More than almost any other school subject, music is capable of crossing frontiers: in an artistic, educational, and also in a very real way. Using its universal language, a Teacher Education Academy for Music, TEAM for short, has been developing under the leadership of the University of Potsdam since the summer of 2023. It is one of 16 projects that the European Union is funding with 1.5 million EUR over three years as part of its Erasmus+ Teacher Academies programme. The aim is to reshape music education at schools throughout Europe, to provide forward-looking teaching materials, to strengthen teacher training, and to promote pre-service theachers’ mobility during their studies. TEAM will be a collaborative research and development network working closely with the European Association for Music in School (EAS).
Digital media, intercultural learning, and social change are among the current challenges in music instruction – as in every other school subject. Throughout the various stages of their training, the Teacher Education Academy for Music aims to prepare future teachers to master these tasks and provide them with the necessary skills. One focus of the European project is on high-quality internships at schools abroad with mentoring from a transnational perspective. A comparative overview of the education systems in schools and universities in the participating countries will be drawn up to facilitate international cooperation in the future. All results of the project will ultimately be summed up in a curricular policy paper that is intended to benefit quality assurance in music teacher training and music education in schools in European countries. “We want to create a dynamic of change,” says project coordinator Prof. Dr. Isolde Malmberg from the University of Potsdam. “This will help us foster a music education network in Europe in the long term. Close ties to the European music associations ensure that TEAM can continue to have an impact even after the end of the project,” adds the Professor of Music Education and Music Didactics, who is also a member of the EAS board.
A total of 15 partners – schools, institutions of higher and further education – from twelve European countries are working together on the project, each contributing their own specific expertise. A large number of associated partners from the twelve consortium countries and other states as well as European non-governmental organizations in the music field complete the network.
The TEAM kick-off meeting took place in Potsdam in November 2023. Workshops were held to define initial thematic priorities, identify needs, and discuss visions for the future. In particular, the focus was on music teacher professionalisation, digitalisation issues, intercultural learning, future viability, and sustainability, as well as social coherence. The next meeting of all TEAM partners will take place during the Conference of the European Association for Music in Schools from June 12 to 15, 2024, in Dublin – where interim findings will already be presented and discussed with the international community. Interested parties can obtain up-to-date information via the project website, the Instagram channel teacher.academy.music, and the project newsletter. Registration via: https://teacher-academy-music.eu/contact
Contact: Prof. Dr. Isolde Malmberg, TEAM Project Lead
Phone: +49 331 977-2134
E-Mail: isolde.malmberg@uni-potsdam.de
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In the picture: Isolde Malmberg, Professor of Music Education and Music Didactics.
Photocredit: © Tobias Hopfgarten
