The Sage Handbook of School Music Education

The Sage Handbook of School Music Education stands as an essential guide for navigating the evolving educational landscape in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and the transformative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The handbook addresses philosophical foundations, social justice challenges, the envisioning of a transformative curriculum, and critical issues in music teacher education. Written by a diverse team of leading scholars, this handbook offers a truly global perspective with contributors from Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, and North and South America.

The handbook engages with the profound interplay of economic, political, and social forces that shape educational policies. Scholars within this collaborative work delve into what it means to educate in a world undergoing significant changes. This entails an exploration of emerging educational approaches, considerations for societal implications, and the interconnectedness of school music education with broader curricular and global contexts.

As a cohesive resource, The Sage Handbook of School Music Education not only addresses the challenges faced by educators but also envisions the transformative potential of music education in fostering creativity, inclusivity, and adaptability. This handbook serves as a compass for students, practitioners and scholars in the field, and all those passionate about navigating the complexities of redefining music education for a new era.

Part 1: Foundations
Part 2: Struggling for Social Justice Through Music Education
Part 3: Curriculum Development
Part 4: Teacher Education

José Luis Aróstegui is Professor at the Department of Music Education, University of Granada, Spain. He is the coordinator of the research group SEJ-540 of Research in Music Education and PI of some R&D projects sponsored by the European Commission and the Government of Spain, among which: Evaluation of Music Teacher Education Programs in Europe and Latin America (2004-2007); The impact of School Music Education in Spain (2014-2017), Music Teacher Education for the Knowledge Society and Economy (2017-2021) and Transversality, Creativity and Inclusion in School Music Projects (2022-2025), the latter as PI1. He has been a member of the international advisory board of the research project Music Teacher Education for the Future on music teacher education in Norway (2019-2022). He is also a member of the International Advisory Team of the research project ＂Pilot experience of a musical pedagogy oriented towards human rights education: Proposal of pedagogical guidelines for the initial training of music teachers＂, in Chile (2023-2026). From these and other researches, he has produced papers published in many indexed journals and publishers, and presented at conferences. José Luis has been editor-in-chief of the Revista Internacional de Educación Musical (2013-2023; from 2020 to 2023 as co-editor). He has been a commissioner member of MISTEC (Music in Schools and Teacher Education Commission), being its president during the biennium 2010-2012. He was also a member of the ISME (International Society for Music Education) Board from 2012 to 2016.

Catharina Christophersen is professor of music education at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. Previously a music teacher in compulsory schools and municipal schools of music and performing art, she is now a teacher educator and researcher. She is chair of the Norwegian Forum for Research in Music Education, and her research is frequently presented in international conferences and published in international journals and volumes. Her research areas include music in schools, music teacher education, and creative partnerships, and she has a particular interest in issues relating to educational change, educational philosophy, research ethics, and social justice.

Jeananne Nichols is the Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor of Music Education at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, USA where she serves as the music education program coordinator and teaches courses in music curriculum and methods. Drawing upon narrative inquiry and other qualitative research designs, Dr. Nichols’ research highlights the lived experiences of persons whose voices may otherwise be muted in the prevailing discourses of music and music education. Dr. Nichols’ work has been published in the Journal of Research in Music Education, The Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Research Studies in Music Education, The Music Educator’s Journal, The Mountain Lake Reader, and The International Journal of Education and the Arts.

Koji Matsunobu holds two PhDs in music education and secondary/continuing education. Prior to joining the Education University of Hong Kong, he held academic positions at the University of Queensland, Australia, and Kumamoto University, Japan. As a Former Fulbright scholar and member of the Board of Directors for the International Society for Music Education (ISME), he has published extensively on spirituality, creativity, ecology, wellbeing, Japanese music, world music, arts integration, arts-based research, place-based education, and the long-term impact of music education. He invented an award-winning musical instrument called the recohachi (recohachi.com) designed for hybrid music-making and used in educational settings.