Edge Hill University
How did we get here?: a life-history examination of two music education researchers and their perspectives on collaborative research.
In this presentation, Anna Mariguddi and Ian Shirley work with Dr Jo Albin-Clark to reflect on the underlying assumptions, values and life-experiences which brought them together as co-researchers in their (2024) examination of Primary Music initial teacher education (ITE). In this original study, the researchers sought to identify spaces for transgressing the apparent pedagogical ‘traditionalism’ favoured by contemporary primary music education policy texts such as the DfE Model Music curriculum (2021) and Ofsted Research Review Series: “Music,” (Ofsted, 2021). Drawing on Lucy Green’s (2002, 2008) ideas of ‘How popular musicians learn’ the intention was to examine the potential for informal learning pedagogies within the context of Primary Music Initial Teacher Education.
Drawing on Life History methodology, the researchers examine their motivation for music education research and how formative, personal and professional experiences influence both their decision to subvert pedagogical assumptions and methodological choices. The presentation will offer insights for music education researchers and for others embarking on their own collaborative research projects.