Articulation between specialized music education and the general system of education in portugal: current impact of the 2009 curricular change

Abstract

This article results from a document analysis component of an action research project developed at Vale do Sousa Conservatory in northern Portugal. It presents a brief perspective of the restructuring process of the specialized music education system in Portugal that started in 2009. The main purpose of this article is to identify the attempts to connect teaching music education and the mainstream education system. To that end, the authors underline the progress and setbacks of student attendance regimes in respect to the highly publicized government goal of articulating and integrating music teaching and learning during the process of educating the general population. After an exhaustive documentary survey, we call attention to approaches preceding the restructure and expose the documented impacts and positions of those who played a role in the curriculum changes in schools. Even with the period of expansion of the articulated regime of student attendance (2007-2009) and the consequent improvement in the interaction between the general and specialized subsystems of music education; and despite the guidelines to join the systems presented in decree no. 691/2009 of June 25, we still note a set back after 2010 in regards to the relationship between the two systems. The content analysis and data crossing carried out in this research project enabled us to conclude that there has been limited progress in terms of growth and the number of students involved in the interaction between educational systems. This has prevented sustainable and democratic development in ensuring access to music education and the learning of musical instruments by the entire general population.