The study analyses PPE(1) course plans in music teacher education to examine how they reflect principles of inclusive education, treating them as expressions of formal curricular priorities. Drawing on Haug’s multidimensional model, inclusion is understood as more than physical placement; it involves horizontal dimensions—fellowship, participation, democratisation and benefit—and vertical dimensions spanning policy, institutions, teachers and pupils. Because PPE course plans occupy a formal position within this chain, they reveal how programmes articulate and prioritise inclusion. This aligns with international scholarship that describes inclusion as a broad, contested concept concerned with all students’ access, acceptance, participation, and achievement.

Norwegian educational policy has, for decades, promoted inclusive schooling for all pupils (Nes et al., 2018). This commitment is firmly embedded in the Norwegian Education Act, which establishes equity, inclusion, and adapted education as fundamental principles of the education system (The Education Act, 2023). Inclusion as an overarching principle is further specified and operationalised through the national curriculum framework. For example, in the core curriculum, which has the status of a legally binding regulation adopted pursuant to the Education Act, schools are required to develop inclusive communities in which diversity is recognised as a resource and in which all pupils are ensured equitable opportunities for learning, participation, and a sense of belonging (Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training, 2017, chapter 3.1).

The national framework plan governing Practical Pedagogical Education further requires teacher education programmes to prepare future teachers to differentiate instruction, adapt their teaching to the national curriculum, and foster inclusive and motivating learning environments in accordance with prevailing legal and curricular frameworks (Regulations on the framework plan for Practical‑Pedagogical Education, 2025).

Despite this robust legislative and curricular framework, inclusion remains a broadly formulated and weakly operationalised concept in Norwegian educational policy, and no shared understanding of how inclusive principles are to be enacted in educational practice has been established (Næss et al., 2024). Analyses of national curricula show that inclusion is most frequently associated with overarching values such as diversity, participation, and democracy, offering limited guidance for professional judgement and pedagogical enactment (Faldet et al., 2022). Research has documented a substantial gap between inclusive policy ambitions and school‑level realities, with a significant proportion of pupils with special educational needs continuing to receive education outside mainstream classroom (Nes et al., 2018; Næss et al., 2024).

Analyses of curriculum frameworks within music education indicate that macro‑level policy discourses of diversity and inclusion are predominantly articulated at a normative level, with limited structural or pedagogical specification, thereby placing significant interpretive responsibility on educators and teacher education programmes (Ellefsen & Karlsen, 2020; Borgen et al., 2026).

The formal articulation of inclusion in course plans is relevant because teacher education is expected to contribute to future teachers’ professional readiness. including the professional judgement needed to interpret diverse classroom situations. Inclusive teaching cannot be reduced to procedures or value statements but requires discretionary decision‑making. Curriculum theory further positions course plans within the formal curriculum, which signals institutional priorities even if it does not represent practice directly. Attention to the null curriculum highlights how omissions or vague formulations also shape understandings of inclusion. Finally, newer curriculum theory views course plans as narrative constructions of the future music teacher, making it necessary to analyse not only whether inclusion is mentioned but what professional story about inclusion is being told.

The research question for this study is: 

How do PPE music teacher education course plans reflect the principle of inclusive education? Document analysis.

[1] in Norwegian PPU, praktisk pedagogisk utdanning.

The study is a qualitative study with an interpretive approach. Curriculum course plans were collected from the 14 institutions offering PPE in music. The course plans for pedagogy, subject didactics (music), and teaching practicum, together with an overall study program plan, were retrieved from the websites of the institutions. The documents are analysed for alignment with the National Curriculum’s emphasis on inclusive education. The data is analysed by using a summative approach to qualitative content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). Content analysis can be defined as a method for conducting document analysis systematically and objectively, and it is used for describing the phenomenon studied (Weber, 1990; Morgan, 1993; Elo & Kyngäs, 2008; Kyngäs et al., 2011); in this study, the representations of inclusive education that are found in the documents. Summative content analysis typically starts with identifying and quantifying the occurrences of certain keywords or content in text to understand the contextual use of the words or content. This phase is referred to as manifest content analysis (Potter & Levine-Donnerstein, 1999; Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). The keywords in the analysis were informed by the research question and derived from a review of relevant literature on inclusive education and inclusive practices. The purpose of quantifying words is not to infer meaning, but to explore usage. The frequency counts are calculated, and the source is also identified. A focus on counting the frequency of specific words would entail that the analysis is quantitative, but the analysis goes beyond word counts and includes latent content analysis, referring to the interpretation of content (Holsti, 1969), and leading to an interpretation of the contextual meaning of specific terms or content (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005, p. 1283-1285). Successful use of qualitative content analysis is based on the researcher’s ability to reduce the material and form concepts from it that reliably describe the phenomenon being studied (Kyngäs et al., 2011), p.139). To demonstrate internal consistency in the analysis is to indicate that the textual evidence is consistent with the interpretation (Weber, 1990). This will improve the credibility of the study.

The literature reveals significant gaps in research on PPE music programs, particularly regarding curriculum relevance and inclusive pedagogy. The Norwegian curriculum for music highlights self-expression, enjoyment, experienced mastery and the notion of one’s voice meaning something in the community (Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2020). A recent white paper (NOU 2025: 7) emphasises music’s potential: “Music provides us with opportunities to reach our potential emotionally, bodily, and relationally, laying a foundation for meaning, relationships, interaction, and collective experiences within a community, thus playing an important role in building identities and communities” (NOU 2025: 7, p. 42). However, schools continue to reproduce inequalities (Nevøy & Bruin, 2022), despite a strong Nordic commitment to socially just education (Nevøy et al., 2014). Broader social disparities in society (Knudsen, 2021), combined with the conservative structures and homogeneous student demographics in the music teacher education programs, raise concerns about graduates’ readiness to foster inclusive learning environment in diverse classrooms (Väkevä et al., 2017; Bowman, 2007; Nysæther, Christophersen & Sætre, 2021). Realising music’s potential for all students requires teachers who are both competent and ready to teach inclusively. Given the absence of recent studies examining PPE music curriculum content, a national overview of these programs through document analysis is both timely and necessary. By examining the curricular content, the study aims to develop knowledge concerning the relevance and responsiveness of music teacher education in preparing candidates for inclusive teaching in Norwegian elementary schools. The findings will contribute to the development of music teacher education and inform future improvements in music teacher education programs to better meet the needs of inclusive and diverse classrooms.

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