ERIC Number: EJ1366006
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1461-3808
EISSN: EISSN-1469-9893
Hidden Elitism: The Meritocratic Discourse of Free Choice in Finnish Music Education System
Väkevä, Lauri; Westerlund, Heidi; Ilmola-Sheppard, Leena
Music Education Research, v24 n4 p417-429 2022
This study presents an analysis of hidden elitism in music education through the free choice argument -- that individuals are fundamentally free to choose to study music -- as a meritocratic power structure. Qualitative Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is applied to understand music education as a social system with a special structure in which its purpose regulates its functions and makes them meaningful in a given social setting through discourse. The study shows how free choice can appear both as a democratic principle and a legitimising discursive mechanism restricting the enactment of equality. Through a case, the study then demonstrates, first, how the relationship between the meritocratic discourse of free choice and hidden elitism can be identified by using SSM in the context of Finnish music education system, and second, how professionals can bridge social systems and transgress hidden elitist structures.
Descriptors: School Choice, Music Education, Power Structure, Social Systems, Democratic Values, Equal Education, Case Studies, Correlation, Social Structure, Foreign Countries, Extracurricular Activities, Barriers, Access to Education, Music Teachers, Educational Change, Teacher Responsibility, Decision Making
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Finland
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A