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The impact of digital technologies in education has been the subject of numerous studies. The findings have produced mixed results, highlighting the high degree of complexity involved in teaching and learning and the uniqueness of school settings. Continuous and rapid technological developments present educational communities with opportunities to solve numerous academic challenges. Current trends reveal a move towards the seamless integration of digital technologies into learning spaces to complement face-to-face teaching and learning. This study used Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis to understand an Art teacher's lived experiences as her classroom was transformed into a smart teaching and learning space using a combination of technologies to increase efficiencies in the delivery of the curriculum and address individual learning needs. The case study indicates that transforming traditional classrooms into smart learning spaces using a combination of technologies: uses time more effectively by automating the distribution of a range of educational resources; enhances teaching and learning by blurring the boundaries between physical and digital spaces; increases flexibility, mobility and creates extra opportunities for learning; frees up teaching time to address individual needs; enhances time on task and students' focus on the learning intention; and, encourages students to self-regulate their learning.

Across the globe, students begin and continue learning the piano for various reasons. For many this can be an engaging and enjoyable activity which enhances their commitment to learning. Foundational in this process, practice is an essential part of piano learning. Without the excitement of performing for others, for some practice may become uninteresting and repetitious. Ultimately, boredom may affect piano learners and obstruct their commitment and progress. In this article, we explore what motivates upper primary and secondary school piano learners to practice and how piano teachers can stimulate piano learners' intrinsic motivations. We observed 34 upper primary and secondary school piano learners' lessons in Melbourne, Australia. Subsequently, we interviewed the participants. Following thematic analysis, the findings revealed that students' engagement with practice is influenced by their emotions, and by extrinsic factors such as parental support for practice. We offer new interpretations of how to connect self-determination theory to self-regulation learning based on previous scholar's works. This article can inform music educators in motivating students' piano practice and leading students to achieve progress.

In developed countries, digital technologies are disrupting every facet of students' lives. It is no longer an option to turn off devices and disconnect from the outside world at the school gate. Educators are struggling with the number of technologies being introduced and how to safely and effectively integrate these tools in classrooms that have no boundaries. In an era where it seems that each child takes central place on the world stage; always connecting, learning, creating and sharing, it is timely to investigate the experiences of technology-rich 10-14 years old Australian students' experiences with technology in everyday life, and reflect on the persisting challenges and the new possibilities being created by the myriad choices of technological tools and their uses. The purposive selection of the participants was based on the volunteers' daily access to personal devices and frequent use of applications and various online platforms. This inductive qualitative study used concept mapping as a tool for conducting research and thematic analysis to identify and explore patterns in the data. Our findings reveal the formation of a fluid and hybrid digital rhizomatic non-hierarchical and multiplicitous network that allows students to connect, think, act, interact, access ideas and resources in ways that may assist educators in closing the gap between formal learning and informal learning whilst living in a rich technology world.

Ways of knowing in social sciences and educational research are sculpted by normative knowing of ways that are rooted in prescriptive histories of positivist and qualitative traditions. In this paper, by subscribing to what St. Pierre and Lather initiated as the "postqualitative movement", we turn from tradition to re-search research praxis and nominate "Langar" (a Sikh cultural practice of congregational cooking and consumption) as an alternative site of knowledge creation and postqualitative resistance. We approximate Langar to establish a "research commune" in which we prepare a metaphorical meal of knowledge and argue that with its salient openness, enriching philosophy and non-hierarchical texture, Langar can inform educational research and bring into its fold some intriguing philosophical and processual dimensions that originate from varied cultural contexts. This can, herald into educational research, a newness that can potentially re-negotiate boundaries, re-order research norms and interrupt hierarchies to foster creative ways of knowing.

