Croatia and Italy: national curricula and artistic music education in the 0-6 years system*
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Teaching (Today for) Tomorrow: Bridging the Gap between the Classroom and Reality 3rd International Scientific and Art Conference |
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University of Bologna
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Section - The importance of art education for the cognitive, social, and emotional development of children and youth |
Paper number: |
Category: Preliminary Communication |
Abstract |
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The relevance of the In this perspective, music education that focuses on culturally relevant artistic content can significantly contribute to the cognitive, social and emotional development of children, promoting the first steps towards active citizenship. This paper aims to stimulate a debate in the scientific community on the relevance of artistic music education in the construction of a vertical curriculum, aligned among European countries, as a coefficient of "quality" for education, starting from the
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Key words: |
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Introduction: the notion of “quality” of education in the ECEC systemIntroduction
TheThis notionreview is the first result of “quality”a issix-month study carried out for my Master's thesis in Music Pedagogy and Didactics, at the heartArts Department of the democraticUniversity of Bologna, and in collaboration with the Faculty of Teacher Education of the University of Zagreb. The study, carried out under the supervision of Prof. Carla Cuomo of the Arts Department of the University of Bologna, included a research period in Croatia (September-December 2023) under the supervision of Professors Tamara Jurkić Sviben and Martina Mičija Palić, belonging to the aforementioned Faculty of the University of Zagreb.
The theoretical and methodological basis of the study is the model of music education (Goaldeveloped 4 Agenda 2030). Inby the EU,research sincegroup of the 2000s,Arts Department of the regulationsUniversity of Bologna. The model aims to educate for the understanding of music in history and culture and has an orientation towards democratic education. (La Face Bianconi, 2008; La Face Bianconi, Frabboni, 2008; La Face Bianconi, Scalfaro, 2011; La Face, Bianconi, 2013; Cuomo, 2018; Cuomo, La Face, 2020; Badolato, Cuomo, 2024). Based on these epistemological assumptions, my discussion proposes a critical-comparative analysis of the Croatian and Italian educational systems in relation to music education. The perspective adopted is that of the vertical music education curriculum, starting from the integrated zero-six system – hereafter referred to by the identifier ECEC - (Early Childhood Education and CareCare) – up to tertiary education.
This comparative analysis of the two systems of school music education in Croatia and Italy is a more in-depth version of the study already carried out for my Master's thesis. The aim is to show how the two basic disciplinary fields of music education, namely educational science on the one hand and musicology on the other, are integrated into the national school curricula and consequently into the training programmes of music teachers. The study takes into account the broader European regulatory framework for the ECEC system.
Since Croatia and Italy are being discussed here, the pedagogical-didactic paradigm is not simply any model of music education, but, on the contrary, a specific model defined by its orientation. Croatia and Italy come from different historical, political and cultural – and therefore educational – traditions. Since 2013, the year of Croatia's accession to the EU (Official Journal of the European Union, 2012), these histories have developed a mutual link after Croatia's entry into the European community: "united in diversity" (Curti Gialdino, 2005, pp. 99-127), they are gradually adapting to the European Education Area (European Commission, 2020). The comparison between the two countries offers various insights into the aspects that need to be worked on in order to harmonise the different national education systems of the European Union countries.
European legislation on early childhood education (0-6 years) systemhas showmade progress (European Council, 2019), but is not yet sufficiently reflected in internal EU educational practice (Cuomo, 2023). The annual comparative report shows that the ambitious target of setting the participation rate of children in ECEC at least at 96% has been achieved by only six countries (Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Lithuania, Iceland, Sweden), although the EU average seems to have stabilised above 92.5% (European Commission, 2023a, p. 23). Both Italy and Croatia are below this rate, with 91% (European Commission, 2023c, p.7) and 77.8% respectively (European Commission, 2023b, p.9). In Italy, has declined since 2012, with less than a holisticthird approachof children participating in formal care services (ibid.). Similarly, in Croatia, although the rate has increased compared to childhood,2012 focusing on the subjective right of every childdue to equal educational opportunities, insisting on the quality of education, attaching particular importance to the development of creativity, and supporting the idea of a coherent and unitary curriculuminvestments in theinfrastructure, 0-6 system, linked to the subsequent segment of education and training.
The notion of “quality”participation in ECEC is the resultone of the lowest in the EU (ibid., p. 8). Furthermore, according to the Eurydice 2023 report, countries still face numerous discrepancies: universal access, high quality and integration of ECEC services have not yet been achieved in many European countries (European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2023). According to the 2019 Recommendation of the Council of the European Union (European Council, 2019), the indicators for assessing the high quality of ECEC systems are: accessibility, professionalisation of staff and educational guidelines.
In terms of 'inclusive' accessibility, while only seven Member States guarantee a longplace process.in Initially,ECEC for young children from 6 to 18 months, almost half of the countries do so for children from 3 years (European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2023, p. 8). Despite the fact that both Croatia and Italy are not among the countries that guarantee a place from 6 months to 3 years, Croatia makes it available from the age of 4 until the last year, which is compulsory (Eurydice, 2019, pp. 44-48). In the last year before primary school, demand is considered to be higher than supply in Italy (ibid, p. 64). In terms of 'fair' access and thus affordability, the Italian offer of free, income-based ECEC starts at the normativeage level,of 3 (although it is not accompanied by a guaranteed place and is hampered by long waiting lists with complex priority rules), while in Croatia there is no free offer for the ideawhole stage (ibid, p.59).
