New legislation in Brazilian music education: Studying the law and its implementation

Author(s):

Dwight Manning(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

29. Research on Arts Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

29 SES 06, Artists and Teachers

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-24

15:30-17:00

Room:

NM- J114

Chair:

Lara Soares

Contribution

In 2008, Brazilian legislators approved a law that added music on a mandatory basis to the

basic national school curriculum. Despite the possibilities afforded by this legislation, music

educators affirm that many questions remain due to its ambiguity. Given the 2012 deadline for

the implementation of this law, there is a need to understand how it was enacted across diverse

settings. This study considers the implementation from the perspective of music teachers. Thus,

in this interview study, we seek to understand the status of music education throughout the

country according to the perspectives of music educators from private and public schools. Such

perspectives are situated within reviews of educational history, legislation, policy, and research.

Findings point toward the need to (a) address a shortage of music teachers; (b) better define the

preparation of professional music educators; and (c) identify pedagogies which are likely to have

the greatest impact in implementing this new law.

Research Question

How are music teachers negotiating the new legislation mandating music

in the national basic school curriculum? That is, how are music educators reading the law and writing

their own pedagogical practices?

Theoretical framework

This study was inspired by the ideas of critical pedagogy and Paulo Freire, in particular. We

employed critical pedagogy as a theoretical lens as we read the words of law 11.769 within the

context of education, specifically music education in Brazil. We employed critical pedagogy

as a theoretical lens, which afforded the possibility of simultaneously reading (and analyzing)

words and worlds (Freire & Macedo, 1987). Drawing on the ideas and work of Freire (1970),

we employed critical pedagogy to understand that schooling and educational practices are politically

contested spaces.

As we problematized law 11.769 and its implementation in Brazilian schools, we embraced

Freire’s concept of problem posing (Freire, 1970). Drawing on critical pedagogy, we sought to

name and problematize issues that can hopefully move the purpose of law 11.769 toward clarity,

rather than maintaining the status quo of music being alternately included and excluded in the curriculum according to the value that shifting laws and policies may attribute to it.

Freire proposed that through the consideration of multiple realities, perspectives, and practices,

individuals could reframe education as a problem-posing process. In this study, as we critically

analyzed the implementation of law 11.769, we listened to the voices of those who have been experiencing the many realities, perspectives, and practices shaped by law 11.769 in the music classroom: music teachers who teach children ages 6 to 14. In doing so, we problematize its aims and

purposes—specifically with regard to defining quality teacher educators and the presence of music

in the curriculum (be it scope and sequence, time allocation, or dedicated resources). We read its

words within the context of the worlds that it affects. This study situates “schools within societies

and considers structural forces which influence and shape schools” (Souto-Manning, 2010, p. 10).

As critical pedagogy challenges the concept and idea of “culture-free” learning (Grant & Sleeter,

1996), we acknowledge that all learning is contextually situated.

In the international realm new legislation related to music in the basic curriculum of

other countries has been ratified in the 21st century. For example, as of 2013 the National

Curriculum in England requires children to be taught music as an integral subject at Key Stages 1,

2 and 3, i.e., school years 1–9, ages 5–14 (England, Department of Education, 2014). The Australian

Curriculum endorsed, in July 2013, The Arts (Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music, Visual Arts) for

levels F–10—Kindergarten (age 5 or 6) through year 10 (age 15–16) (Australian Curriculum,

Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2013).

Method

To answer our research question, our research design is based on qualitative methodologies (Crotty, 1998) involving critical interpretive analyses of interviews and documents. The research was conducted through individual focused interviews within the context of the existent literature in Brazilian educational legislation and policy, including official documents, and published and unpublished reference works by salient authors. Documents reflect an international scope and interviews reflect national and regional perspectives within Brazil. As we identified documents to analyze, we gathered and selected Brazilian government policy and legislation, as well as published and unpublished research articles, periodicals, and reference works in English, Portuguese,and Spanish that focused in whole, or in part, on law 11.769. Research participants are current music educators in Brazilian schools and universities, native speakers of Portuguese, and were selected due to their experiences in various regions of Brazil (employing purposeful sampling). They were recruited through personal contacts and their participation was voluntary; they received no compensation and their identities remain protected beyond the general demographics described above. During the first 8 months of 2013, we interviewed 10 participants selected from the group of 20 music educators originally invited to participate. Interviews lasted between 20 and 30 minutes. Interview data, totaling approximately 4 hours of audio recordings, were gathered via various means including face-to-face interaction (Duncan & Fiske, 1977), telephone, and Skype. Through individual focused interviews we asked research participants to describe their experiences and perceptions around (1) music in the curriculum; (2) changes (if any) related to law 11.769; (3) preparation of music educators; and (4) pedagogical impact in implementing this new law. To facilitate our analyses, we organized transcripts according to these four topics.