In 1993 the Victorian Music Teachers' Association (VMTA) published a fund-raising cookbook, Prestissimo Food for Agitato Musicians. Community cookbooks provide social historians with valuable windows into the lives and personalities of the contributors. The VMTA cookbook is no exception, bringing individuals into sharp relief and including asides that delineate the life of a studio music teacher. This narrative historical research relies on primary and secondary sources that are analysed and interpreted to explore this more informal insight into past lives. The data reveal busy lives negotiating teaching schedules and competing demands, with humour and practicality. The glimpses into the lives of past studio teachers resonate with current practices in this somewhat conservative profession. In this research, we also recognise the contributions of past colleagues.

The global pandemic of 2020 has changed the ways that university academics do their work and manage their time, including teaching, engaging with graduate students, conducting research, and working with colleagues. The mode of delivery of higher education has substantially moved to the digital, and workspaces have shifted to home. Having to work from home has placed unique demands on academics, including adapting to working entirely on a screen and adjusting their work/life balance. Despite much anecdotal evidence that the well-being of academics is being adversely affected during this global pandemic, there is currently little published research about this issue. As five academics who work in an education faculty at an Australian university, we present our collaborative autoethnographic reflections of this time. We share these experiences of being academics in 2020 through curated narrative vignettes, with analysis of the meaning of these vignettes. Employing a phenomenological approach, we craft understandings of our experiences and explore the immediate world of these experiences, constituted in our practices as academics and our personal lives in this challenging time of unexpected change. We note the phenomenon of feeling unsettled, distracted, overwhelmed and lacking focus, and being conflicted between various roles.

Compared with other age groups, the literacy practices and creative outputs of older adults (50+ years) have been seldom researched. Generally, research about older adults has tended to focus on decline and agential passivity, rather than potentiality. In this article, we report on a small ethnographic study of older Australians who were part of a University of the Third Age (U3A) poetry group in Melbourne, Australia. We examine the literacy practices of the group in writing poetry, especially focusing on the triggers for poetry ideas and the beginning processes of poetry writing. The reported research centres on a session of the group conducted online in 2020. Employing ideas from David Hume, particularly his notion of the empirical basis for the development of concepts, as well as the idea of dialogism from Mikhail Bakhtin, the transcript of the focus group was analysed using themes that the participants discussed. Results suggest that the older adults in the study employed sensory images together with imagination, life memories and feeling states to create and form highly individual poetry of significance to their lives in the context of the positive rapport and dialogic engagement that developed within the poetry group.

Studio music teachers are the backbone of musical communities but their efforts are often overlooked and unsung. We explore one facet of the life of studio music teachers in Australia 1890-1920, graded music examinations conducted by two well-reputed British music education organizations: Trinity College of Music and the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. For teachers, acquiring high-level qualifications from these bodies offered teaching credentials. For students, examinations were a feature of their routine studies. Teachers could advertise their abilities via the publication of examination results. We chronicle the introduction of these examinations to Australia and their impact on the lives of studio music teachers.

Participating in large-scale musical performances as part of a secondary school ensemble can be exhilarating. Although students experience such events differently, emotional state is not uniform throughout the process. Developing musicians may put themselves under pressure to perform well and once the event is over, the feelings of anxiety and anticipation are replaced by relief, euphoria or in some cases, melancholy. These emotional reactions can impact the desire to attend subsequent rehearsals and performance projects. Three student members of a school choir reflected on their emotional state from the early part of the rehearsal process to the post-event period. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed and thematically analysed. Findings address the five phases of the performance process: early rehearsals, later rehearsals, the performance, immediately after the event, and the aftermath. Recommendations for secondary school music ensemble conductors encourage lifelong learning of adolescent ensemble musicians through understanding fluctuating emotions connected with performance.

Many students learn to play the piano but some lack the motivation to continue learning. Many students learn for extrinsic reasons. This research will explore understandings about student motivation held by expert piano teachers who have developed strategies to improve their students' intrinsic motivation to begin and continue learning. This small scale phenomenological case study examined three expert and experienced piano teachers' understandings of student engagement and motivation. The analysis generated a number of themes in relation to students' motivation in piano learning. The findings of this current study could offer a range of ideas and reflections to assist instrumental teachers build their students' intrinsic motivation in learning and foster lifelong music making.

