World music in the British secondary school

• Main Author: Gibbs-Singh, Cheynne
• Published: SOAS, University of London 2018
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.766655

World music has enjoyed increasing representation in the National Curriculum up to Key Stage 3. At the same time, music in higher education in the UK is becoming increasingly diverse, with degrees in popular music, world music and jazz becoming more commonplace. This, alongside the growing diversity of the population, supports arguments for introducing and maintaining a diverse music curriculum, particularly one that includes world music, throughout secondary education. The importance of world music in education has been advocated both in the UK (e.g. Wiggins (1996), Stock (1991)) and in other parts of the western world (Campbell (2007) and Fung (1995) in the USA, Drummond (2005) in New Zealand, Schippers (2012) in Holland). However, post-16 music syllabi have remained noticeably narrow in focus: the music A level continues to be dominated by the Western classical music tradition, whilst the BTEC is rooted largely in Western popular music, despite adopting a more flexible approach. Both have recently been revised, and this thesis examines the current status quo regarding diversity in the secondary music classroom, pinpointing some of the challenges and successes of delivering a multicultural music education. It focuses on seven contrasting schools in south-east England. By examining the relationships these schools have with world music, specifically within their post-16 provision, this research examines individual responses towards musical diversity as well as the themes that emerge from these across the subject. These themes include: the exclusivity of Western classical and Western popular music; whether breadth of study or depth of understanding is more valued in classrooms; how teacher attitudes towards world music influences the curriculum content as well as student attitudes; challenges in teaching and learning world music; uptake and engagement; diverse music in non-diverse areas; and the desire for more diversity in the curriculum.