In terms of qualityeducational first promptedguidelines, the expansion of public pre-school provision and the improvement of staff competences (2011, EU Communication, final 66). Then the same idea gave impetus to reducing inequalities and promoting equal opportunities for all (2013, EU Recommendation, pp. 112). More recently, quality has been included among the benefits of the curriculum to be promoted throughout the ECEC system. In this latter perspective, the 2014 document Proposal for keyKey principlesPrinciples of a Quality FrameworkRramework for Early Childhood Education and Care, aincludes report of the Working Group on Early Childhood Educationcoherence and Care under the auspices of the European Commission, is very important. The document defines four criteriaunity for quality services in the 0-6 system: 1. a safecurriculum and stimulating environment; 2. encouraging and friendly staff; 3. opportunities for intensive social and language interaction; 4. appropriate experiences to support children's cognitive, physical, social and emotional development. The continuous professional developmentintegration of educatorsthis and teachers in order to acquire knowledge and competences, the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process, the definition of national guidelines and specific objectives, as well as the regular evaluation of progress, togethersegment with the involvementnext ofschool parents,segment familiesas ina generalpedagogical andmeans localto communities, and the definition of an accreditation process, are some of the central aspects in definingimprove the quality of educationalthe servicesservice, to be achieved according to high-level guidelines promoting common, history-oriented and clearly organised pedagogical objectives and content (European Commission, 2014). However, one third of European systems do not have pedagogical guidelines for children under three years of age, although this has become more widespread in therecent 0-6years system(Eurydice, since2019, 2014.p.94).
InAlthough 2015,Croatia and Italy have different organisational structures, they both have educational guidelines for the Councilentire Conclusions0-6 segment, in continuity with primary school (European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2023, p.18).
The Italian ECEC system, referred to as the 'integrated zero-six system', is organised on thetwo rolelevels, both of which are non-compulsory. The first level, for children between the ages of zero and three, is provided by 'servizi educativi per l'infanzia' (early childhood education services), which are not the responsibility of the public education authorities, but are organised by the regions according to their own legislation (Eurydice, 2019, p. 178), or by private institutions. The second, for children between the ages of three and six, is provided by the 'scuola dell'infanzia' (children's school), under the full responsibility of the current Ministry of Education and Merit, and in some cases, when the school is run by municipalities or the State, does not involve the payment of fees (ibid.). Compulsory schooling in Italy therefore begins at the age of six, with the start of the first course of study, known as 'scuola primaria'.
The Croatian ECEC system is organised in three educational courses: from six months to one year, from one to three years, and finally from three years to the start of primary educationschool, inwhich fosteringis creativity,set innovationat around the age of 7. All courses are under the responsibility of the Ministry of Science and digitalEducation literacy(Eurydice, focused2019, onp. 177). The main difference with Italy is the compulsory attendance of the one-year 'preschool programme', which is a compulsory institutional form of education for activeall citizenshipchildren aged 6-7 and theis promotionfully offunded creative and innovative competences as a basis for «personal fulfilment and development, social inclusion and active citizenship» (2015/C 172/05, paragraphs 1-4 ofby the sectionstate “With Regard to Creativity and Innovation”(ibid.).
ThisTherefore, bringsas usa tostarting point for the fourthcritical-comparative analysis of the seventeentwo goalscountries' ofeducation systems, I will consider three guiding documents to analyse how the 2030 Agenda, which was signed by the governments of the 193 UN member states in September 2015. This goal is to provide quality, equitableCroatian and inclusiveItalian curricula claim quality music education and learning opportunities for all.
Subsequently, the European Council Recommendation of 22 May 2019 also refers to the «high quality» of education and care systems insince ECEC., Onein ofline with the aspectsexpectations ofset highby qualityrecent isEuropean «thelegislation, importancewhich ofrecognises play, contact with nature, "the role of music, arts and physical activity». Finally, in 2022-2023, the European Commission, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, with its European Working Group on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), focused on quality monitoring and evaluation.
All these objectives are based on the integration of policy and pedagogy. This suggests that a quality system for children is one that provides them with opportunities for cognitive, emotional-affective, physical and social growth and well-being, not only physical but also psychological, intellectual and spiritual.
In order to provide these opportunities, it is essential to design a unitary curriculum from 0 to 6 years, as set out in the 2014 Proposal for Key Principlesactivity" for a Qualitybalanced Framework for Early Childhood Education"social-emotional and Care.cognitive Thedevelopment", design of the unitary curriculum must be based on cultural education in order to promote the sense of citizenship, which is the basis of citizenship,starting from earlythis childhood.pre-school age group (European Council, 2019).
Methods
ThisMy articleanalysis reportsproposes a comparative framework of the ECEC systems of Croatia and Italy, through a problematising approach that identifies the aspects of progress and the aspects that are less aligned with EU legislation in the field of music education. The analysis is developed on two levels: on the resultsone ofhand, athe theoretical research that links the notionstudy of “quality” of education and teaching in childhood – as studied from a critical-comparative perspective in Italian, European and international legislationlegislation, as well as the national regulatory frameworks of the two countries considered and their respective music education programmes; on the other hand, the methodology of participant observation (seeCohen, Introduction)Manion, –Morrison, 2018, pp. 253-263), which has allowed to theconsider ideamy University of Bologna and the University of Zagreb as a specific case. The study of this circumscribed example has made it possible to deepen and highlight, in a practical way, the observations and criticisms derived from the theoretical study, as well as to understand the two educational systems within their particular cultural characteristics, favouring a more holistic view.
