Discourses on music in Swedish primary and preschool teacher education

Abstract

This study investigates prevailing discourses on music in the field of creative arts in Swedish teacher education for primary school and preschool, following the programme based on the 1999 teacher education reform. The data were collected from 19 focus group interviews with teacher educators and student teachers from ten higher education institutions that offer such teacher education programmes. Theories related to language as action and the consequences of linguistic actions were taken as central to the study. To identify and discuss the discursive formations, analytical tools inspired by discourse psychology and discourse theory were used in the analysis. The analysis demonstrated that an academic discourse focusing on theory, reflection, and textual production has pushed aside skills-based practice. A second discourse, characterized by subjectivity and relativism vis-á-vis the concept of quality, was also found in the material. Finally, a therapeutic discourse was articulated and legitimized based on the idea that student teachers should be emotionally balanced. The constructions may be regarded as strategies that legitimize the creative arts, which no longer have a clear identity in this teacher education context. The discourse on technical skills in music, which previously occupied a hegemonic position in the discursive field, has fallen apart, allowing other discourses to take root.