Broadening student musicians’ career horizons: The importance of being and becoming a learner in higher education

Research in higher music education acknowledges a persistent divide between performance studies and the realities of musicians’ work. Alongside this is global pressure for curriculum that is more supportive of students’ metacognitive engagement, experiential learning and career preparation. Howev...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bennett, Dawn, López-Íñiguez, Guadalupe
Format: Journal Article
Published: SAGE 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/81632
_version_ 1848764393092808704
author Bennett, Dawn
López-Íñiguez, Guadalupe
author_facet Bennett, Dawn
López-Íñiguez, Guadalupe
author_sort Bennett, Dawn
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Research in higher music education acknowledges a persistent divide between performance studies and the realities of musicians’ work. Alongside this is global pressure for curriculum that is more supportive of students’ metacognitive engagement, experiential learning and career preparation. However, scholars assert that the provision of these curricular elements is insufficient unless students recognise their value and engage in them at a deep level; this is because career-long 2 employability in precarious industries such as music is underpinned by strategic, life-long and self-regulated learning. The study reported here featured a scaffolded employability intervention located within the existing curriculum and trialled with seven student musicians at a European institution. The study had three aims: to understand the students’ career-related thinking and confidence; to determine whether such an intervention might be scalable; and to gauge the intervention’s potential efficacy in helping students to become conscious of their learner identity. Results indicate that many student musicians are aware of the need to extend their essential professional capabilities but unaware of how to address these deficits. Participants realised that “learning how to learn” would help them achieve personal and professional goals. The findings suggest that similar in-curricular interventions are achievable at scale. Further, they have the potential to foster a more holistic vision of performance education and practice such that aspiring musicians might graduate as both skilled professionals and agentic learners.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T11:18:38Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-81632
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T11:18:38Z
publishDate 2020
publisher SAGE
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-816322021-02-02T07:07:01Z Broadening student musicians’ career horizons: The importance of being and becoming a learner in higher education Bennett, Dawn López-Íñiguez, Guadalupe 1302 - Curriculum and Pedagogy 1303 - Specialist Studies in Education Research in higher music education acknowledges a persistent divide between performance studies and the realities of musicians’ work. Alongside this is global pressure for curriculum that is more supportive of students’ metacognitive engagement, experiential learning and career preparation. However, scholars assert that the provision of these curricular elements is insufficient unless students recognise their value and engage in them at a deep level; this is because career-long 2 employability in precarious industries such as music is underpinned by strategic, life-long and self-regulated learning. The study reported here featured a scaffolded employability intervention located within the existing curriculum and trialled with seven student musicians at a European institution. The study had three aims: to understand the students’ career-related thinking and confidence; to determine whether such an intervention might be scalable; and to gauge the intervention’s potential efficacy in helping students to become conscious of their learner identity. Results indicate that many student musicians are aware of the need to extend their essential professional capabilities but unaware of how to address these deficits. Participants realised that “learning how to learn” would help them achieve personal and professional goals. The findings suggest that similar in-curricular interventions are achievable at scale. Further, they have the potential to foster a more holistic vision of performance education and practice such that aspiring musicians might graduate as both skilled professionals and agentic learners. 2020 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/81632 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ SAGE fulltext
spellingShingle 1302 - Curriculum and Pedagogy
1303 - Specialist Studies in Education
Bennett, Dawn
López-Íñiguez, Guadalupe
Broadening student musicians’ career horizons: The importance of being and becoming a learner in higher education
title Broadening student musicians’ career horizons: The importance of being and becoming a learner in higher education
title_full Broadening student musicians’ career horizons: The importance of being and becoming a learner in higher education
title_fullStr Broadening student musicians’ career horizons: The importance of being and becoming a learner in higher education
title_full_unstemmed Broadening student musicians’ career horizons: The importance of being and becoming a learner in higher education
title_short Broadening student musicians’ career horizons: The importance of being and becoming a learner in higher education
title_sort broadening student musicians’ career horizons: the importance of being and becoming a learner in higher education
topic 1302 - Curriculum and Pedagogy
1303 - Specialist Studies in Education
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/81632