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During its annual Board Retreat, the Coalition for Music Education in Canada launched a national study on the state of music education in Canada. Dr. Eric Favaro, Chair of the Board, stated, “This is a critical time in Canada when music and arts programs are once again under threat as Ministries of Education review their priorities for public education. During the past few years we have had an increased number of requests for assistance from provincial Music Educators’ Associations and from parent groups seeking advocacy materials and research reports that describe the importance of music as a necessary component of a child’s education. We knew it was time to do an in-depth review of music education in every province and territory.”
The idea of a national study was addressed at a Leadership Roundtable that the Coalition held in 2016 when representatives from like-minded organizations came together to discuss the state of music in schools and communities across the country. In a follow-up Roundtable in 2017, more organizations joined in the discussions, and as the study was launched on June 1, twenty-one organizations had made a commitment to support the project. The key partners are Canadian Music Educators’ Association, Music Canada, MusiCounts, Canadian Network for Arts and Learning, and People for Education. With such an influential group of partners, the Coalition is confident that this study will be historic in that it will address many emerging issues that are influencing the future of quality music programs in schools across the country.
Dr. Adam Con, University of Victoria, has been chosen as the principal investigator for the study, and with our research assistant, Jennifer Brown, they have already begun the process of gathering existing research that may prove to be important in the national project. Dr. Con recently completed a similar study in British Columbia, and his experience and expertise make him the ideal person for this task. “This is a massive undertaking,” said Dr. Con during the Coalition Board Retreat. “Now is the time when we as a concerned community come together to plan and mobilize individuals in every province and territory who will assist in the collection of information and data, and we will work closely with our key partners to capitalize on their keen interest in music education in Canadian schools.”
The scope of this study is to create a marker to help all the stakeholders who have a vested interest in K – 12 Music Education to better understand how the subject exists from region to region, and to provide information to support its future growth and development in Canada. It is not the focus of this study to define or assess the quality of music education delivery, but to simply describe it in order that we might support each other’s endeavours. The project will be implemented over three phases, with a projected date of August 31, 2020 for the launch of the report. The Coalition has taken the lead on this important study with Eric Favaro and Angela Elster, Vice Chair of the Coalition, managing the project. For more information please contact Dr. Eric Favaro, Chair of the Board at eric@coalitioncanada.ca.
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