Making Policy Work for Us: Changing the Way Music Educators Look at Policy

Contesting music education policies through the concept of reasonable accommodation: Teacher autonomy and equity enactment in Finnish music education

“…Positioned within the music education field, reasonable accommodation aligns with theoretical frameworks in which the starting point of education is dynamism, reflexivity and criticality instead of so-called methodolatry (Regelski, 2002). Regarding moral reflexivity (Westerlund, 2019) and ‘policymaking from below’ (Shieh, 2020; see also Schmidt, 2020), reasonable accommodation may serve as a conceptual tool to address moments that require pedagogical experimentation and innovation. Moreover, reasonable accommodation offers a framework for discussing what is just and fair in specific educational situations.…”

Policy Dispositions Among Music Administrators in Higher Education

“…Understanding oneself as a policymaker may empower IMTs to enact change in their local contexts (Aguilar & Kapalka Richerme, 2020; Schmidt, 2020). Kos (2010) saw a need for a similar disposition among IMTs because, “[a]s cultures and musical values represented in individual schools and American society at large have changed, music education programs have remained grounded in models designed for previous generations” (p. 98).…”

“…A small, negative relationship between urbanicity and political efficacy ( r = –.279, p < .001) reflected how some IMTs working in urban settings expressed lower levels of political agency. This political helplessness is a learned disposition, mostly due to IMTs’ general lack of policy acumen (Jones, 2009; Schmidt, 2009, 2020) which could be rectified with more attention to policy in the PMT curriculum (Aguilar & Dye, 2020; Dye and Kapalka Richerme, 2015).…”

“…Policy navigation and agency represent a genre of knowledges and skills that both preservice music teachers (PMTs) and inservice music teachers (IMTs) generally lack (Aguilar & Dye, 2020; Burton et al, 2015; Dye & Kapalka Richerme, 2015; Helton, 2021; Jones, 2009, 2017; Kos, 2010; Schmidt, 2009, 2015, 2017, 2020; Webster, 2017). While the term “policy” is inherently vague, Schmidt (2009) suggested “that the question of what policy is may be seen as both naïve and deceptively obvious” (p. 39).…”

“…Thus, music educators at all levels work within and create policy at both micro and macro levels every day (Helton, 2021), often without even realizing it (Aguilar & Kapalka Richerme, 2020). But herein lies the problem: Music educators tend to be deficient in responding to, operating in, and influencing policy—particularly at the local level (Dye & Kapalka Richerme, 2015; Schmidt, 2017, 2020; Webster, 2017). IMTs political weaknesses exacerbate structural issues like music access in schools as well as weaken advocacy efforts at state and local levels (Helton, 2021).…”