Educating Children for Creativity and Democracy Through a Music and Drama Community of Practice
Abstract
The priority of promoting children’s creativity and democracy in education, which includes values such as freedom of expression, competence, respect for diversity, empathy, collaboration, dialogue and the development of critical thinking and curiosity, is strongly supported by communities of practice that foster these values and promote heuristic and sociocultural approaches to music learning and artistic expression. The research explored how children aged 5–10 years (N = 10) used musical and artistic forms for creative expression in music drama activities within a community of practice (music drama studio), and how elements of democratic education were manifested in these activities. An ethnographic case study in early childhood education and care was used to explore children’s culture, experiences and actions through interactional and participatory observation methods. The data were analysed through a written protocol of observation, transcriptions and video recordings. An inductive and deductive thematic analysis was used to better structure and interpret the data, organised into two main themes (categories): Forms of creative artistic expression and Democratic aspects of education. The conclusion emphasises that the integration of music, other arts and process drama within a community of practice, led by a skilled teacher, provides authentic learning opportunities that foster democratic artistic expression, creativity and holistic development, preparing children for active citizenship.
Downloads
References
Abril, C. R. (2006). Learning outcomes of two approaches to multicultural music education. International Journal of Music Education, 24(1), 30–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761406063103
Alshurman, M. (2015). Democratic education and administration. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 176, 861–869. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.551
Angell, C., Alexander, J., & Hunt, J. A. (2015). ‘Draw, write and tell’: A literature review and methodological development on the ‘draw and write’ research method. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 13(1), 17–28.
Antulić Majcen, S., & Drvodelić, M. (2021). Quality pedagogical practice in early childhood education institutions relating to children at risk of social exclusion. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 1(2), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.1086
Bačlija Sušić, B. (2018). Dječje glazbeno stvaralaštvo: stvaralački i autotelični aspekt. Metodički Ogledi: Časopis za Filozofiju Odgoja [Methodological Views: Journal of Philosophy of Education], 25(1), 63–83.
Bačlija Sušić, B., & Brebrić, V. (2022). Encouraging and assessing preschool children’s musical creativity. Early Years, 44(2), 328–340. https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2022.2139356
Bačlija Sušić, B., & Buerger-Petrović, N. (2023). Glazbene aktivnosti kao doprinos razvoju socio-emocionalnih kompetencija i dobrobiti djece u predškolskoj ustanovi [Musical activities as a contribution to the development of the socio-emotional competences and well-being of children in a preschool institution]. In S. Vidulin (Ed.), Glazbena pedagogija u svjetlu sadašnjih i budućih promjena 8 Glazba i dobrobit u obrazovanju i umjetnosti. Zbornik radova Osmog međunarodnog simpozija glazbenih pedagoga [Music pedagogy in the context of present and future changes 8: Music and well-being in education and the artistic setting. Proceeding of the Eighth International Symposium of Music Pedagogues] (pp. 19–35). Sveučilište Jurja Dobrile u Puli, Fakultet za odgojne i obrazovne znanosti.
Barrett, M. S. (2005). A systems view of musical creativity. In D. J. Elliott (Ed.), Praxial music education: Reflections and dialogues (pp. 177–195). Oxford University Press.
Barrett, M. S. (2016). Attending to “culture in the small”: A narrative analysis of the role of play, thought, and music in young children’s world-making. Research Studies in Music Education, 38, 41–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X15603557
Bowell, P., & Heap, B. S. (2001). Planning process drama. David Fulton Publishers.
Brashier, R. (2016). “Just keep going, stay together, and sing OUT.” Learning Byzantine music in an informal and situated community of practice. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 15(3), 67–85. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2018.3396
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Bredikyte, M., & Hakkarainen, P. (2011). Play intervention and play development. In C. Lobman, & B. O’Neill (Eds.), Play and performance (pp. 59–83). University Press of America.
Brown, V. (2017). Drama as a valuable learning medium in early childhood. Arts Education Policy Review, 118(3), 164–171. https://doi.org/10.1080/10632913.2016.1244780
Campbell, P., & Scott-Kassner, C. (2018). Music in childhood enhanced: From preschool through the elementary grades (4th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2002). Research methods in education (5th ed.). Routledge.
Crossman, J. (2021). Qualitative research writing: Surveying the vista. In J. Crossman, & S. Bordia (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research methodologies in workplace contexts (pp. 190–211). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Deligiannis, D., Tsiougou, K., Goutha, V., Moutselos, A., & Fleming, T. (2021). Citizenship education for democratic and sustainable communities. UNESCO. https://policycommons.net/artifacts/10609774/citizenship-education-for-democratic-and-sustainable-communities/11514250/
Dewey, J. (2024). Democracy and education. Columbia University Press. https://doi.org/10.7312/dewe21010-003
DICE Consortium. (2010). Making a world of a difference: A DICE resource for practitioners on educational theatre and drama. DICE Consortium.