Therefore, for the sake of illustration, I will refer to:
- the Croatian National Curriculum for Early Childhood and Preschool Education, adopted in 2014 and still valid today;
- the Pedagogical Guidelines for the Integrated Zero-Six System, published at the end of 2021 as part of the European call for a unitary curriculum for 0-6-year-olds, which complements the National Curriculum Guidelines for Preschool and First Course Education that intentionallyframe focusesthe on3-6 historical-culturalsegment of the school education from early childhood and that includes artistic music education.pathway.
The reflectionsanalysis startwill fromfirst focus on the formativesimilarities objectivesand differences between the aforementioned guidelines, highlighting their potential, and then move on to the specifics of “active citizenship” and “cultural participation”, identified by the European Union, in order to explore the notion of “culture” as a synthesis of “heritage” and “traditions”. From a pedagogical point of view, the reflection is then deepened by building a bridge between all these concepts, in the perspective of key competences for lifelong learning. Among these, the eighth key competence, cultural awareness and expression, is the main educational objective of music education in general and of art music education in particular, also in the ECEC system.
Drawing on Immanuel Kant, the reflections in this article also establish a strong link between history education and criticalteacher education. This connection is the basis for a specific model of music education that is primarily, but not exclusively, focused on art music. The article illustrates some pedagogical and didactic foundations of this model and projects it into the ECEC system, demonstrating its educational potential in the building of European citizenship and a quality school.
Results
There are Themany resultssimilarities between the principles, values and educational objectives of the reflectionstwo focuscountries. Among these, I believe it is appropriate to highlight three in particular for the purposes of music education, both in general and specifically in relation to ECEC.
1. In both countries, the integral development of children, as a balanced combination of different aspects, is the primary aim of education.
Table 1
Curricula purpose comparison
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Croatia, (Ministarstvo znanosti, obrazovanja i športa, 2011, p.8) |
Italy, (Linee pedagogiche per il sistema integrato zerosei, 2021, p.22) |
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Intellectual |
Cognitive |
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Social |
Relational and affective |
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Moral and spiritual |
Aesthetic, ethical and spiritual |
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Motor |
Bodily |
A child's harmonious development is closely linked to her or his psychophysical well-being. This is achieved through the development of identity, self-esteem, self-management, education and social well-being.
2. Integral development is pursued through the acquisition of competences. In implementing the 2006 Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on key competences, all three areasdocuments refer to the fundamental role of music education in whichrelation to the collaborationeighth key competence on 'cultural awareness and expression'. Although the wording is different, the two education systems tend to be similar:
Table 2
Curricula objectives comparison
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Croatia, (Ministarstvo znanosti, obrazovanja i športa, 2011, p.8) |
Italy, (Linee pedagogiche per il sistema integrato zerosei, 2021, p.22; Indicazioni nazionali per il curricolo della scuola dell'infanzia e del primo ciclo di istruzione, 2012, p.27) |
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Preservation and development of |
Development of several expressive and representative forms (2021 |
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Interest in music listening and artworks enjoying; explore its own music-expressive and symbolic-representative possibilities (2012) |
3. Cultural development, i.e. education in the understanding of music, is integrated with
cognitive development, and education through music is integrated with the mental habitus of intelligent thinking (Baldacci, 2012).
Table 3
Curricula objectives comparison
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Croatia, (Ministarstvo znanosti, obrazovanja i športa, 2011, p.8) |
Italy, (Linee pedagogiche per il sistema integrato zerosei, 2021, p.22) |
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Reflection and self-assessment of one's activities and achievement. |
The initiation of critical thinking, through the extension of cognitive, reflexive and metacognitive processes. |
Therefore, both the Croatian and the Italian ECEC programmes recognise a number of key points in line with the expectations of the European Unionlegislation, shouldsuch beas:
- linguistic development: based on the child's "need to communicate", it concerns not only the development of verbal language, but also the internalisation of other symbolic languages, such as music, in order to affirmdevelop artisticexpressive musicand educationcommunicative abilities, which also manifest themselves at the productive level of creativity;
- learning through experience, as a factorway of getting to know the world, and the key role of the educator in improvingguiding the overallchild along the path of exploration, discovery and experimentation in order to promote cognitive and metacognitive development and autonomy;
- the importance of music in identity, relational and social development to build a sense of belonging to a knowledge-based society;
- the role of the learning environment as a "third educator" in stimulating, encouraging and promoting the child's contact with the musical language and leading to emotional enjoyment and development.
The normative documents of both countries are consistent in recognising the important role of music in the socio-emotional and cognitive development of the child. However, they are not in line with European legislation on preschool and primary education, in particular on the quality of education and teaching, in theterms ECEC system:
-of the training of educators and teachers in music education. This is because, at tertiary level, the knowledgetwo education systems either lack adequate musicological training, i.e. appropriate historical and understandingcultural preparation in music – especially in the field of art music;
-– theor developmentare uneven in terms of historically and culturally oriented art music curricula both in schools andtraining in the trainingrequired pedagogical and didactic competences. If we consider Croatia and Italy as two possible examples of educatorseducational, school and teachersteacher attraining university level;
- the provision and design of “music ateliers” in schools, i.e. specific musical learning environments.
For reasons of space, the discussion here will have little to do with the first point, since it is an area in which a wide variety of academic curricula are at play in different European countries. Instead, it will focus on the second point and provide some insights into the third, in order to offer working hypotheses to be shared by researchers in this fieldpathways in the European Union.Union, the weakness, in short, lies in the lack of harmonisation of educator and teacher training systems with regard to the principles, values and educational goals highlighted here.