Expected Outcomes

Our findings are organized in two categories, which we found prevalent in our analysis of interview data: (1) how music teachers perceived the mismatch between the text of the new law and its implementation; and (2) how music teachers saw the law deprofessionalizing the field of music education. Representative excerpts were extracted from the dataset and are presented to provide insights into music teachers’ perceptions, although the excerpts do not encompass the myriad details and contexts in the dataset. The facts that music is now mandatory and guidelines for its implementation have been approved, have been interpreted by some music educators as the beginning of a process that will culminate in transforming music into an integral, established subject, such as Portuguese or mathematics. According to our findings, from the perspective of music teachers, there is no clear evidence of this process to date. Music education has not yet achieved standing as a subject that requires specific teaching preparation in music and pedagogy. This is confirmed by our study on Brazilian music teachers’ perspectives of the deprofessionalization of music education sanctioned by this new law. While the fact that the presence of music education is legally assured as represented by its own standard curriculum within the Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (National Curriculum Parameters) is indeed a landmark, at this point there is no clear evidence that law 11.769 represents significant transformation in the current status of music education in schools. The national guidelines approved in December 2013, after our interviews had concluded, signal hope for those who have long been struggling to assure a place for music in the basic education of Brazil. Yet, the universalization of music education cannot come at the expense of the music education profession.

References

Brasil, Ministério da Educação, Conselho Nacional de Educação/Câmara de Educação Superior. (2013). Diretrizes nacionais para a operacionalização do ensino de música na educação básica Retrieved from http://abemeducacaomusical.com.br/sistemas/news/imagens/Diretrizes%20do%20cne%20para%20o%20ensino%20de%20musica.pdf Brasil, Ministério da Educação, Secretaria de Educação Fundamental. (1997). Parâmetros curriculares nacionais: Introdução aos parâmetros curriculares nacionais. Retrieved from http://portal.mec.gov.br/seb/arquivos/pdf/livro06.pdf Brasil, Ministério da Educação, Secretaria de Educação Média e Tecnológica. (1998). Parâmetros curriculares nacionais—Ensino médio. Retrieved from http://portal.mec.gov.br/seb/arquivos/pdf/14_24.pdf Brasil, Presidência da República. (1996). Lei nº 9394, de 20 de dezembro de 1996. Retrieved from http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/l9394.htm Brasil, Presidência da República. (2008a). Lei nº 11.769, de 18 de agosto de 2008. Retrieved from http:// www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2007–2010/2008/Lei/L11769.htm Brasil, Presidência da República. (2008b). Mensagem nº 622, de 18 de agosto de 2008. Retrieved from http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2007–2010/2008/Msg/VEP-622–08.htm Brasil, Presidência da República. (2009). Emenda constitucional nº 59, de 11 de novembro de 2009. Retrieved from http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/constituicao/Emendas/Emc/emc59.htm Crotty, M. (1998). The foundations of social research: Meaning and perspective in the research process. St. Leonards, Australia: Allen and Unwin. Duncan, S., & Fiske, D. (1977). Face-to-face interaction: Research, methods, and theory. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Figueiredo, S. (2003). The music preparation of generalist teachers in Brazil. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Figueiredo, S., & Forrest, D. (2005). Primary teachers and music education in a Brazilian context. In D. Forrest (Ed.), A celebration of voices: XV national conference proceedings (pp. 89–93). Parkville, Victoria: Australian Society for Music Education. Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Continuum. Freire, P., & Macedo, D. (1987). Literacy: Reading the word and the world. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey. Grant, C., & Sleeter, C. (1996). After the school bell rings. Bristol, PA: Falmer. Souto-Manning, M. (2010). Freire, teaching, and learning: Culture circles across contexts. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Author Information

Dwight Manning (presenting / submitting)

Teachers College, Columbia University

Office of Teacher Education

New York

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