As a primary school student in the 1960s I learnt the recorder. This paper explores how the recorder became a staple of Australian primary school music programs. At that time recorders were comparatively recently revived Renaissance musical instruments that were adopted by music educators as a way for children and their teachers to engage in instrumental music making in classes. The inclusion of recorders in school music lessons was not always as successful as hoped but a lucky few had recorder teachers who were expert musicians like my teacher. This personal history explores the arrival and presence of the recorder in school music in South Australia. Data were gathered from primary and secondary documentary sources, personal recall and an interview with my recorder teacher, Cecily Wood. This research considers a commonplace occurrence in the lives of many Australian children and by focusing on a taken-for-granted practice in school music, adds to the historical record and to our understanding of what we do and why we do it.

A single participant phenomenological study using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis can give voice to a student with vision impairment, exploring and developing our understanding of the experience of schooling. This article focuses on the school experience of a senior school student with vision impairment. Few studies have looked at school experiences from a student's perspective although the belief is that through research focussing on listening to students with disabilities, their perspectives will become part of the solution to provide equity and quality in education. This study revealed a number of themes requiring further investigation and action before equity and quality can be achieved. Subject specific classroom issues, technology and mobility were major factors impacting on the student's academic achievement. Social issues were also found to have a profound effect.

In the 1840s, massed singing classes led by charismatic pioneer music educators such as Joseph Mainzer (1801-1851) sprang up across the United Kingdom. Mainzer was a much respected composer, music journalist, and music educator. Born in Trèves (Prussia), he traveled across Europe and settled in Paris, where he was part of the revolutionary Association Polytechnique that offered free education to the working classes. His mass singing classes were a remarkable success but aroused the suspicions of authorities. Mainzer left Paris for political reasons and moved to England, and after teaching across the United Kingdom, settled in Edinburgh. His arrival in Scotland was greeted with a degree of adulation reserved for celebrities. Across Scotland classes were established to disseminate his new system that was taught in larger centers and most small towns. Although Mainzer's fixed-doh system did not long survive him and the subsequent arrival of the tonic sol-fa method in the 1850s, his work (and that of others) created an environment in which popular singing classes in schools, churches and the community could flourish. Mainzer was a skilled and charismatic educator. He advocated tirelessly for lifelong music education for all. Mainzer has been overlooked and deserves recognition.

Opportunities exist for Australian schools to benefit from the inclusion of martial arts in the Australian Curriculum Health and Physical Education and the pending inclusion of Taekwondo in the national Sporting Schools program. The greatest challenge for introducing martial arts into schools lies with instruction. This qualitative case study explores Taekwondo as part of a co-curricular sports program for Years 7-12 students at an elite private boys' school in Melbourne, gauging the benefits for learning, health, and wellbeing of students. Themes emerging from thematic data analysis: confidence, discipline, respect, and fitness resonate with prior literature. New phenomena are benefits of leadership irrespective of age and Taekwondo's positioning as a non-traditional indoor sport, inclusive of students unfamiliar with or disengaged from traditional team sports. The study suggests traditional Taekwondo can promote self-regulation in education and may usefully expand school-based offerings and repertoires in line with curriculum policy reform.

A change-of-life issue for older people is finding ways to engage meaningfully and be creative. Sustaining a sense of self-efficacy in one's abilities to be productive is vital for wellbeing. Our research explored the perceived self-efficacy developed in an Australian University of the Third Age poetry class. We gathered data from one class session through observation, a focus group and paired interviews. Transcribed data identified participants' voices, and common themes were noted. We use Bandura's idea of perceived self-efficacy, through examining mastery experiences, modelling, social persuasion and a positive learning climate to understand the data. These sources of self-efficacy were pivotal for participants' positive self-efficacy. We offer this example of how older people can achieve mastery in a new field of creative endeavour at a time in their life-course often positioned as diminishing. In doing so, we challenge conventional understandings of ageing.

