Introducing the concept of the music generalist-specialist : A response to open access 'Music in Education' trainee school teachers

[摘要] South Africa is engaged in social redress and Education at all levels reflects this commitment.The period of transition from the apartheid policy of the National Party, (1948 – 1994), to thedemocratic policy of the African National Congress and its alliances, (1994 - ), continues to be ina state of flux. Education authorities struggle to maintain a balance between widening access topreviously disadvantaged students whilst maintaining standards at the same time. Much of therecent debate on good teaching and learning practices suggests that teachers not only need tohave a firm grasp of their discipline knowledge but that they also need to perform competently inpedagogic practice. This debate recognises sociological change in knowledge-discourses, fair andtransparent assessment policy, and teacher and learner profiles, thereby creating an urgent needfor a new professional identity for teachers.Efficient and effective teaching practices require school teachers to be sensitive to innovativeand wide ranging culture-sensitive content as proposed by the Revised National CurriculumStatement (RNCS). This is a refined version of South Africa’s first national education policy,C2005, introduced to schools in 1998 and streamlined in 2000 by the Review Committee ofC2005 to produce the RNCS. Music now fits into Arts and Culture, one of eight integratedlearning areas. The Generalist-Specialist Music Educator is a new identity meant to empowerclassroom trainee-teachers in primary and secondary education who are new to the discipline ofmusic.The majority of the teacher-trainees who have elected to take the Music in Educationmodule at the University of The Witwatersrand’s School of Education are admitted underdiscretionary rules, and as a consequence they have little or no experience of formal musiceducation. The Generalist-Specialist Music Educator comes from such a background and heraim would be to fast track her way towards a music orientation that would equip her to adviseher own students who might want to learn music at school. Specifically, the Generalist-Specialistshould enhance the open relationship between learner and teacher as well as contributeeffectively to the multidisciplinary nature of today’s school curriculum.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand