of lifelong
well being and learning.
In the first five years
of children's lives, commitment to their health, education and well-being has
the most profound effects. “Early childhood is the best time to transform a person’s
life. This is the time when a child’s potential – their imagination, curiosity
and creative spark – is first nurtured. Effort and investment well spent during
our children’s early years repay themselves many times over – in better lives
and in fairer, more prosperous societies.”
Jenny
Mikakos MP Minister for Families and Children
The government invites
responses from professionals, parents, caregivers, academics, experts and the
broader Victorian community to develop substantial reforms, to be put into
action year by year over the coming decades.
The paper is well worth a read, and a response, as it provides
the probable direction for Early Childhood Education in general for the next
few years. Music Educators are well
aware of the benefits of using music from birth to age 5, and we outlined many
in the sMAG submission. You can log onto
the website, http://educationstate.education.vic.gov.au/early-years and engage in the online conversation in the
hope of influencing policy.
BRACKS REVIEW – SCHOOL’S FUNDING REVIEW
The Brack's Review into School
Funding has released Emerging Issues & Ideas report:
The
Instrumental Music Program gets a mention on page 19, and the
Victorian Inquiry into the Extent, Benefits and Potential of Music Education is
listed as a reference. I commend everyone that worked on that paper (amongst
other contributors), as these two mentioned items, albeit small, has assisted
in that our voice and subject receiving a mention. Good! Few
curriculum areas received a special mention, so we are on the right
track. Comment can still be made to the
Brack's review via email: schools.funding.review@edumail.vic.gov.au
FEDERAL TEMAG REPORT – AITSL ACTIONS
AITSL
have published an agenda of implementation priorities following the TEMAG
report. A dedicated website to Initial
Teacher Education (ITE) http://www.aitsl.edu.au/initial-teacher-education/ite-reform and a summary can be
found here: http://www.aitsl.edu.au/initial-teacher-education/ite-reform-an-overview.
AITSL
have also published a white paper and is inviting feedback on 3 key questions: http://www.aitsl.edu.au/initial-teacher-education/ite-reform/accreditation/ite-reform-what-is-classroom-ready
The
survey closed on September 11, 5 pm AEST.
The sMAG
Teacher Training Working Party made a concise response with the focus on
pre-service training, accreditation and employer satisfaction with a focus in music education specialization. We believe it is vital that we continue to
engage in any consultation process put forward by AITSL as the quality of
pre-service training in music directly relates to the student outcomes in the
future.
Victorian Curriculum
The
VCAA have published online: http://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/the-arts/music/curriculum/f-10 At this early stage, it
would be interesting to hear people’s views and initial thoughts on how to
apply in the classroom.
sMAG Leadership
sMAG
is currently moving through a transition and self review process. At our October, meeting we will consider our
structural format in order to best meet the needs of the community. At this point in our journey, Ian Harvey will
continue on the committee but release his role as Co-Chair. Ian’s commitments across the music sector are
far reaching, creating huge demands on his time and expertise.
I
wish to thank Ian publicly for his generous commitment to sMAG, with consistent
and continuous contributions as Co-Chair over the last 18 months to two
years. His political insights, experience
and expertise have contributed within the team, towards the strong position of music
education in the community at this point in time. Ian’s skills in networking,
relationship building and strategic intelligence have had a significant impact
on our progress.
THANK YOU,
IAN!!!
Further, I would like to publicly thank all the members of the sMAG committee. Each professional has been giving tirelessly of their time and expertise, contributing to the many and varied reviews and submissions open to us at this time. IT is a lot of work, and as such, I genuinely value and appreciate all the time and effort that is put into our collective work.
THANK YOU ONE AND ALL!
ON FACEBOOK
sMAG ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/sMAGVic?fref=ts Yet another way to network, and share your
ideas and new finds in the music education area!
sMAG is a
non partisan committee, consisting of volunteers
from all sectors of the music community, and we welcome your input. A survey is being developed to invite
people’s input, however anyone is welcome to email us at any point and make a
contribution: smag.schoolmusicactiongroup@gmail.com.
Please share our news with your
friends, and post your ideas to our Facebook page – we love hearing from the
whole community.
