SCHEME – Steering Committee for the Harmonisation of European Music Education

SCHEME – Steering Committee for the Harmonisation of European Music Education

Background

• The SCHEME (Steering Committee for the Harmonisation of European Music Education) was originally set up as a group to operationally manage the collaboration between AEC (European Association of Conservatoires), EAS (European Association for Music in Schools) and EMU (European Music School Union) within the framework of the FULLSCORE project.
  
• SCHEME emerged as a successor to FULLSCORE, which held its last meeting on June 10, 2017. A year later, on June 9, 2018, representatives of the three associations met again during the European Music Council (EMC) annual meeting in Oslo and agreed to continue cooperation under the new banner of SCHEME. Since then, SCHEME has committed to meeting at least once or twice a year to facilitate ongoing collaboration and dialogue among its members.
• Joining their forces, AEC, EAS, and EMU represent the full spectrum of music education (in particular in its institutionalized offerings) from early music education to lifelong learning and from the provision of educational programs for amateurs to high-end professional training.
• In addition to the continuation of the cooperation in the field of music education, the SCHEME Follow-up WG should focus on coordinated actions to further implement the European Agenda for Music, which aims to converge the European music sector’s many voices in order to establish an ongoing dialogue between policymakers and music sector stakeholders.

Objectives

The SCHEME  (Steering Committee for the Harmonisation of European Music Education) WG vows to:

• Investigate the impact of the digital shift, the COVID crisis, social developments, and societal trends (related to e.g. audience engagement/audience development, the diversity of cultural needs, migration, the idea of European cultural citizenship as presented by the Porto Santo Charter, climate change, etc.) on the tasks, skills, and responsibilities of future music teachers in the formal music education sector (classroom teachers, music schools)
• Promote access and participation in music and cultural education by developing and integrating targeted audience development measures into their courses
• Examine what this means for teacher education

The SCHEME’s main focus is based on working out innovative models of teacher education, presenting them as examples of good practice, and developing guidelines on how to adapt teacher education curricula addressing the above-mentioned topics.

In order to achieve the aforementioned goals, the SCHEME Committee is:

• Regularly holding contact through a series of high-level joint meetings designed to deepen mutual understanding, and reinforce knowledge management and cooperative expertise between the three organisations.
• Exchanging information between the administrative centers of each organisation (AEC, EAS, and EMU) that are in charge of the task of disseminating information to their respective members.
• Sharing any relevant existing data, documentation, research results, etc. relating to European music education in all forms and at all levels.

To view the AEC, EAS, and EMU joint agenda, shared vision, as well as their priorities regarding music education and access to music, click here. 

Watch the webinar recording of  “European Agenda for Access to Music Education”  (5th February 2022), which discussed the topics of diversity, reaching out to new audiences, the social relevance of music and music education, smart and creative use of digital means

Relevant links:

SCHEME – Steering Committee for the Harmonisation of European Music Education