Pedagogic populism vs. opportunities to learn: university music students' appraisal of their school music classes.

This paper considers the problem of music student's preparedness for university study. Since 2002 New Zealand senior secondary school students have experienced a national outcomes-based curriculum and assessment system which provides the flexibility for schools and teachers to create curricula suited to varied student interests and learning trajectories. Music teachers are faced with the challenge of fostering engaging musical experiences for students as well as providing the sorts of knowledge for those students who may wish to progress towards specialisation. This paper reports on a small survey of university music students (n = 44) who were asked how well school music prepared them for their university studies. The findings suggest that while democratising the music curriculum in response to the hegemony of past curricula, teachers may have run into another problem where access to the theoretical knowledge required for a successful transition to further study is not always made available to students. It appears that in generally widening access through curricular reforms epistemic access may be unintentionally restricted. I conclude by suggesting that both schools and universities have a responsibility for an approach to education where procedural and principled knowledge are linked as the means towards developing expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]