The Australian Government (AG) employs Indigenous Engagement Officers (IEO) in many of the remote Aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory (NT). IEOs are respected community members who apply their deep understanding of local tradition, language and politics in providing expert cultural advice to government. Competing priorities of workplace and cultural obligation make the IEO role stressful and dichotomous in nature. The workplace experiences and perceptions of IEOs remain largely unexplored and there is scant understanding of the significant crosscultural issues associated with the role. IEOs typically confront ongoing workplace stress and are unable to perform at full capacity. This qualitative study explores participant meaning regarding workplace and community roles to inform the AG in development of culturally appropriate training and support for IEOs. The study captures detailed information from six IEOs through an interpretive process sensitive to phenomenological experience. Personal meanings associated with the workplace are assembled through individual interviews and focus group sessions. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology is applied to the resulting idiographic dataset in exposing a range of superordinate themes including desire for recognition and feelings of abandonment. Findings reveal the need to incorporate correct cultural protocols in the workplace and give preference for Aboriginal learning styles in professional development activities. There is urgent need for a range of workplace supports for IEOs in future capacity-building strategies.

This article is a study of a bilingual and bicultural Pontian Greek Australian dancer. His musicking involves performing and teaching dancing. Dancing has been and continues to be a major part of the self-identity of the participant. This phenomenological single case study used interpretative phenomenological analysis to analyse the data collected by interview. The findings are presented thematically and address the formation of identity and its enactment via performing and teaching. Many people carry multiple identities and an understanding of one may inform the provision of opportunities for learning and teaching.

There is a universality to the sight of groups of children celebrating public events. These groups might be large or small but teachers and students put much time and effort into preparing performances for appreciative audiences. These events occur across cultures and countries, are commonplace and expected but also highly memorable to participants and spectators. Sometimes such events gain greater historical significance due to time, place and context. One such example occurred in the years preceding World War 2 in the small but staunchly patriotic State of South Australia. In 1936 13,000 school children gathered in Adelaide to perform a Pageant of Empire as part of the State centenary celebrations. Despite there being rumblings across the globe about the viability of the British Empire or its successor, the Commonwealth, Adelaide was overwhelmed by the spectacle. Miss Inspector Adelaide Meithke brought the production to fruition. The pageant presented choreographed musical displays representing England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. The Empire was represented by Indian rajahs, dancing girls, guards, and an elephant, followed by Canadian scenes, then Australian iconic images. The event concluded with the "Family of Nations." This article includes participant recollections and is framed by contemporary discussions of the place and role of the Empire. This South Australian celebration can be understood as a looking back to what had been, using visual icons, music, dance and a cast of thousands. [A bibliography is included.]

Globally countries are faced with an aging population and Australia is no different. This creates challenges for the maintenance of well-being which can be enhanced by active engagement in society. There is extensive research that confirms that engagement in music by older people is positively related to individual and community well-being. Music engagement encompasses a range of social participation and has the potential to recognise the contribution of older people to their local communities. Music participation can contribute to a better quality of life, particularly in relation to health and happiness. There are many possible forms of music engagement. This study is part of an on-going Deakin University and Monash University research project, "Well-being and ageing: community, diversity and the arts in Victoria." This article focuses on three members of a mixed voluntary singing group formed by older residents of an outer suburban community in Melbourne, Australia. This group, The Skylarkers, were established in 1999 as a four-part choir. Over the years the nature of the choir has changed under subsequent music directors. Since 2009 the group has focused on music theatre repertoire and performance style. Membership of the group is fluid reflecting changing life circumstances of the members but the ensemble is resilient. This small amateur music theatre group is based in suburban Melbourne, rehearses weekly and performs regularly at retirement villages, nursing homes and facilities for senior citizens. This article presents a phenomenological qualitative single case study of members of the Skylarkers. In this study, interview data were gathered in 2011-2012 and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Two significant themes emerged that concern musical self-identity and gaining a sense of purpose and fulfilment. The Skylarkers are more than a choir; they are an amateur entertainment troupe that engages with each other and the wider community. This resilient group holds true to the motto "the show must go on".