Discussion: cultural-historical education and artistic music educationDiscussion
IfHowever, wethese noble goals are tonot educatepursued forthrough activeany citizenshipmodel fromof anmusic earlyeducation. age,The asscientific, statedi.e. academic, disciplines of music pedagogy and didactics express their formative potential in the EU Council Conclusions of 2015, this is impossible without participationeducation in culture.general Butwhen whatthey doare webased understand by “culture”? And what do we mean by “cultural participation”?
The notion of “culture” encompasses both the beliefs and values ofon a community, and hence its traditions, and the cultural assets of that community, and hence its heritage – the set of material and non-material objects that bear witness to a civilisation and embody associations with certain social values, beliefs, religions and customs, and hence with the traditions of that civilisation. Education in the knowledge and understanding of the traditions and cultural heritage of a civilisation promotes and encourages participation in a culture, because it fosters a sense of identity and belonging to a group, an understanding of previous generations and their history, and the development of a sense of identity and cultural awareness. The latter, together with cultural expression, has been identified by the EU as the eighth key competence for lifelong learning (EU Council Recommendations 2016 and 2019). In order to encourage students to develop this eighth key competence, cultural-historical and critical education from an early age is essential, because:
- without historical knowledge, we cannot understand the reality in which we live and act;
- without criticism, understood since Kant as a reflective act leading to discernment and thus choice, we cannot arrive at self-determination and thus at what is good for us.
The historical-critical approach in cultural formation trains students' ability to contextualise and problematise facts, phenomena and objects, including music. It therefore leads to an increase in the intellectual qualities of students, as well as the construction of a sense of belonging to a community (La Face & Bianconi, 2014)2008; Cuomo, 2018). TheIn earlierother wewords, startboth withthe thispedagogical kindapproach of education, fromin the ECEC system, the better: we are not used to thinking that the intellect is the greatest asset of the human being,system and that we should invest in it with education from early childhood and with the transmission of knowledge in the nextsubsequent school segment.phases, Historical-criticali.e. culturalteaching, should promote awareness and understanding of music in its different forms, in the context of their history and culture. This idea of music education isin schools should be supported and consolidated both by the disciplinary contents of all musicological disciplines and by the theoretical and methodological concepts of educational sciences, and therefore by the foundationvarious educational systems.
From this point of intellectualview, the quality of musical education in early childhood directly involves, first of all, the pedagogical and didactic competences of the teachers, coordinators and educators; it also directly involves both general historical-cultural competences, and therefore historical-musical competences, and a good level of musicological and technical-musical competence, at least on the part of the teachers, as well as basic training in all these areas on the part of the coordinators and educators. In short, it is essential to have a high level of pedagogical and musicological savoir savant (Cuomo, 2023).
Countries must support quality in early childhood education by developing the musical and musicological competences of educators, and by training them in methodological-didactic innovation, as well as through continuous professional development. Therefore, among the three possible areas of intervention proposed by the Italian music pedagogical and didactic literature to improve the quality of ECEC services – the musical training of staff, the historically and culturally oriented organisation of the curriculum, and the guarantee of cultural participation. I would like to emphasise that by “intellectual formation” I mean the developmentcreation of the humanlearning being in all its multiple, interdependent dimensions: cognitive-cultural, critical-aesthetic, affective-emotional, linguistic-communicative, relational-social, identity-related and intercultural, and kinesthetic-physicalenvironment (Cuomo, 2018,2023; pp.see 65-67).Cuomo, Intellectualin formationthis shouldvolume) therefore– I will focus on the first, namely the training of teachers.
According to Article 12(3) of Law on Amendments to the Law on Preschool Education (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o predškolskom odgoju i obrazovanju) No 57 /2022, the profession of teacher for children from the age of six months to the beginning of primary school may be understoodexercised in Croatia by persons who have the following qualifications: first level university studies (preddiplomski sveučilišni studij) and first level vocational studies (preddiplomski stručni studij); second level university studies (diplomski sveučilišni studij) and specialised vocational studies (specijalistički diplomski stručni studij). In Italy, Presidential Decree No. 19/2016 stipulates that those who have completed a four-year course in Primary Education – Childhood Specialisation (Scienze della formazione primaria - indirizzo infanzia), as holistic.well as those who hold a 'Diploma magistrale', 'Diploma socio-psicopedagogico di scuola superiore' and 'Diploma linguistico sperimentale' awarded for the 2001/2002 school year, as stipulated in the Ministerial Decree of March 1997 (Official Gazette, 2008), are qualified to teach in kindergartens. Since 1999, when the Bologna Process was launched with the Sorbonne Declaration, the higher education system has been increasingly moving towards coherence in Europe through the creation of a "European Higher Education Area" and the promotion of the European higher education system worldwide. Therefore, both Croatian and Italian universities offer a three-year course in pre-school education (at the end of which 180 ECTS points are awarded). I will analyse a sample of such courses in three locations: Split, Rijeka and Zagreb; Rome, Padua and Bologna.
An examination of teacher education programmes at universities has revealed certain discrepancies with regard to the goal of integrating these two scientific-disciplinary fields and thus overcoming the age-old dichotomy between 'knowing' and 'doing'.
