Curriculum, Criticality and Classroom-based Research: an Interview with Elizabeth MacGregor

Do not adjust your set: there are some sound quality issues in the first half of this episode, as were recording in three different locations over the Internet. Sorry!

This episode was recorded while we were in full-on coronavirus lockdown, and on the line linking Emma and Tom we also have Elizabeth MacGregor. Currently a doctoral student at the University of Sheffield, Elizabeth was described by Cambridge University's John Finney as 'a British philosopher of music education' in the wake of the publication of her article Justifying Music in the National Curriculum. The article is certainly a gripping read and has plenty to say to all of us in education, regardless of whether we're music specialists.

Elizabeth has also had a second article published recently: Participatory performance in the secondary music classroom and the paradox of belonging, which is a great example of practitioner research.

Over the course of this episode you can hear us enjoy a wide-ranging conversation with Elizabeth. While much of it is rooted in music and the performing arts, the themes are sufficiently broad and important that everyone should get something useful out of it, whether it's questioning how we achieve social justice in our teaching, or taking on board Elizabeth's impassioned call for teachers to engage in classroom-based research. We hope you enjoy it!

Elizabeth's articles can be found at:

Bate, E. (2020) 'Justifying music in the national curriculum: The habit concept and the question of social justice and academic rigour', British Journal of Music Education, 37(1), pp. 3-15.

MacGregor, E. H. (2020) 'Participatory performance in the secondary music classroom and the paradox of belonging', Music Education Research, 22(2), pp. 229-241.

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Recorded remotely on 18th May 2020