An evaluation of aesthetic development in upper primary music students through the creative management of the curriculum

The National Philosophy of Education of Malaysia emphasizes the holistic, integrated and balanced development of students in terms of their cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains. Teaching and learning in the three domains can be translated into knowledge, values and skills. The affective domain, in particular, relates to values which constitute ethics and aesthetics. In the Integrated Primary School Curriculum, Islamic Religious Education and Moral Education carry the main responsibility for the moral development of the students. On the other hand, the subjects of art and music are supposed to develop the aesthetic values of students. This study is an evaluation of the development of aesthetical values in upper primary music students through the creative management of the curriculum. It is a case study grounded in 12 primary schools in the district of Kinta, Perak, Malaysia. Data was collected through document analysis, observation of 36 lessons conducted by 12 teachers and a total of 22 in-depth interviews involving teachers and other critical informants engaged in music education. The observations were carried out using Broudy’s Aesthetic Model, Osborne-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process Model and Ekvall’s Creative Climate Dimensions. The study provides an evaluation of whether the written curriculum and the operational curriculum provide the scope and opportunity for the development of aesthetics to take place among music students in upper primary schools. The evaluation employs Robert Stake’s Countenance Model. The model covers the three phases of antecedent, transaction and outcomes based on logical and empirical contingency. The findings of the study revealed that the written curriculum did not facilitate the operational curriculum in terms of helping to develop the aesthetical potential of music students. This was partly due to the fact that there was a lack of creativity, on the part of the music teachers, in managing the curriculum. In addition, there was a glaring absence in the written curriculum as to how to assess the development of the aesthetics through the creative teaching of music. Data shows that the teachers are very much focused on ‘concrete’ instances in the teaching of music. Hence, there is a need for curriculum planners, in collaboration with teachers, to create a philosophy of music education to map out strategies where the experience of music must be an artistic experience, using creativity as its medium to develop the ‘aesthetic experience’ of students. A pedagogical shift from teacher-centered teaching to a student-centered pedagogy is imperative. This will shift the focus from teaching to learning.