The artsfirst makeconsideration astems significantfrom contributionthe toterminological intellectualchoice formationfor asthe theirnames contentsof havethe atwo highfaculties: aestheticthe Faculty of Teacher Training (Učiteljski fakultet) in Croatia and epistemologicalthe value. However, these contents are not easily accessible: they require a didactic mediation that leads students to an understandingFaculty of howEducational worksSciences (Scienze dell'Educazione) in Italy. The Croatian university focuses on the training of artteachers, arein created and how their construction corresponds to precise historical and cultural values, and through this understanding,contrast to the Italian system, which focuses on the training of individuals and thus on the educational process, rather than specifically on teachers. This approach is reflected in the courses for early childhood and pre-school education. The role assigned to music seems to be irregular and divergent. On the one hand, Croatian courses provide students with both theoretical competences ("theory and history of music, acquisition of toolsbasic formusical high-levelculture", aestheticetc.) participation.
Atpractical competences ("acquisition of musical skills") in the early years; these are then followed by methodological competences of music teaching, also through practical exercises in schools, aimed at acquiring the teaching abilities to transform this knowledge into knowledge to be taught. But not only that. In the specific case study I have considered, concerning the University of Bologna, for a little over twenty years now, we have been developing a pedagogical-didactic model for music that focuses on educatingZagreb, students are required to understandattend music in its historicalclassical and culturaljazz context.concerts Theoffered starting point isby the didactics of listening, which aims to develop an understanding of what a given musical object is, i.e. how it is constructed and why it is constructed in a certain way. The didactics of listening can enable students to understand that the structure and form of a piece of music, past or present, its materials and their organisation, the functions of the piece in the society in which it was created, the places, modes and contexts of its performance, are all expressions not only of the poetics of its author, but also of the culture of that society, its values and its “taste”. By taste, I mean a philosophical-aesthetic category that must be considered in its historical context. The model developed in Bologna then branches out from the didactics of listening into the didactics of musical production (performance, composition and improvisation) and the didactics of "music history, understood as training in the research of sources. The didactics of listening to music is at the heart of the Bolognese pedagogical and didactic model, i.e. it precedes all the other practices of musical knowledge transposition, since it aims to create an awareness of musicscene" as an integral part of historythe courses on musical culture, thanks to a cooperation with the music production of the Croatian Radio and culture.Television Starting(Jurkić fromSviben, Mičija Palić, 2023). From the didacticsbeginning, these courses have a pedagogical and didactic focus, not aimed at professional-performance training, while the Italian courses do not necessarily include musical or musicological courses.
Table 4
Comparison between the curricula of degree programmes in early childhood and pre-school education
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University of |
Sapienza University of Rome - Italy
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1st semester |
2nd semester |
ECTS |
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1st semester |
2nd semester |
ECTS |
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1st year |
Basics of Music culture |
Music Practicum I |
4 |
1st year |
// |
// |
0 |
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2nd year |
Music practicum II |
Music in Early and Preschool Education I |
7 |
2nd year |
// |
// |
0 |
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3rd year |
Music in Early and Preschool Education II |
// |
5 |
3rd year |
// |
// |
0 |
Table 5
Comparison between the teachercurricula developsof degree programmes in early childhood and pre-school education
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University of Rijeka – Croatia |
University of Padua - Italy
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||||||
|
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1st semester |
2nd semester |
ECTS |
|
1st semester |
2nd semester |
ECTS |
|
1st year |
// |
Music Art |
4 |
1st year |
// |
// |
0 |
|
2nd year |
Music practicum I |
Music Teaching Methodology in Integrated curriculum I; Music practicum II |
6 |
2nd year |
// |
// |
0 |
|
3rd year |
Music Teaching Methodology in Integrated curriculum II |
// |
5 |
3rd year |
// |
// |
0 |
Table 6
Comparison between the teachingcurricula of degree programmes in early childhood and learningpre-school education
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University of |
University of Bologna - Italy
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||||||
|
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1st semester |
2nd semester |
ECTS |
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1st semester |
2nd semester |
ECTS |
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1st year |
Music culture |
Piano I / Guitar I |
4 |
1st year |
// |
// |
0 |
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2nd year |
Piano II / Guitar II
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Instrumental accompaniment while singing I |
7 |
2nd year |
// |
// |
0 |
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3rd year |
Methodology of Musical culture I; Instrumental accompaniment while singing II |
Methodology of Musical culture II
|
6 |
3rd year |
// |
// |
0 |
The two national curricula analysed are consistent in promoting cognitive, cultural and communicative development through, among other things, musical activities. These must focus on two transposition practices, the didacticsaxes of musical productionexperience, (performance, composition, improvisation)receptive and productive, in order to learn to perceive, listen, seek and discriminate sounds (i.e. active experiences) and to explore one's expressive and symbolic possibilities. In summary, the didacticsdocuments seem to address the complexity of children's development, while taking into account the complexity of the musical history,discipline.
As themrecommended in the 2006 Road Map for Arts Education, high quality music education needs to be supported by government ministries and policy makers by ensuring both «a relationshippermanent central place in the educational curriculum, funded appropriately, and staffed by teachers of continuity,appropriate thatquality is,and skill» (UNESCO, 2006, p.18). The European Union's commitment to music education, with the Declaration of 2011 (EMC, 2011), makes a number of recommendations to address the issue of quality education, among which I believe it is important to highlight:
- the employment of «high quality music education practitioners [...] at the earliest stage (already at pre-kindergarten and pre-school education)»;
- the inclusion of «pedagogical training» in anthe uninterruptedprofessional cycletraining of «all musicians entering music education» and, conversely, the inclusion of «musical training» for «all educational professionals [...] to understand the value of music»;
- «continuous professional development» and «high quality evaluation systems» (Cuomo,European 2018)Music Council, 2011, p.3).
