If the shoe doesn’t fit - A case and a place for collaborative learning for music practice in higher education

Oct 15, 2026

This article reviews relevant literature to justify using collaborative learning in first-year music practice courses at an Australian regional university. It frames persistent sector pressures following the Dawkins Review, including public accountability, budget cuts, and larger, more diverse cohorts that require preparation for portfolio careers. The emergence of participatory culture further challenges higher music education, and recent interest in collaborative learning is examined as an alternative or supplement supported by Wenger’s social learning theory.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Mapping today’s HME landscape – Institutional, systemic and cultural challenges

Collaborative learning rationale and theoretical framing

Implementation in first year music practice and performance

Benefits of collaborative learning for higher music education

If the shoe doesn’t fit: A case and a place for collaborative learning for music practice in higher education Melissa Forbes University of Southern Queensland a u s t r a l i a n a s o c i e t y s f o r m u s i c m e d u c a t i o n e i n c o r p o r a t e d Abstract This article reviews relevant literature to provide a rationale for the use of collaborative learning for first year music practice courses at an Australian regional university. Higher music education is still grappling with the challenges posed by the Dawkins Review and ongoing reforms in the sector. These challenges include increased public accountability, budget cuts, larger and more diverse student cohorts, and a need to prepare the majority of students for portfolio careers. The rise of participatory culture poses additional challenges to the nature and purpose of today’s higher music education. Recently, increased interest in the use of collaborative learning has emerged as away to respond to these challenges. In this article, the decision to implement collaborative learning at an Australian regional university is supported by an examination of the ways in which these systemic, institutional and cultural forces manifested as pedagogical challenges in this context. Theoretically, the introduction of collaborative learning is framed by Wenger’s social theory of learning and the literature on collaborative learning. Recent research also demonstrates the benefits of collaborative learning for higher music education. More than a budget-saving measure, this article posits that collaborative learning can be an effective alternative or supplement to existing pedagogical models in certain higher music education contexts. Key words: higher music education, collaborative learning, social theory of learning, music performance tuition Australian Journal of Music Education 2016: 50(1), 53-62 Introduction One of Gloria Steinem’s most famous provocations is“If the shoe doesn’t fit, must we change the foot?”(1983, p. 228). If a pedagogical model no longer“fits” a particular educational context, must we change the students, or rather, should our focus be on changing the way we approach learning and teaching? These were the questions faced at one regional Australian university approximately five years ago, when a confluence of circumstances meant that the use of the traditional one-to-one model in first year music practice courses had become problematic. This article is a theoretical piece which reviews relevant literature to contend that certain higher music education (HME) contexts may lend themselves to a collaborative approach to the learning and teaching of music practice and performance. In Australia, sweeping educational reforms during the early 1990s created various challenges for HME. These challenges included increased public accountability, budget cuts, and a need to prepare students for portfolio careers within a rapidly evolving workplace. Some 30 years later, the aftershocks of these changes still reverberate throughout the academy, and the pace of reform during the 2000s has not abated. Whilst the nature of teaching within this environment is gradually changing (Crawford & Jenkins, 2015), others claim that the task of investigating alternative models of teaching and learning in HME is urgent, because it is increasingly difficult to maintain the quality of traditional models due to funding cuts and the emergence of larger, more diverse student cohorts (Grant, 2013). In addition, the rise of technology and participatory culture poses broad challenges for education (Jenkins, Purushotma, Weigel, Clinton, & Robison, 2006) and specific challenges for HME. Participatory culture in this sense refers to the relatively recent phenomenon of individuals viewing themselves predominantly as producers of cultural product rather than consumers of it. There has been increasing interest in the use of collaborative learning as a way to res

FAQs

Why does the article question the suitability of traditional one-to-one models in first-year music practice?

It links the problem to changing institutional and cultural conditions at an Australian regional university, where reforms and broader sector shifts made the traditional model less workable for that context.

What challenges in higher music education are highlighted as motivating collaborative learning?

The article points to increased accountability, budget cuts, and larger, more diverse student cohorts, alongside the need to prepare students for portfolio careers and the influence of participatory culture.

How does the article theoretically support the use of collaborative learning?

It frames collaborative learning through Wenger’s social theory of learning and related literature on collaborative learning, supported by research on benefits for higher music education.

Oct 15, 2026

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