Dunn, J. (2016). Demystifying process drama: Exploring the why, what, and how. NJ Drama Australia Journal, 40(2), 127–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/14452294.2016.1276738
El Shahed, A. M. (2017). Democratic education in kindergartens as perceived by teachers in public and private schools. International Journal of Psycho-Educational Sciences, 6(3), 117–123.
Folkestad, G. (2006). Formal and informal learning situations or practices vs formal and informal ways of learning. British Journal of Music Education, 23(2), 135–145. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265051706006887
Fusch, P. I., Fusch, G. E., & Ness, L. R. (2017). How to conduct a mini-ethnographic case study: A guide for novice researchers. The Qualitative Report, 22(3), 923–941.
Garaigordobil, M., Berrueco, L., & Celume, M. P. (2022). Developing children’s creativity and social-emotional competencies through play: Summary of twenty years of findings of the evidence-based interventions “game program”. Journal of Intelligence, 10(4), 77. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence10040077
Gee, J. P., & Green, J. L. (1998). Discourse analysis, learning, and social practice: A methodological study. Review of Research in Education, 23(1), 119–169. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X023001119
Gluschankof, C. (2018). Young children as music connoisseurs. Min-Ad: Israel Studies in Musicology, 15, 211–227.
Godinho, J. C. (2018). Drum, drama, dream and music: Listening and multimodality. Music for and by Children, 1, 96–107. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-023-00750-3
Goodfellow, R., & Lea, M. R. (2005). Supporting writing for assessment in online learning. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 30(3), 261–271. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930500063835
Graven, S. N., & Browne, J. V. (2008). Auditory development in the fetus and infant. Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews, 8(4), 187–193. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.nainr.2008.10.010
Hakkarainen, P., & Bredikyte, M. (2014). Understanding narrative as a key aspect of play. In L. Brooker, S. Edwards, & M. Blaise (Eds.), The Sage handbook of play and learning in early childhood (pp. 240–251). SAGE Publications.
Hallgren, E. (2018). Ledtrådar till estetiskt engagemang i processdrama: Samspel i roll i en fiktiv verksamhet [Clues to aesthetic engagement in process drama: Interaction in role within a fictional activity] [Doctoral dissertation, Stockholm University, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Education]. Stockholm University DiVA.
Hansen, K., Kaufmann, R., & Saifer, S. (1999). Odgoj za demokratsko društvo: Priručnik za odgojitelje i roditelje [Education for a democratic society: A handbook for educators and parents]. Mali profesor.
Harmat, L., de Manzano, Ö., & Ullén, F. (2021). Flow in music and arts. In C. Peifer, & S. Engeser (Eds.), Advances in flow research (pp. 377–391). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53468-4_14
Jordan, J. B. (2023). John Locke: The empirical educator. In B. A. Geier, & C. D. Smith (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of educational thinkers (pp. 1–14). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81037-5_51-1
Kaufman, J. C. (2012). Counting the muses: Development of the Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale (K-DOCS). Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 6(4), 298–308. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029751
King, N. (2004). Using templates in the thematic analysis of text. In C. Cassell, & G. Symon (Eds.), Essential guide to qualitative methods in organizational research (pp. 257–270). Sage.
Kochoska, J. (2015). Democratic education. International Journal of Education-Teacher, 8.
Köngäs, M., & Määttä, K. (2023). Ethnography in early childhood education and care. International Journal of Research in Education and Science (IJRES), 9(3), 787–801. https://doi.org/10.46328/ijres.3215
Kratus, J. (2017). Music listening is creative. Music Educators Journal, 103(3), 46–51.
Larsson, C., & Georgii-Hemming, E. (2019). Improvisation in general music education–A literature review. British Journal of Music Education, 36(1), 49–67.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press.
MacGlone, U. (2019). Young children’s talk about improvising: How conceptual tools and workshop roles are formed through musical improvisation workshops. In G. Gravem Johansen, K. Holdhus, C. Larsson, & U. MacGlone (Eds.), Expanding the space for improvisation pedagogy in music (pp. 115–132). Routledge.
Malloch, S., & Trevarthen, C. (2010). Communicative musicality: Exploring the basis of human companionship. Oxford University Press.
Mason, L. (2017). The significance of Dewey’s Democracy and Education for 21st century education. Education and Culture, 33(1), 41–57. https://doi.org/10.5703/educationculture.33.1.0041
Mintz, A. I. (2023). Rousseau on democratic education. In J. Drerup, J. Culp, & D. Yacek (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of democratic education (pp. 45–61). Cambridge University Press.
Ministry of Education and Research of Sweden. (2018). Curriculum for compulsory school, preschool class and school-age educare 2011 (Revised 2018). Skolverket.
Moss, P. (2011). Democracy as a first practice in early childhood education and care. In M. J. Tremblay (Ed.), Encyclopedia of early childhood development (pp. 6–7). https://www.child-encyclopedia.com/child-care-early-childhood-education-and-care/accordingexperts/democracy-first-practice-early
Neelands, J. (2009). The art of togetherness: Reflections on some essential artistic and pedagogic qualities of drama curricula. NJ, Drama Australia Journal, 33(1), 9–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/14452294.2009.12089351
Nyland, B., Acker, A., Ferris, J., & Deans, J. (2015). Musical childhoods: Explorations in the pre-school years. Routledge.
