This doctoral study is part of the larger project called Global visions through mobilizing networks: Co-developing intercultural music teacher education in Finland, Israel and Nepal, funded by the Academy of Finland (project no. 286162).
The aim of the Global Visions project is to develop music teacher education in Finland, Israel, and Nepal through trans-national and trans-organizational collaboration. This doctoral study involved two music teacher education programmes, one at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland and one at the Levinsky College of Education in Tel Aviv, Israel. Both of the involved programmes expressed their willingness to participate in the study.
Despite the differences between the two contexts, both music teacher education programmes are facing challenges regarding how to respond to cultural diversity in their teaching. Parts of this doctoral study have been conducted together with the members of the Global Visions project, namely Prof. Heidi Westerlund from the Sibelius Academy, Finland, Prof. Sidsel Karlsen from the Norwegian Academy of Music, and Assoc. Prof. Claudia Gluschankof from the Levinsky College of Education, Israel. The two research contexts of this study – Finland and Israel – are vastly different in terms of socio-political and cultural conditions.
These two countries provide a rich setting for this exploration. In the following, I will set the scene of the study by first briefly outlining the social conditions of Finland and Israel in terms of cultural diversity. Focusing on the particular context of this study, I then describe how teachers and music teachers are educated in both countries. Finally, I introduce the two involved music teacher education programmes and the participants of the study.
Cultural diversity in Finland and Israel
Finland has traditionally been characterized as a fairly homogeneous country in terms of cultural and ethnic diversity (Sahlberg, 2015, p. 95). However, this claim can be challenged, since historically Finland has had ethnic and linguistic minorities (the Swedish-speaking Finns, the Sámi, and the Roma being the largest
groups) as inhabitants long before the more recent global migration movements started to have an effect on Finland’s demographics. In the 1990s approximately 13,000 immigrants entered the country annually and, while migration continued to grow in the beginning of the 2000s, in recent years (2015-2017) Finland has received approximately 30,000 immigrants per year (Väestöliitto, 2019). In 2018, the number of immigrants has remained the same: According to Statistics Finland, 31,106 people moved to Finland from abroad (Official Statistics of Finland, 2018).
Thus, although the Finnish education system has had to tackle issues of cultural diversity in the past, the recent demographic changes due to migration and the growing number of asylum seekers create urgent demands for Finnish educational policy and practice in terms of how to respond to the growing cultural diversity in schools.
By contrast, Israel is a highly diverse and complex society comprised primarily of an immigrant population with many different ethnic, religious, cultural, and social backgrounds (Brand & Portowitz, 2015, p. 346). Since the establishment of the state in 1948, immigrants have arrived from all over the world (ibid.). Of the population of 9,009,000 (September 2019), 74,2% are Jewish, 21% Arabs, and 4,8% of the population identify themselves as ‘others’ (Jewish Virtual Library, 2019). While the state officially supports the coexistence of people in order to establish a more homogeneous society, the Israeli educational system is divided into four official subsystems based on religious or ethnic segregation: 1) the general state educational system for the Jewish secular population; 2) the religious state educational system for the Jewish-national religious population; 3) the Arab educational system (further divided into Arab, Druze, and Bedouin subsystems);
and 4) the independent ultra-religious educational system for the ultra-Orthodox Jewish population (Agbaria, 2018, p. 22). Segregation in education, i.e. having
“separate and independent education systems for secular and religious state schools” is a requirement set in the State Education Law in 1953 (ibid.). Due to this division, isolation and separation between the different ethnic, religious, and cultural groups remain a reality in Israeli schools and other educational institutions.
The segregated educational system creates continuous challenges for educational policy and practice in terms of cultural diversity and intercultural interaction.
The teacher education and music teacher education systems in Finland and Israel
Finnish teacher education educates primary school classroom teachers and subject teachers who can teach both in primary and secondary schools. Teachers are educated at universities. Becoming a teacher is a respected and sought-after profession in Finland, and applicants have to go through an entrance examination during which their theoretical knowledge, practical skills, and moral commitment are tested (Sahlberg, 2015, p. 103). All the teacher candidates have to complete a master’s degree through a 5-year or 5,5-year study programme. In subject-focused teacher education programmes, students major in one particular subject, such as mathematics or music. In addition to subject knowledge, the master’s degree programme includes pedagogical studies and several teaching practice periods (Sahlberg, 2012, p. 8). The resulting university diploma also provides a licence to teach, and is the only way to become a teacher in Finland (ibid.). Music is a compulsory subject in Finnish primary school (grades 1-6) and in grade 7 of lower secondary school (Westerlund & Juntunen, 2015, p. 197). In grades 1-6, music is usually taught one or two lessons per week and in grade 7 once a week (ibid.). In lower secondary school, music becomes an optional subject in grades 8 and 9 with up to four lessons per week (ibid.). In upper secondary school, there are at least two compulsory and three optional courses available for pupils (ibid.). To become a music subject teacher, one has to complete a 5 to 5,5-year integrated bachelor’s degree (120 ECTS) and master’s degree (180 ECTS) study programme in one of the music teacher education programmes that are offered at three universities:
the University of Oulu, the University of Jyväskylä, and the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki. In most Finnish schools, music is usually taught by generalist classroom teachers in grades 1-6, who often have no or very limited specialist knowledge and skills in music (Westerlund & Juntunen, 2015, p. 204).
Music subject teachers who have a master’s degree in music education continue this work in grades 7-9 and above (ibid.).
In Israel, teachers are educated in colleges of education (bachelor’s degree) and schools of education at universities (master’s degree), and the study programmes consist of disciplinary and pedagogical studies (TIMSS Encyclopedia, 2015).
