South Africa is engaged in social redress and Education at all levels reflects this commitment.
The period of transition from the apartheid policy of the National Party, (1948 – 1994), to the
democratic policy of the African National Congress and its alliances, (1994 - ), continues to be in
a state of flux. Education authorities struggle to maintain a balance between widening access to
previously disadvantaged students whilst maintaining standards at the same time. Much of the
recent debate on good teaching and learning practices suggests that teachers not only need to
have a firm grasp of their discipline knowledge but that they also need to perform competently in
pedagogic practice. This debate recognises sociological change in knowledge-discourses, fair and
transparent assessment policy, and teacher and learner profiles, thereby creating an urgent need
for a new professional identity for teachers.
Efficient and effective teaching practices require school teachers to be sensitive to innovative
and wide ranging culture-sensitive content as proposed by the Revised National Curriculum
Statement (RNCS). This is a refined version of South Africa’s first national education policy,
C2005, introduced to schools in 1998 and streamlined in 2000 by the Review Committee of
C2005 to produce the RNCS. Music now fits into Arts and Culture, one of eight integrated
learning areas. The Generalist-Specialist Music Educator is a new identity meant to empower
classroom trainee-teachers in primary and secondary education who are new to the discipline of
music.
The majority of the teacher-trainees who have elected to take the Music in Education
module at the University of The Witwatersrand’s School of Education are admitted under
discretionary rules, and as a consequence they have little or no experience of formal music
education. The Generalist-Specialist Music Educator comes from such a background and her
aim would be to fast track her way towards a music orientation that would equip her to advise
her own students who might want to learn music at school. Specifically, the Generalist-Specialist
should enhance the open relationship between learner and teacher as well as contribute
effectively to the multidisciplinary nature of today’s school curriculum.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/5831 |
| Date | 10 November 2008 |
| Creators | Drummond, Urvi |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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