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Abstract(s)
Although music has always been part of the Portuguese primary school curriculum, musical practice has been scarce, because classroom teachers have little training, and only few schools have music specialists. In 2006, the Ministry of Education directive for primary schools offers extracurricular activities (English, Music and Sports) besides curricular areas (Portuguese, Mathematics, Sciences, Music, Sports, Arts). Its implementation, demanding a strong collaboration among all those involved, led to considerable changes in local schools and communities. This study has investigated the implementation of the programme, and identified its main problems.
We visited primary schools and interviewed promoters of 29 municipalities in different regions, about following questions: organization of music lessons (frequency, duration, resources), profile of music teachers (qualifications, age, experience), opinions about positive and negative aspects, and further suggestions.
The results showed different practices and similar problems across schools. The main difficulties were the shortage of qualified music teachers, inflexible timetables, and little collaboration between classroom and music teachers. In municipalities that already offered music in primary schools, the programme generated instability. The most positive aspect was the overall free provision for music in primary schools. Suggestions for improvement included teachers’ training and better working conditions, and better overall organization.
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Citation
Boal-Palheiros, G. & Encarnação, M. (2008). Music education as extracurricular activity in Portuguese primary schools. Proceedings of the 22nd International Seminar on Research in Music Education, 96-104.