With a bachelor’s degree, the teacher is granted a teaching certificate and is qualified to teach at the primary or lower secondary level (ibid.). Obtaining a master’s degree with a teaching certificate qualifies the teacher to teach at the
candidate has to complete a one-year introduction to teaching in a school (ibid.).
The universities, colleges, and study programmes within these institutions are divided according to Israel’s four official educational subsystems, as described above. In Israel, music is not a compulsory subject in school and “it is treated as just one of the arts in early childhood and primary school, has no status in middle school, and is an elective in high school” (Brand & Portowitz, 2015, p. 345). In other words, music has a substantially lower status as a school subject in Israel as in Finland. Music teacher education is offered in five main academic institutions:
Bar-Ilan University in greater Tel Aviv (B.A., M.A., and PhD degrees), the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (B.Ed.Mus. and M.Mus. degrees), the Levinsky College of Education in Tel Aviv (B.Ed. and M.Ed. degrees), the Jerusalem College for Girls (B.Ed.), and the Givat Washington Academic College in the southern area of Israel (B.Ed.Mus. and teacher certification in instrumental music education) (Brand & Portowitz, 2015, p. 360). Bachelor studies are meant to be completed in 4 years (ibid.).
Introducing the two music teacher education programmes and the participants of the study
The following description of the music teacher education programmes and the participants of the study is based on the depiction in our co-authored article (Article 1, Miettinen et al., 2018, pp. 71-72, 75). The Sibelius Academy offers a programme which combines the bachelor’s and master’s degree level in a single programme in music education that lasts five and a half years. Students can study for the degree either in Finnish or Swedish. Both are national languages in Finland. The music education programme offers studies in various musical skills:
voice, one-on-one instrument studies, instrument studies in acoustic guitar, band instruments, and various piano skills (including free accompaniment, keyboard harmony, and improvisation). Other subjects included in the studies are: arranging improvisation, music technology skills, music and movement, choir and orchestra conducting folk music, popular music, and in the course of their studies, students have to learn various musical genres and styles. Peer teaching and learning is at the core of a majority of the study courses. In many of these, teaching takes place in small groups. The pedagogical studies include the history and philosophy of the arts and music education, courses in music didactics, an introduction to theories of learning, and basic research skills. Students also undertake several field practice periods in various schools and institutions (kindergarten, primary and secondary
schools, and adult learning centres). There are typically over 200 music education students enrolled in the programme. Approximately 15 percent of the around 200 applicants are accepted annually.
The Levinsky College1belongs to the general state educational system for the Jewish secular population and, because of that, the official teaching language of the institution is Hebrew. At the time of the data generation, the Faculty of Music Education at the Levinsky College offered a range of undergraduate and graduate programmes. Its undergraduate programmes lead to a bachelor’s degree and teaching certificate in music education. In addition to a basic study programme, the college also offers three different bachelor’s degree programmes in collaboration with other institutions. These are the Ron Shulamith Conservatory for ultra-Orthodox Jewish female students; the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music; and the Safed College. Most of the students at Safed College are Israeli Palestinians who intend to teach in Arabic-speaking schools. Approximately 90%
of the music education applicants are accepted to study in the programmes.
Western art music and Hebrew singing traditions form the basis of the curriculum. Undergraduate programme curricula consist of music studies, basic studies and teaching certificate studies. Music studies include basic skills, music literature (Western art music, popular and traditional music, world music, jazz and ethnomusicology), performance skills, technology, composition, and a chosen specialist field (choir conducting, Dalcroze eurhythmics, or special needs in music education).
Both Sibelius Academy and Levinsky College offer a diverse set of musical styles and genres as part of the repertoire taught in their studies. Both programmes provide a broad range of courses in pedagogy, didactics, and field practice.
What differs is how different language groups are acknowledged in the study programmes: Both Finnish and Swedish can be chosen at the Sibelius Academy as the language of study, but Levinsky College offers teaching only in Hebrew.
However, at Levinsky College minority groups are catered to through special programmes, whereas the Sibelius Academy offers only one programme with two
1 I am grateful to Claudia Gluschankof for providing information on the current study content of the music teacher education programmes at Levinsky college.
language options. In the music education programme at the Sibelius Academy, individual studies in band instruments and ensemble playing have a significant role in the study programme. In contrast, at the Levinsky College there are only a few opportunities to study popular or folk music.
Regarding cultural diversity, the student populations at both Levinsky College and the Sibelius Academy are different. Generally speaking, the student population at the Sibelius Academy is culturally fairly uniform in terms of ethnicity, with many students sharing a similar ethnic and cultural background. In addition, most students have studied at music institutes and all of the students have gone through a comprehensive general education prior to their studies at the Sibelius Academy.
Moreover, many of the applicants who participate in the Sibelius Academy’s music-education entrance examination are already possessing a versatile range of skills in music. At the Levinsky College, the applicants who are accepted into the music education programmes vary considerably in their prior skills in music, since Israel does not have an established extra-curricular music education system as in Finland. In terms of diversity, at the Levinsky college, cultural differences (language, ethnicity, and religion) are acknowledged and accommodated in the various educational programmes. This is typical of Israeli society in general.
The music teacher educators who took part in this study were employed in the music teacher education programmes at the Sibelius Academy and Levinsky College at the time of the study. The participants represented a diverse group of music teacher educators with a wide variety of teaching subjects, such as music and movement, didactics, music history, pop, and jazz singing, Dalcroze eurhythmics, piano, band instruments and pedagogy, research studies, and arrangement and orchestration (more about the participants and the recruiting process in sections 4.1 and 4.2).
As presented above, the two different and diverse research contexts offer a particularly interesting setting for an exploration within the interculturally oriented frame of this study, which focuses on trans-national and trans-institutional collaboration and networking.