This is a past event
We are Not Neutral: (Popular) Music Education, Creativity, and the Creation of a Graduate Precariat
In this talk I will argue that the purpose of music education should not be to blindly and unquestioningly perpetuate the market-driven, employment-focussed, capitalist ideologies that have shaped many areas of higher education (HE). I will focus mainly on the specific area of popular music education, but many of the ideas that I will discuss are applicable to music and arts education, more broadly. The pervasive ideologies impacting our field go beyond simply impinging on the curricular content encountered by the relatively small number of students who choose to study these subjects in HE. Indeed, they foster and perpetuate ideas and behaviours which are clearly linked to many of the social, political, economic and environmental problems we face internationally. I will argue that we, as educators, are not neutral, and that we have a responsibility to consider the wider implications of our approaches to education.