Fostering transformative professionalism through curriculum changes within a Bachelor of Music

Abstract

This chapter provides an outline of one university’s response to developing music students’ transformative professionalism within its Bachelor of Music degree. Each Bachelor of Music degree analysed during the audit featured varying mandatory requirements in relation to performance, history, music theory, and aural courses, as well as different combinations of non-mandatory courses. Higher music education has traditionally prepared graduates for performance/creation-based professions. Transformative pedagogy also removes traditional restrictions over where learning occurs, and challenges the typical teacher–student hierarchies found in formal education contexts, by placing the student experience at the heart of learning activities. Bachelor of Music led to a purposeful development of transformative professionalism through four broad categories of courses: performance practice; music literature/research; mobility degrees; and professional practice. One initiative within Global Local is a community service-learning programme that focuses on fostering meaningful collaborations between universities and Indigenous Australian communities.