In the ECEC system, the quality of a child's development, and therefore of her or his learning opportunities, depends directly not only on the quality of the care she or he receives, but also, and above all, on the path to knowledge of the world and of oneself that is fostered by the educational processes in which she or he is involved. It is therefore essential to promote access to, and use of, the symbolic systems of the social and cultural reality in which the child lives. These systems include musical art, which should be consciously taken into account in educational planning for the purposes of aesthetic development, musical education and cultural participation (Cuomo, 2023).
Knowledge of art music as a heritage should be considered a cultural right (Cuomo, 2024). This right should be affirmed through a specific artistic-musical education, to be introduced already in the ECEC system, preciselyshort, in order to effectively promote athe higheighth qualitykey competence on cultural awareness and expression (Official Journal of services, as advocated by the European Union.Union, From2018), this«culturally pointeducated of view, however, thereteachers are twoneeded main problems: the specific competences of the teaching staff and the establishment of an artistic-musical curriculum in early childhood. These two aspectswho are undoubtedly linked.
The training of early childhood educators and teachers in ECEC is a complex issue. In specific academic courses, future professionals should acquire historical and cultural competence in art music in order to be able to workmake withstudents childrenculturally using both compositions with notesaware, and compositionsguide withthem sounds. This distinction derives fromtowards the historyreception of music, which in the 20th century has seen composers not only grapple with the codificationworks of soundsart, inpointing differentout musicaltheir languages,aesthetic but also focus on purely sonic creative processes, including noise, even organised noise, timbral innovationcomponents and theencouraging exploration of new frontiers of sound. I will not dwell on the training of educators and teachers in the ECEC system here: as already mentioned (see Results), this is a complex issue that primarily concerns the need to harmonise the ECEC academic paths of the EU countries towards a solid artistic and cultural education of the enrolled students, with a focus on art music.
In terms of learning, in order to guarantee the cultural right to knowledge and understanding of art music, it would be necessary to include this form of music in the curricula of the pre-school and primary education systems, exploring the possibility of a unitary and integrated design between the two age groups, something on which the European Union insists. Allowing children to approach art music from an early age is the best way to encourage cultural participation, albeit in a playful and informal way, i.e. through meaningful aesthetic musical experiences. The question is not only political, but also methodological and didactic. So how to do it?
I propose the following hypothesis.
First, a very young child forms her or his knowledge of the world through concrete experience of the world itself. Musical experience, in particular, always unfolds through two aspects, reception and production: listening and playing, knowing and doing, thinking and acting.
Given that the child, in the first months of life, has limitations in the functional motor coordination of gestures aimed at sound production, it can be argued that artistic music education begins only on the receptive axis, i.e. listening, and then gradually moves on to the productive axis, i.e. performance, composition and improvisation, again following the model of music education developed by the University of Bologna and based on the circularity between listening, production and music history education.
A good starting point for children aged 0 months to 1 year is to cultivate “audiation”, the ability to think musically, according to a theoretical and procedural concept described in Edwin E. Gordon's Music Learning Theory (Gordon, 2001). In very young children, this ability is stimulated by adult singing. The adult, in establishing a relationship with the child, picks up the child's vocalisations and passes them on in a form of communication that gradually moves from sound-vocal to musical. Through improvisation, the adult transforms these vocalisations into musical patterns, which she or he returns to the child between one vocalisation and the next. In this way the very young child naturally develops the ability to hear the connections between different patterns. In this way the child is trained to listen to real musical phrases and becomes accustomed to syntax, albeit informally and unconsciously. Musically, MLT is based on pieces of tonal and modal language, in the form of art music, including jazz.
From the age of 1, always working on the receptive level, it is possible to propose educational paths that include pieces from different historical periods, in order to expose children from an early age to the great variety of languages, sounds and timbres that art music offers. From the age of 2 to 3, while continuing the listening activity, it is appropriate to complement it with a creative part. The child gradually acquires motor skills, which are the starting pointcreativity for the educator or teacher to connect listening with practical competences. From the agebenefit of 3, it is important that the moments of listeningchildren and productionyoung arepeople's increasingly integrated, in a relationship of continuity, in order to promote a complete artistic musical experience that educates the mind and the character. To make this idea clearer, I propose the outline of an educational and didactic path. I have described its methodological foundations in another article, from which I have taken the exampledevelopment» (Cuomo,Jurkić 2023).Sviben,
The first step could be an exploration of the timbres of classical musical instruments by listening to pieces composed for individual instruments. Here are four examples: the Badinerie from the Overture No. 2 in B minor for flute and orchestra by J. S. Bach (BWV 1067); W. A. Mozart's Theme with variations (twelve) in C major K. 265 for harpsichord or piano, which uses the famous children's melody, known in many languages, from the French folk song Ah! vous dirai je, maman; the Suite No. 1 for solo cello, also by J. S. Bach, and the timpani air from Les airs de trompettes, timbales et hautbois by J.- B. Lully. The four instruments – flute, piano, cello, and timpani – become the subject of reflective listening activities that link their shape and structure to timbre, then to the genre of music being listened to, and finally to the way in which sound is produced. In this way, comparisons can be made between instruments, distinguishing, for example, the sound and timbre of the piano from that of the timpani, precisely because they are both percussion instruments. A comparison can then be made between the timpani and the flute, and finally between the flute and the piano, all in order to train the children's thinking in order to grasp both the similarities and the differences, between timbres, ways of producing sound and the basicl technical aspects of performance.
