Mary Lennon (DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama and member of the Polifonia 2 Working Group on Instrumental/Vocal Teacher Education) recently presented a workshop ‘Instrumental/Vocal Teaching: Reflecting on Teacher Roles and Competences for the 21st Century’ at an international music education conference held in Nicosia in Cyprus – March 3-5. The conference –  Teaching Music Musically in the 21st Century: Keith Swanwick at 80 – A Celebration in Music Education –  was organised by the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute and  featured a range of paper presentations, workshops and round-table discussions and attracted delegates from Brazil, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Mary gave an overview of the AEC Polifonia Project and outlined the Instrumental/Vocal Teacher Education Working Group process, highlighting the Roles and Competences for instrumental/vocal teaching which were developed as part of the project.

The AEC Roles and Competences provided a framework for discussion and proved to be a very effective tool in facilitating teachers in reflecting on their own practice and on approaches to performance education in Cyprus.  The attendees identified with the six Teacher Roles: Teacher as Performer and Artistic Role Model; Teacher as Planner and Organiser; Teacher as Communicator and Pedagogue; Teacher as Facilitator; Teacher as Reflective Practitioner and Teacher as Advocate, Networker and Collaborator.

The concept of the ‘portfolio career’ as highlighted in the Polifonia Working Group report is a feature of the music profession in Cyprus.   It was interesting to note also the large number of Cypriot music teachers who had studied abroad, many in Greece, the United Kingdom and the United States and some also in The Netherlands, France, Austria and Germany.
 

The publication produced by the Polifonia 2 Working Group on Instrumental/Vocal Teacher Education 'Instrumental and Vocal Teaching: European Perspectives' is available en English, French and German in the publication section of the AEC website.