Richness of Diversity: Music of the World and Intercultural Education

Music culture teachers’ participation in informal lifelong learning activities

“…And so, as expected, they assessed that they feel fully competent for teaching of Music Culture as a whole (M=4.60 SD=.54). Differences were observed in the self-assessment of competencies when compared to the previous research, as no activity was given the same place in this order (Šulentić Begić and Begić, 2015). The differences in these results are not surprising considering that in the previous research the subjects of analysis were mostly class teachers.…”

“…The mentioned freedom of teachers in choosing an extracurricular activity of choice can be seen in the data which show that, in a variety of extracurricular musical activities, the most common is the one related to singing, which is the choir (Vidulin-Orbanić, 2008according to Radočaj-Jerković, 2017bDubovicki, Svalina and Proleta, 2014;Vidulin, 2016). Therefore, it is not surprising that, despite the necessary improvements (Radočaj-Jerković, 2012;Radočaj-Jerković, 2017a), singing is the most common (Šulentić Begić and Tomljanović, 2014;Šulentić Begić, Begić and Pušić, 2020), most important (Šulentić Begić and Begić, 2015) and most preferred activity in Music Culture by both teachers and students (Šulentić Begić, 2006;Dobrota and Obradović, 2012;Radočaj-Jerković, 2012;Šulentić Begić and Begić, 2015;Šulentić Begić et al, 2020). At the same time, it is the activity in which teachers feel most competent.…”

“…As expected, listed activities are preferred by the teachers in the exact same order. It should be taken into consideration that the participants of the mentioned research regarding self-assessment of competencies were mostly class teachers and only a few were Music Culture teachers (Šulentić Begić and Begić, 2015). Due to the new curriculum, some activities now have different names.…”

Primary School Students’ Attitudes Towards Distance Music Learning

“…The fact that students acquire the majority of their musical knowledge and skills through the teacher's mediation because their development requires continuous feedback is another indication of the uniqueness of music teaching (Rojko, 2012). This mostly refers to developing musical literacy, but it also includes learning to sing songs, play instruments, compose music, and a variety of other musical knowledge and skills (Šulentić Begić et al, 2022). In their study, Moscardini and Rae (2020) found that a significant proportion of music teachers (62%) saw themselves as lacking the necessary competence to effectively conduct distance music learning.…”

“…Distance learning uses systems, tools and content that can support learning and teaching in a virtual environment. The Croatian Academic and Research Network (CARNET), the University Computing Centre, the Agency for Education, the Agency for Vocational and Adult Education, and the Agency for Mobility and EU Programs were all partners in the organisation of distance learning in Croatia (Šulentić Begić et al, 2022). The Action Plan for the Implementation of Distance Learning (Ministry of Science and Education, 2020a), which is a document containing a list of the most significant stages and procedures required for setting up distance learning in schools and universities, was released by the Ministry of Science and Education.…”