Journeys towards empowerment: Educators sharing their musical cultural identities with children

Abstract

Music is an important part of childhood. Research shows that children are innately musical and that music has many developmental benefits. However early childhood education and care settings often do not include intentional music education in their curriculum, despite a growing awareness of the potential of learning through music. The authors of this article were invited by the directors of two early childhood education and care centres to implement a music education program that would provide children with rich musical experiences while also building educators’ musical self-efficacy. Drawing on research that showed regular, ongoing interactions with mentors/ experts are most effective in facilitating meaningful professional development, the program was developed as a practitioner inquiry project, encompassing a range of interactions and strategies. This project has evolved over five years and has involved cycles of collaborative action, reflection and refinement. This article outlines the practitioner inquiry methodology used, and presents reflections on the two most recent phases of the project, during which a focus on developing the musical attunement of educators to the children’s musicality and musical identities led to them sharing their own musical cultural identities with the children. The reflections from these phases of the project provide insight into the collaborative approach adopted by the second author in her work with the early childhood educators, the impact of this approach on the musical self-efficacy of some educators, and the rich musical cultural sharing that has taken place.