In Australia and across the globe music participation by older people active in the community has the potential to enhance quality of life. A recent review of the literature found clear evidence of numerous benefits from participation in active music making that encompass the social, physical and psychological. This article reports on five phenomenological case studies of community singing groups comprised of older people active in the community in Melbourne, Victoria. These studies are part of a research project, "Well-being and Ageing: Community, Diversity and the Arts in Victoria" that began in 2008. Interview data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis and are reported under three overarching themes: Social connection, A sense of well-being, and Musical engagement. For older people in these studies singing in community choirs offered opportunities for social cohesion, positive ageing, and music learning that provided a sense of personal and group fulfilment, community engagement and resilience.

There is continuing uncertainty about the nature of teacher professional learning using social networking websites (SNWs) and how using these platforms influences teacher practice. Findings from the authors' small-scale, qualitative study in Australia into English teacher use of one global SNW for professional learning showed participant innovative and organic engagement with this social media for self-directed, personally relevant, practice-informing learning. Thematic data analysis revealed detail about teachers using the SNW's features and spaces for curating eclectic content gathered through personal and professional interactions. Engaging with varied colleagues, ideas and resources, participants developed individually specific ways of capturing transient learning opportunities for informing practice and reconceptualising understandings of professional learning and teacher roles. Emergent knowledge about teachers accessing, transforming and applying reconstructed knowledge to practice enabled generation of a model representing teacher knowledge transfer using one SNW. The study findings suggest cause for recognising the potential for using this SNW in effective teacher professional learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This critical autoethnographic article with academic friends explores the complex territory of disability from a strengths-based, inclusive perspective. The article centres on the experiences of a mother and educator (the lead author), who continues to navigate the disability landscape, which is encumbered with deficit views. The curated narratives (or vignettes) presented hereafter, focus on specific educational experiences and challenges related to perceptions of disability and "othering" that threaten to exclude. Each narrative reveals the lead author's direct experiences of alienation and her need to develop a strong sense of fierceness to protect and secure the right to an equitable, inclusive education for her "othered" child. The authors analyse each story using emic and etic perspectives utilising ideas drawn from Lévinas' notion of alterity and his ethics of encounter, as well as critical discourse analysis to bring attention to the deficit language. Collectively, the narratives and the analyses aim to bring critical awareness to the lived experiences of this mother and educator and identify the deficit mindsets that affected her so profoundly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this collaborative autoethnography, I (Rose) discuss my personal experience with cultural transmission as cultural conformity. As a cultural hybrid and a daughter of a southern Italian proxy bride I share my narratives with a daughter of a Greek proxy bride (Maria). We find confluences in our experiences and understandings that suggest we are Daughters of the Diaspora. We may not be unique. Using a shared autoethnographical approach between ourselves and a collaborator (Jane), we construct and critique vignettes that capture and interrogate our understandings. This study offers a potential model for further inquiry by women who are daughters of migrant parents and who may have had similar experiences of the impositions of cultural conformity. This study is situated in Australia, but as global citizens, it behoves us in terms of social inclusion and social equity to recognise who our people are, the different way which people came to new countries and how that impacts the generations that follow them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of the influential Orff Schulwerk approach to music education in Australia is generally reported as occurring in the late 1960s. However, this was not the earliest encounters with the pedagogy in Australia. Patricia L. Holmes included Orff materials in teacher inservices in the late 1950s, before she travelled overseas to work with Doreen Hall, Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman. Historical research is lacking in many aspects of music education in Australia and this article attempts to chronicle early efforts and add to our understanding of what has been done in the past and shapes our present practices. (Contains 7 figures.)