Ødemotland, S. (2020). Exploration through process drama with kindergarten children. In M. Hedegaard, & E. Eriksen Ødegaard (Eds.), Children’s exploration and cultural formation. International perspectives on early childhood education and development (Vol. 29, pp. 179–193). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36271-3_11
Ovens, A., & Lynch, S. (2019). Democratic teacher education practices. Springer.
Partti, H. (2014). Cosmopolitan musicianship under construction: Digital musicians illuminating emerging values in music education. International Journal of Music Education, 32(1), 3–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761411433727
Partti, H., & Westerlund, H. (2012). Democratic musical learning: How the participatory revolution in new media challenges the culture of music education. In A. R. Brown (Ed.), Sound musicianship: Understanding the crafts of music (pp. 280–291). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Partti, H., & Westerlund, H. (2013). Envisioning collaborative composing in music education: Learning and negotiation of meaning in operabyyou.com. British Journal of Music Education, 30(2), 207–222. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265051713000119
Pitt, A. (2020). Communities of practice: Art, play, and aesthetics in early childhood. Studies in Art Education, 61(2), 175–178.
Schneider, J. J., Crumpler, T. P., & Rogers, T. (Eds.). (2006). Process drama and multiple literacies. Heinemann.
Sikandar, A. (2015). John Dewey and his philosophy of education. Journal of Education and Educational Development, 2(2), 191–201. https://doi.org/10.22555/joeed.v2i2.446
Siljamäki, E., & Kanellopoulos, P. A. (2020). Mapping visions of improvisation pedagogy in music education research. Research Studies in Music Education, 42(1), 113–139. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X19843003
Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2020). An ethnographic approach to researching young children’s learning. In S. A. Rolfe, & I. Siraj-Blatchford (Eds.), Doing early childhood research (pp. 271–289). Routledge.
Subba, D. (2014). Democratic values and democratic approach in teaching: A perspective. American Journal of Educational Research, 2(12), 37–40. https://doi.org/10.12691/education-2-12A-6
Thorgersen, C. F. (2015). The music classroom as a local place and a public space. Swedish Journal of Music Research/Svensk Tidskrift för Musikforskning, 97, 69–84.
Tuhuteru, L. (2023). The role of citizenship education in efforts to instil democratic values. International Journal of Humanities Education and Social Sciences (IJHESS), 2(4), 1251–1263. https://doi.org/10.55227/ijhess.v2i4.361
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2020). Education for sustainable development: A roadmap. UNESCO.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2021). ESD-Net 2030: A platform for knowledge sharing, collaboration, and advocacy. https://www.unesco.org/en/sustainable-development/education/esd-net
Vangsnes, V., & Økland, N. T. G. (2017). The teacher as leader of democratic processes in the drama classroom. Applied Theatre Research, 5(3), 197–212. https://doi.org/10.1386/atr.5.3.197_1
Vangsnes, V., & Økland, N. T. G. (2018). Lærarens roller–veksling mellom ulike lærarposisjonar i didaktisk praksis [The teacher’s roles – Shifting between different teacher positions in didactic practice]. Acta Didactica Norge, 12(1), 10–22. https://doi.org/10.5617/adno.5641
Veale, A. (2005). Creative methodologies in participatory research with children. In D. Hogan, & S. Greene (Ed.), Researching children’s experience: Approaches and methods (pp. 253–272). Sage.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1977). The development of higher psychological functions. Soviet Psychology, 15(3), 60–73. https://doi.org/10.2753/RPO1061-0405150360
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman, Eds.). Harvard University Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (2004). Imagination and creativity in childhood. Journal of Russian & East European Psychology, 42(1), 7–97. https://doi.org/10.1080/10610405.2004.11059210
Wagner, B. J. (1999). Dorothy Heathcote: Drama as a learning medium. Heinemann. (Orig. work published 1976)
Washburn, K. D. (2010). The architecture of learning: Designing instruction for the learning brain. Clerestory Press.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511803932
Wenger, E. (2006). Comunità di pratica. Apprendimento, significato e identità [Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity]. Cortina Raffaello.
Zalar, K. (2020). Free verse poetry and music making. In J. Žnidaršić (Ed.), Interdisciplinary perspectives in music education (pp. 121–145). Nova Science Publishers.
Županić, B. M. (2021). Translation and validation of the Kaufman domains of creativity scale on a Croatian sample of early childhood and preschool education students. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 11(3), 163–179. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.708
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors are confirming that they are the authors of the submitted article, which will be published online in the Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal (for short: CEPS Journal) by University of Ljubljana Press (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Kardeljeva ploščad 16, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia). The Author’s/Authors’ name(s) will be evident in the article in the journal. All decisions regarding layout and distribution of the work are in the hands of the publisher.
- The Authors guarantee that the work is their own original creation and does not infringe any statutory or common-law copyright or any proprietary right of any third party. In case of claims by third parties, authors commit themselves to defend the interests of the publisher, and shall cover any potential costs.
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