It will then be possible to reflect on certain aspects of the music heard. This will be done at different levels of correspondence with the specific qualities of the piece. For example, at a general level, it will be possible to observe the “allegro” character of Bach's Badinerie and Mozart's Theme and Variations mentioned above, and to invite the children to look for differences between one allegro and the other (e.g. the first is more lively, the second more moderate), thus training their ability to discriminate. By focusing on the rhythmic-melodic movement of the cello, as mentioned above, children can be helped to understand the “swinging” character, and the “wavy” profile, of the melody of the prelude to Bach's suite. Finally, with regard to the timbre of Lully's Airs, the children will be able to develop a vocabulary appropriate to the acoustic perception of the power and impact of the timpani's sound. It does not matter that these definitions have different levels of correspondence: what matters is that they are relevant to the structural characteristics of the pieces.
Then, taking a particular piece, for example Mozart's Theme mentioned above, after listening to it, children from the age of 3 can be asked to reproduce it, first rhythmically with sticks, then also musically, for example on a xylophone, and finally to organise an instrumentation that allows them to perform rhythmically and melodically in small groups.
Between the ages of 3 and 6, attention spans increase and symbolic thinking develops. Children show greater interest in longer fairy tales, more complex stories and stories with more complicated plots. While maintaining the link between listening and making music, it is possible to work consciously with this age group on the historical axis, starting from the present in which the children live. Nevertheless, they intuitively learn the concept of time as the organising principle of their present through the cyclical and recursive nature of events.
From the age of 3, as children become more interested in fairy tales, they learn, again intuitively, the chain of events in a narrative. Thus, from this age, they begin to take an interest in the world around them, to pay attention to familiar stories, and thus to develop their first time skills. These need to be reinforced and developed so that they understand that everything around them, people or things, has a history, i.e. that every present has a past. Therefore, in order to work on the development of a historical and cultural musical awareness, the methodological line to follow is to historicise the present (Cuomo & Badolato, 2024). Starting from the music of everyday life, teachers can invite the very young to compare it with the music listened to by their parents and grandparents, and to extend the reflection to the places of music, in order to grasp the differences in types of music, their places and tastes, over time.
The time direction I propose for this methodology, from the present to the past, can also be preceded by an initially informal and intuitive approach. However, this kind of historical path, from the present to the past, can be accompanied or complemented by the reverse direction, from the past to the present, through pieces of different musical genres. For example, operas with a fairy-tale or magical setting, such as Mozart's The Magic Flute; those that evoke childhood stories, such as Rossini's Cenerentola; or more playful ones, such as Donizetti's Elisir d'amore; to Verdi's operas, such as Falstaff, based on Shakespeare's play; or Puccini's operas, for example Turandot, also with a fairy-tale setting. The musical theatre of the 20th century should not be overlooked, from Hindemith's Wir bauen eine Stadt to Nino Rota's Lo scoiattolo, to contemporary musical theatre works specifically for children, which are now often included in the programmes of concert institutions. Even instrumental music, perhaps with an evocative quality linked to children's stories, such as Schumann's Kinderszenen op. 15, or Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, or the dances from the Suite from the ballet The Nutcracker op. 71a by Tchaikovsky (March; Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy; Russian Dance; Arabian Dance; Chinese Dance; Waltz of the Flowers) are part of the repertoire that can be proposed to children at an early age.
This reflexive, selective and comparative work between the different forms of art music, the places where they are (or were) performed and that condition their production, as well as the tastes they represent, trains minds to problematise, which is the basis for the formation of critical thinking.
A final working hypothesis concerns the educational environment, the organisation of which is part of the implicit curriculum design. It is well known that the environment is the “third teacher”. In order to train quality musical listening, we would need to create real “music ateliers” in the ECEC system, i.e. places specifically designed for listening and musical production. From the point of view of listening, the studio should have acoustic, and therefore architectural, characteristics that are conducive to the best possible listening experience. From the point of view of music production, it should be equipped not only with Orff instruments, as is usually the case, or with instruments made by the children, but also with art music instruments. These could be of real size, so that professional musicians can be invited to play on them, but also of smaller size, like the classroom objects in the Montessori method: in the first case, the children get used to listening to live music; in the second, they are encouraged to touch the instruments and experiment with their physical, acoustic and tonal qualities. The music atelier should also have special library corners with audiobooks about art music composers. The children should be free to use the audiobooks and the teachers and educators should also use them consciously, in a way that complements the planned musical and didactic paths (Cuomo, 2023)p.152).
Conclusions
ThisThe articleaim proposesof athis workingcritical-comparative hypothesisanalysis usingof the general and music thateducation aimssystem of Croatia and Italy was to achieveoffer "highan quality"initial education,theoretical care,framework andto instructionreflect inon the ECECrelationship systembetween inmusic education — particularly artistic music— and the quality of education within the European Union.ECEC system. The conceptanalysis, ofaccording "quality,"to asits arguedexploratory here,character alsowhich baseddoes onnot EUclaim legislation,to requiresbe exhaustive, intended to open a focusspace notfurther onlyscholarly on "care," butdiscussion on the need for harmonisation of national education and instructiontraining that specialistssystem, in line with the sector must intentionally "design" from birth to six yearsexpectations of age.European Thislegislation meansand thinkingstrategic documents.