In this time of national curriculum re-thinking, tertiary institutions are positioned to create opportunities amongst pre-service teachers for the cultivation of knowledge, skills and understandings concerning cultural diversity in music education. The demographic profile of the State of Victoria is the most culturally diverse in Australia and the curriculum framework for schools, Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS), mandates multiculturalism as an integral part of the education. The Arts domain offers a range of suggestions as to how school students might develop an awareness of aesthetic and critical aspects of arts works from varied cultural, social, and historical contexts. In preparing pre-service teachers to embrace these ideas and understandings, tertiary educators continue to face a mismatch between curricular expectations and the realities of the school music classroom. In 2005 we began a research project that sought to explore fourth year pre-service music education students' understandings about curriculum constraints and classroom practices in music education. This article focuses on the data collected in 2008 and 2009 from students from Deakin and Monash Universities. The semi-structured interviews were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The findings revealed a disjuncture between VELS and what our students found during their school placements. This study reports on two themes: perceptions of multiculturalism and the teaching and learning of multicultural music in schools. As tertiary music educators, we endeavor to encourage our student teachers to examine their own experiences and understandings in multicultural music.

Active music participation offers a way for older people to sustain wellbeing and health. This article explores the understandings and experiences of a group of older Chinese people who actively participate in singing lessons at the Tangshan Older People University, China. This article uses a phenomenological qualitative research approach that allows an investigation of individual experiences of music engagement in later life. This research utilized a case study design and data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis which explores experience as understood by participants. Five broad themes were identified from the data: Emotional wellbeing, Physical wellbeing, Mental wellbeing and "learning new things", Musical preferences, and Sharing music. The participants have purposefully sought music-learning experiences and recognize the benefits of their ongoing music education.

This autoethnographic study with critical friends explores a teacher’s - commitment to inclusive education in the context of disability. Decades of global developments, advocacy, academic research and legislation to protect the rights of people with disabilities and ensure access to equal education opportunities, whilst reassuring, reveal undeniable challenges and struggles. There is a clear lack of attention to the situatedness and ethical basis of inclusive practices. In this article, we examine the professional practice and pedagogical understandings of the first author, a secondary school teacher, college in Victoria, Australia. Autoethnographic methodology allowed a personal interrogation of episodes of encountering disability and inclusion, as Author 1 explores examples from her own teaching practices. Martin Buber’s notion of ‘I and Thou’ fuels our reflections on the ethical and relational basis of teaching inclusively. Two vignettes reveal lived experiences, used as the ground for a fruitful dialogic exchange. These result in a set of reflexive pieces of writing from the first author and two colleagues. Findings suggest that the relational and ethical basis of educational practices in regard to disability and inclusion need to be re-examined in light of Buber’s relational category of I-Thou, which suggests focus on the person, rather than the label, ‘disability’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studio music teachers have always been constant in Australian society, rarely recognised beyond their immediate surrounds. Building a 'connection' of students required advertising, primarily by word-of-mouth or via local press announcements. Few teachers placed individual advertisements in local papers. This changed in 1911 with the establishment of monthly The Australian Musical News, intended to report and support musicians and music teachers. In its first edition, four studio music teachers placed advertisements, first to use this new opportunity. We unfold the stories of Mrs. Arthur Royce, Herr Franz O. Schieblich, James Ure, and J. Alfred Johnstone. By happenstance, their diverse careers capture the different ways of being a studio teacher in contemporary Australia. We note the unchanging nature of studio music teaching and suggest that, with the exception of technologies, the activities of these four teachers resonate with modern practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Sri Lanka, about 300,000 Sinhala speaking people are either deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) and would benefit from a common Sinhala sign language, technological resources such as captioning, and educational and social support. There is no fully developed common sign language for members of the Sinhalese community, a severe shortage of sign language interpreters, and few resources for teachers. This exploratory study was undertaken in all nine provinces of Sri Lanka into the use of sign language, access to education for people with disabilities, and the availability of trained or qualified educators to work with the DHH people. Data were gathered via interviews and focus groups with Special Education Assistant Directors, Principals and Teachers in Deaf Schools, and Teachers of Special Education Deaf Units in mainstream schools. The DHH members of Sri Lankan society are marginalized, under-supported, and require urgent attention to their educational and social needs. This study provides a basis for much needed attention and reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the mid-nineteenth century, a system of music examinations was initiated in Britain that came to encompass the far-flung reaches of the British Empire. These examinations offered an internationally recognized system of professional and musical standards. For the next several decades the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) and Trinity College London (TCL) maintained this extensive system of graded instrumental and vocal examinations across large parts of the globe, principally those countries that were part of the British Empire (later the Commonwealth). Both the ABRSM and TCL continued examining for many years and this article discusses the work of four examiners appointed by the ABRSM to travel throughout the Empire, with a particular focus on Australia. The year selected is 1923. This is for several reasons. By 1923 the system of traveling expert examiners undertaking examinations across the country was well established; the vicissitudes and hardships of World War I and the influenza pandemic had passed; the practice of examiners traveling long distances by boat and train had resumed. At this time the British examinations were at their height despite the establishment of a rival Australian system, the Australian Music Examinations Board. The examiners not only undertook all the examinations across the country but also were influential public figures who spoke about music education and modern music in Britain. They gave concerts and public lectures and their activities were influential because of repeated reporting in the popular press. As a historian I am interested in the history of the commonplace--those well-established and pervasive activities that are taken for granted. Learning a musical instrument and taking annual graded practical and theoretical examinations was and continues to be a commonplace occurrence in Australia.

