This study aims to deeply understand the national curriculum practice of music teachers participating in an inquiry community. With this purpose, the study deals with the following research questions: What is the process of the national curriculum pra...
This study aims to deeply understand the national curriculum practice of music teachers participating in an inquiry community. With this purpose, the study deals with the following research questions: What is the process of the national curriculum practice in an inquiry community among music teachers? What are the characteristics of the national curriculum practice in an inquiry community among music teachers? What are the implications of the national curriculum practice in an inquiry community among music teachers?
This study utilized a qualitative case study design with five middle and high school music teachers in the inquiry community organized by the researcher. They learned the 2015 and 2022 revised (music) national curriculum together for six months, from March to August 2024(15 times in total), and implemented instruction and assessment in the classrooms at their schools, cycling between inquiry and practice. The instruction and assessment were based on the 2015 revised (music) national curriculum. The teachers shared and reflected on each other’s instruction, planning and implementing them again. In this study, a lot of data were collected through in-depth interviews, participant/non-participant observations, and field documents to explore the teachers’ inquiry experiences in the community and practice experiences in individual schools. Based on the analysis of these data, the results are derived as follows.
First, the teachers showed diverse changes in practice, such as “strategic practice” by mobilizing available resources, “compromising practice” by making intra-curricular linkage instead of inter-curricular one, “integrative practice” by connecting what is and is not in the national curriculum, “challenging practice” by doing what they cannot do well, and “reflective practice” by using their own or other teachers’ instructions as a mirror. These practice aspects of teachers were different from those before they participated in the community.
Second, there were characteristics of “collegiality”, “complexity”, and “duality” in practicing the national curriculum. The teachers were directly and indirectly involved in others’ instruction as partners and reviewers. In this process, several factors facilitated or constrained the connection between inquiry and practice, including individual factors such as philosophy of teaching, music expertise, and personal disposition; school factors such as school curriculum, music room environment, and student characteristics and levels; and out-of-school factors such as class hours and other educational policies. In addition, the quality and nature of relationships within the community acted as a catalyst for innovation and a shackle on autonomy, thus leading to continuous or temporary changes in their practice.
Third, the teachers constructed new knowledge beyond existing knowledge by moving from knowing to acting and from acting to knowing again. They positioned themselves as both researchers and practitioners, transcending the dichotomy between inquiry and practice. Moreover, the inquiry community appeared to mediate between the national curriculum and the teachers, serving as a network where they could collaborate and deliberate for improvement in their practice. Consequently, the teachers actively interpreted and enacted the national curriculum together.
The results of this study highlight several important implications. They indicate the need for further exploration to multilaterally examine music teachers’ practice process of the national curriculum. While previous research has mostly focused on the competencies of individual teachers in terms of implementation outcomes, the present study investigated various factors involved in the process, thus leading to practice differences among teachers. Specifically, some factors that have not been found in earlier studies, such as personal disposition, school curriculum, class hours, and other policies, influenced teachers’ practices. These findings emphasize the importance of exploring what is required of music teachers in implementing the national curriculum.
This study also propose that music teachers should consider collaborative inquiry in communities when implementing the national curriculum. In this study, teachers investigated existing theoretical and practical knowledge about the national curriculum from different perspectives in the inquiry community, reflecting on their own or others’ practices. This way of learning changed teachers’ thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors regarding the national curriculum. These results imply that music teachers recognize the need for critical, collaborative, and transformative inquiry in the national curriculum implementation and share their inquiry findings with other teachers within and beyond the schools.
Furthermore, the results recommend that physical foundations and instrumentals be established to facilitate music teachers’ collaborative inquiry and reflective practice. The study found that the inquiry community outside the schools was effective for music teachers who have few colleagues within the schools, showing a need to expand collaborative spaces beyond schools and emphasizing cooperation among educational institutions to support curriculum implementation. However, it is more important to link or integrate the inquiry communities with existing teacher learning rather than to create a new policy that considers teachers as the object of the policy.
In summary, this study is significant for providing an in-depth understanding of the national curriculum practice by focusing on the inquiry community as an alternative to traditional in-service teacher training. Additionally, the possibilities and limitations of the inquiry community were explored to reveal the positive and negative aspects of teacher practice. It is noteworthy that this study sheds light on the process of music teachers’ national curriculum practice based on the lens of teacher agency. Moreover, This study would offer foundational data to support the 2022 revised (music) curriculum implementation.