Music in preservice primary education: Current developments in Australia

The issue of how and what musical skills and knowledge should be taught in primary education has been the subject of debate for many years (Jeanneret, 2006). Similarly, the preservice music education of both generalist and specialist primary teachers and the content of these courses have enjoyed periodic bursts of investigation and discussion over the last 30 years (e.g., Caylor, 1974; D'Ombrain, 1974; Hogg, 1978; Atsalis, 1987; Kinder, 1987; Brown, 1988; Saunders & Baker, 1991; Brown,1993; Russell- Bowie, 1993; Temmerman, 1993; Jeanneret, 1996; Jeanneret, 1997; DeGraffenreid, Kretchmar, Jeanneret, Morita, 2003; Jeanneret, 2006; Jeanneret et al., 2006). This issue has again come to the fore in Australia with The Stevens Report (2003), the National Review of School Music Education (DEST, 2005), The National Music Workshop Report (2006) and the Victorian Music Workshop Report (2007) all highlighting the need for the improvement of pre-service education in primary music but there is little in the way of concrete recommendations for this improvement. This paper presents the current views and practices of key stakeholders connected with these reports in order to provide a clearer perspective on what can and/or cannot happen at the university level and where improved support for the generalist primary teacher might be provided.