The experiences of seven Australian senior secondary school students with vision impairment attending mainstream schools in Victoria were explored to gain an understanding of the support mechanisms operating to allow them access to an inclusive education. This qualitative study primarily used the in-depth interviews of students, augmented by brief interviews with Heads of Education Support, parents, aides and teachers. Students attributed difficulties to time available, accessing e-print and large format materials, assistive technology and access, and exclusion from classes of science, mathematics, and physical education in particular. In Australia, there is an expectation that legally mandated adjustments for students with disabilities will enable equitable, quality, and inclusive education. This was not evident in the experiences of the students in this study. Having aide support did not prevent exclusionary practices. Educators and support staff need to understand the perspectives of students with vision impairments to better facilitate successful teaching and learning experiences.

Technology is a dominant mediating factor impacting on current human behaviour and social change, which both acts on and is acted upon by other phenomena. This changing social landscape, along with new expectations and requirements, drives our educational priorities and curriculum agenda. There is no denying the prevalence of technology found in the statements and guidelines of the national Australian Curriculum. Further, the "National Review of School Music Education" identified the importance of technology in school music education in 2005. The curriculum guidelines illustrate an understanding of technology in Music and the Arts that is both vague and limiting. In 2015 we are at a point of curriculum stasis, an equilibrium that highlights a disconnect between music, technology and Australian music education. This article investigates current secondary school Years 7-10 (ages 11-15 years) Music and Arts curriculum statements concerning the use of technology and compares this to the general capability information and computer technology (ICT) curricula. There is wide recognition that digital technology is essential in teaching and learning, but this is not reflected in contemporary Australian Arts and Music curricula.

This paper presents the lived experience of an intergenerational family, spanning three generations living with Facial Eye Disfigurement (FED). Living with vision loss and FED is estimated to affect nearly 8 billion people worldwide. Inadequate attention is paid to the impact of Living with FED (LwFED) on the lives of individuals. This research offers a deep dive into the lived experiences of one family LwFED. This family comprises a grandfather (deceased), son, wife, and child, all of whom have lived or live with FED. In this Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study three interviewees are deemed the experts. Data were collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted by Zali who lives with FED. Our findings speak of childhood and subsequent issues living with FED (LwFED), family experiences of living with family members with FED while simultaneously LwFED themselves, shared stories and role modelling. We discuss LwFED healthily through the creation of a safe family space through acceptance, belonging, and support. We introduce and discuss the role of the eyelid, functioning versus nonfunctioning. We offer insights and understandings of an intergenerational family living with LwFED to advance research and inform practice within diverse fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the school experience of a year 12 student with vision impairment. Few studies have looked at school experiences from a student's perspective, although the belief is that through research focusing on listening to students with disabilities their perspectives will become part of the solution to provide equity and quality in education. This single-case phenomenological study used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to give voice to the student. Social issues were identified as one major factor impacting on the student's academic achievement and sense of well-being. This article concludes with proposals from the student to facilitate inclusive practices for future students.

