In a given week I wear a few different hats. I’m a teacher, a head of department managing a large staff, a resource developer for Learning Ideas, a moderator of other teachers work for NZQA and a developer of exemplars for NZQA. Somewhere in there I also run workshops in Music Technology for other teachers.
As a result of all these ‘hats’ I feel like I am developing a pretty good picture of the state of Music Technology education in New Zealand. I see the job that teachers are doing as part of my moderation work with NZQA but I also get to supply resources to teachers to assist them with including Music Tech into their high school programmes.
On the whole I’m hugely encouraged regarding the state of the direction of Music education in NZ for the following reasons:
We have seen the number of schools offering Music Technology Unit Standards more than double over the last year – I’m particularly pleased about this as I fully subscribe to the following quote from Charles Dye (a famous mixing engineer): “I don’t see engineering (mixing) as a career anymore… it’s simply a skill set of being a musician”.It’s clear many teachers agree with this sentiment and acknowledge the importance of skills in technology as essential to the modern musician.
The quality of work submitted by teachers is on the whole of a very high standard. There are many teachers either using the technology resources from Learning Ideas or creating their own and delivering good programmes. There are a few schools out there doing a poor job but these are very much in the minority. Generally those schools that are using the technology resources from Learning Ideas are doing a great job. The info booklets, tutorial videos and assessment documents that Learning Ideas have developed are enabling teachers to deliver quality instruction in music technology.
It’s clear teachers are seeking to up skill themselves for the purpose of providing the best possible education to their students and to maintain their own passion for teaching…
Related to this last point is this fantastic graphic from Mindshift:
And this is why I love it so much that more schools and teachers are introducing courses in music technology. Generally ‘older’ teachers don’t have a background in technology and certainly haven’t received training in how to record and operate PA systems. They are largely self-taught.
While this can be daunting when starting out and require a lot of extra work, the process that a teacher goes through to be able to offer a course in technology requires them to go through all ten of the points in this picture.
And in doing this they become a better teacher across the board, not just in content and skills relating to Music Technology. And I fully believe it’s important for students to see their teachers being stretched and learning new skills themselves.
So I encourage teachers to print off this picture and stick it up somewhere prominent in their classrooms or offices. Remind yourself on a daily basis of the importance of maintaining your passion through 2016.
Happy new year.
Duncan
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