The comparative analysis of the ECECtwo systemnational throughcurricula, Croatian and Italian, highlights a normative convergence in recognising the curriculumimportance of music education for the cognitive, social and emotional development of children already within the ECEC system, as awell methodologicalas toolin for planning itself from birth. Furthermore, planning should be unified, from birth to six years of age — that is, organic—and should encompasspromoting the foundationseighth ofkey thecompetence, subsequentnamely segment,cultural from six years of age onward. It is hoped that specialists in the sector will agree on this point, in order to develop coherentawareness and integrated ECEC curricular guidelines across EU countries, in order to overcome the excessive disparities that currently exist between national curricula, despite European legislation. This article seeks to encourage this perspective of joint work on a organic ECEC curriculum.expression. At the same time, itthe advocatesstudy has pointed to significant differences and shortcomings in the field of teacher and educator training, particularly with regard to the integration of pedagogical-didactic competences with musicological, historical‑cultural, and technical-musical knowledge. It is precisely in this area that suchthe main structural problem emerges: a curriculumdiscrepancy includebetween aestheticdeclared educationambitious curricular objectives and the actual educational pathways through which future educators and teachers are prepared to implement them.
From this perspective, the artspaper advances a working hypothesis according to which music education, grounded in the integration of musicological and pedagogical–didactic competences, with a specific historical and cultural orientation, and that, for music, it include an emphasis on arta historical–cultural approach to artistic music for(Cuomo, the2018, reasons2023, discussedand extensively.2026 Nonetheless,in tothis enhancesame theProceedings), qualitymay represent one of the factors contributing to the improvement of quality in ECEC system,systems. thisAt curricularthe planningsame shouldtime, beartistic accompaniedmusic education – by joint work on two other fronts: artistic and musical educational planning withinaffirming the ECEC system, focusing on staff training and educational environments. University education, and therefore in-service training, should include more hoursvalue of knowledgemusic andin understanding of music, to enable educators and teachers to designits historical and cultural musiccontext curricula– thatdoes emphasizenot artrepresent music.only Ia wouldfield likeof toaesthetic pointeducation, outbut thatrather a fundamental element of the conceptchild’s holistic development and integral formation, as well as of "arteducation music"for includesdemocracy. bothIn this sense, artistic music education can be regarded as one of the tonalkey language,starting the foundation of Western culture's masterpieces, and its twentieth-century developments. These developments are highly interesting and rich in educational potential for early childhood. After the denial of tonality, they focused musical invention on creative sonic processes that generate composition with sounds and of sounds, in addition to composition with notes. This broadened the concept of "music" to include environmental sounds and noises, then to contemporary or historical soundscapes, and finally to new forms of musical thought that are more immediate for very young children compared to the syntactic-musical comprehension inherent in tonal language. Understanding how artistic musical knowledge has evolved is essential in training educators and teachers for a quality ECEC system. I hope that, in this direction, we specialists can contribute to harmonizing university curricula in the EU for this age group and to providing in-service training that maintains quality standards. Nevertheless, work must also be done on educational environments, not only from a pedagogical perspective but also from an architectural and acoustical perspective. This is the most important aspect in economic terms, since the idea put forward here would require structural fundingpoints for the ECECconstruction systemof a vertical, European-aligned curriculum that promotes cultural participation, active citizenship and European identity building from early childhood.
This hypothesis requires further theoretical elaboration as well as empirical validation through comparative studies, pilot projects, and the analysis of educational practices in thedifferent EU,European suchcontexts. as to integrate architectural design into curricular planning. This is a highly advanced concept, seemingly utopian, but in reality more concrete than one might think, provided there is a strong political will to invest in high-quality musical, theatrical, and artistic education for children. Along these two lines of work,Accordingly, this contribution aimsshould tobe encourage discussion among specialists in the field in the EU to develop actions that enable concrete change. The area on which I have focused here, however, is musical pedagogy and didactics,regarded as I have outlined a curriculumstarting approachpoint for childrenfuture agedresearch 0aimed to 6 based on two methodological principles: the circularity between listening, production, and historical musical understanding, and a historical-critical approach, centered on the continuous historicization and problematization of content, in ways certainly appropriate for very young children, as briefly exemplified here. Experiments conducted in Italy have demonstrated that this methodology, both generally and comprehensively, promotes the child's integral development in all its dimensions (cognitive-cultural, critical-aesthetic, affective‑emotional, linguistic-communicative, relational-social, identity and intercultural, kinesthetic-bodily). Specifically, it promotesat the development of key-competences,vertical fosteringcurricula thein developmentmusic of socialeducation and civicat competencesa relatedmore tosystematic citizenship,reflection ason well as those related to cultural awarenessteacher and expressioneducator and the ability to learn to learn. The pedagogical and didactic model briefly outlined here, which roots Music Pedagogy and Didactics in Musicology on the one hand and in Educational Sciences on the other, was developed over twenty years of research by the Department of Arts at the University of Bologna in collaboration with other Italian universities andeducation within the work of a specific study group within the International Musicological Society (Cuomo C., La Face G., 2020). It fully unfolds itsEuropean educational potential if educational programs are designed organically, that is, when they deal with a specific musical theme in a coherent and unitary way. Furthermore, when the pedagogical strategy adopted focuses on problematisation, which stimulates children's curiosity and need for knowledge, it promotes an attitude of research and cognitive and metacognitive reflexive thinking, also through the verbalisation of what is heard, played or composed. Artistic music education in a cultural-historical curriculum, based on a method that emphasises the link between thinking and doing, listening and making music, can become a driving force for improving the quality of education in the ECEC system, and for promoting cultural participation from an early age.area.
* This article forms a conceptual unit with the followingprevious one, CroatiaThe andquality Italy: national curricula and artistic musicof education in the ECEC (0-6 yearsyears): systemthe contribution of art music, by ValentinaCarla Fanelli,Cuomo, in this same volume. The English translation of both articles is by Dr. Elisabetta Zoni.
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