Australia is a country of ongoing migration that embraces diversity, creative expression and cultural activity. Membership of community music groups by older people can enhance life quality, and may provide a space through which cultural and linguistic identity may be shared and celebrated. This qualitative phenomenological case study explores engagement by older members of "La Voce Della Luna," an Italian women's community choir based in Melbourne, Victoria. This article presents one case study from a larger ongoing research project, Well-being and ageing: "community, diversity and the arts in Victoria." In this study, data were gathered from documentary sources and by individual and focus group semi-structured interviews in 2013. Employing interpretative phenomenological analysis two significant themes emerged: Social connection and combatting isolation; and New horizons: music-making and social justice. This article describes how active music for older women provides opportunities to learn new skills, new ideas, and create for themselves a resilient community.

Across the globe populations are ageing and living longer. Older people seek meaningful ways of occupying and enjoying their later years. Frequently, this takes the form of learning a new skill, in this case playing the piano keyboard. From the initial act of commitment to learning comes a raft of related aspects that influence the learner, their family and their community. This qualitative study investigates the keyboard learning experiences of 16 Chinese older amateur keyboard learners who actively participate in group keyboard lessons at Tangshan Older People University, China. This article uses a phenomenological qualitative research approach to explore the meaning of playing keyboard in their later life. This research utilized a case study design. The data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The data show how keyboard learning contributes to older adult by providing ways for maintaining emotional well-being, physical well-being, experiencing lifelong learning and realizing their achievement through performance.

The international University of the Third Age (U3A) embodies the principles of lifelong learning and personal fulfilment amongst members. The research reported in this article focused on the Choir of the U3A Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia and the benefits perceived by members undertaking this active music engagement in non-competitive choral singing. This small-scale phenomenological qualitative case study is part of a wider study of active arts engagement by older people that began in 2008. This study was undertaken in 2013 and revealed that participants decided to join the group for a range of factors including a positive attitude to singing, convenience and a desire for social connectedness. Those interviewed considered ongoing choir membership an effective use of leisure time that also provided opportunities for shared learning and personal validation. The data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and are reported under two themes: music engagement and social connections. Membership of the Hawthorn U3A choir provided participants opportunities for friendship, companionship, happiness, a sense of belonging and acceptance.

People living with facial eye disfigurements (LwFED) are often shunned by a society that makes spontaneous judgements based on appearance. This article is a case study of the lived experience of Toni, a 27-year-old woman LwFED, the result of her treatment for ocular cancer. Semi-structured interviews facilitated the exploration of her experiences. We present the findings chronologically but interwoven with themes such as: being strong for others; responding to her partner's abuse; dealing with strangers; and reinventing her sense of identity and supporting others. We identified institutional perspectives of work, hospital, and family within the prevailing UK that impacted Toni's experiences of LwFED and argue that institutional perspectives need to be educated about the ordinary person's daily grind of LwFED to address unrecognised bias and assumption. Only when identified and addressed can the reframing of social, institutional, organisational, and medical understandings and responses facilitate and support the lives of those LwFED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mothering a child who lives with a disability, or a congenital facial condition can impact quality of life. This appertains to relationships, isolation, and feelings exclusion, can result in ongoing vigilance, grief, and may be addressed via faith and future hope. In this IPA study we explore the lived experience of a non-facially disfigured mother mothering her child Living with Facial Eye Disfigurement (LwFED). Semi-structured interviews were used to collect rich data which were analysed to reveal emergent and overarching themes. We found that our participant is constantly vigilant in response to her son's blindness and disfigurement. This impacts his schooling and her relationships. Isolation impacts all facets of the quality of life of our participant including seeking respite, exhaustion, and relationships. She acknowledges grief and chronic sorrow. As a mother, she encounters comments and stares from strangers in social situations. Our participant uses her strong faith to attempt to find balance in her life and to envisage a future for her son. We offer the narrative of one mother with a child LwFED. We do not draw generalisations but suggest resonances with the lived experiences of others. We recommend further research, advocacy and professional support for families and society to change culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]