Ailbhe Kenny

Practice through partnership: Examining the theoretical framework and development of a “community of musical practice”

This article examines the development of a “community of musical practice” (CoMP) which emerged within a research case study in Limerick, Ireland. The case study was a music education partnership between a third level institution, a resource agency and a primary school. Using a “community of practice” (CoP) theoretical framework to underpin the study and data analysis, the research seeks to “unpack,” problematize and interpret the development of a community of musical practice, as well as the complexities that surround issues such as membership and role within partnership initiatives. The study provides a means of exploring musical practices within a socio-cultural process where learning is “situated” and “shared,” in this case within a community of musical practice. The inter-relatedness of musical and social interaction as well as favorable models of meaningful musical and “community” experience are highlighted.

Mapping the context: insights and issues from local government development of music communities.

Recent years have revealed local government to be a fundamental stakeholder in the development of arts and music communities. This article provides a context for an exploration and study of the issues, themes and dilemmas that surround local government and music communities. In particular the article provides this examination from an Irish perspective and focuses on recent research to provide insights from local government music practice. Key themes, questions and issues are raised concerning the impact of local government on the development of music communities, how arts agendas are integrated into local government, the tensions between artistic aims and political remits, as well as the ways local government is enhancing musical participation and development amongst communities.

‘In their shoes’: exploring a modified approach to peer observation of teaching in a university setting

Peer observation of teaching (POT) has become common practice in many universities. However, it could be argued that existing models often have limited scope for understanding the student experience. This study presents a modified approach to POT in which the researchers adopted the roles of (1) lecturer, (2) peer-participant and (3) peer-observer. Four lecturers in a university in Ireland were involved as participant–researchers in the study with an external observer acting as an ‘outside eye’ to the process. Findings reveal that the process provided opportunities for reflection on own and other teaching styles, strategies and contexts. In particular, lecturers noted the value of sharing the student experience more authentically or being ‘in the students’ shoes’. The study demonstrates that modification of the traditional POT model, where the lecturer adopts several roles (lecturer, peer-participant and peer-observer), creates multiple perspectives into the teaching and learning process and therefore may allow greater scope for the development of professional practice.

Beginning a journey with music education: Voices from pre-service primary teachers

ABSTRACT This study examines pre-service primary teachers’ first engagement with music education at university level in the Republic of Ireland. Data from focus group interviews and coursework present voices from the students in prolematising their learning journeys with music education. These qualitative research methods are used to investigate student values, assumptions, participation, learning and identity formation in order to illuminate how the pre-service teachers made meaning from their collaborative musical experiences within their first module involving music education. Findings reveal the importance of participation in active, creative and reflective musical experiences as a group of learners on initial teacher education programmes. Through such experiences, the study suggests that students are enabled to construct knowledge collaboratively, shape their values, build pedagogic methodologies, and inform their emerging identities with a view to influencing their approach to music education as future teachers.

The Next Level: Investigating Teaching and Learning within an Irish Traditional Music Online Community.

Online music communities offer a new context and culture for musical participation globally. This article, employing a socio-cultural theoretical lens, examines how the Online Academy of Irish Music (OAIM) functions as a teaching and learning online community for Irish traditional music. Findings from qualitative case study research present observations of practice from the OAIM website, forums, video tutorials, and Facebook posts over a 9-month period. In addition to these collective insights, findings from participant logs and interviews with the tutors offer individual insights into the online case study. Questions are posed regarding the pedagogy of e-learning, the development of a “shared practice” and the influence of roles and relationships within the community. The online medium of interaction raises important issues for the growing technological culture of music teaching and learning and the study seeks to understand this new context for musical participation.

Arts in education within Irish cultural policy: the “ins” and “outs”

“Arts in education” is an interesting domain. In Ireland, it is broadly defined as arts interventions in formal education contexts and school engagement with the arts in the public sphere (Arts Council Ireland [ACI], 2008). The very term “arts in education” as opposed to “arts education” (referring to general, mainstream or curriculum arts in schools) draws one into a potential binary between the arts and education worlds. One is “in” the space of the “other”. Issues relating to power, control, responsibility and role invariably surface. Like any meeting point, however, it also opens up significant opportunities for dialogue, creativity, imagining and, of course, tension. Thus, the “in” between space of the two worlds becomes a rich site for discussion, debate and possibility. Since the 1960s, arts in education has become a regular feature of arts and educational discourse as well as a distinct policy choice, with many cultural institutions adopting “outreach” and “educational” programming initiatives. Heavily influenced by an explosion of child-centred education perspectives, arts in education fits well within this ethos of educating “the whole child”, where artists or arts organisations engage with educational contexts. These artistic “interventions” can range from school theatre productions, to book writing, to live performance, to school murals, to song writing, to gallery visits, to everything in between. Significant benefits for children, young people, schools, teachers, communities, as well as the artists themselves have been well documented internationally and nationally (see e.g. Bamford, 2012; Colley, Eidsaa, Kenny, & Leung, 2012; Flynn & Johnston, 2016; Kenny, 2009, 2010, 2011; Kenny & Morrissey, 2016; Kind, de Cosson, Irwin, & Grauer, 2007; Minett, 2014). There is exemplary work in the field of Irish arts in education to be found through such organisations as The Ark, Fighting Words, the Association of Teachers’/Education Centres in Ireland, Poetry Ireland, The Design and Crafts Council of Ireland, The National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals and Music Generation, to name but a few. Yet, continually arts in education work is largely fragmented, short-term, under-resourced, sporadic, poorly funded and lacking in rigorous research documentation. There have been increased efforts to address these issues in recent years, however. The Arts in education charter (2013) laid down a significant marker for change in being a joint venture of the then Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (DAHG) and the Department of Education and Skills. This need for joined-up thinking, communication and collaboration between the two departments had been called for as far back as the Benson report (Benson & Ó Tuama, 1979), with the Artists ̴ Schools Guidelines (ACI, 2006) and Points of alignment