Children as collaborators in music schools : Locating student voice in professional landscapes

Abstract

Although collaboration has dominated much of the educational discourse since the beginning of the twenty-first century, collaborative work is often undertaken for central stakeholders rather than with them. Despite efforts to create socially sustainable practices, the extent to which individuals are validated as equal and empowered actors to participate in decisions that affect them appears to be hindered by strongly held institutional beliefs about the roles of different actors. Childhood scholars have pointed out that children are often considered incapable of participating in matters concerning their own lives. In music education, not even attaining the age of majority appears to grant students a greater role in educational decision-making. This chapter aims to highlight the fact that when collaboration aims at enhancing the (e)quality of music school practices, it is important to bring actors responsible for child and youth affairs together, including children and young people themselves. The discussion draws on the work of educationalist Gert Biesta and is contextualised in the framework of Finnish government-regulated music schools to examine what it would mean for music schools to approach children and young people as equals, and what implications this nonhierarchical thinking about children and the acceptance and recognition of their part in collaboration would have for music education.