The Double-Edged Sword of Pedagogical Freedom

As mentioned above, Finnish teachers have plenty of pedagogical freedom to make decisions about their teaching practices including, for instance, the amount of curricular time allocated for composition or the methods and tools used when teaching music. The role of the national core curriculum is to outline the regulations and offer guidance to education providers who then create a local curriculum, which more precisely considers the local specificities and needs of students (FNAE, 2016b).

As this curriculum creation is led and conducted by teachers, schools, and municipalities (instead of the state), teachers hold a key role in pedagogical decision-making and curriculum development (Sahlberg, 2015, p. 122). Furthermore, there are no standardized tests or other external control mechanisms in place. This gives teachers a lot of autonomy and responsibility in curriculum implementation and student assessment.

This autonomy is greatly valued and widely accepted by the education community in Finland. Teachers are highly educated and therefore respected and trusted as professionals who are able to teach creatively, provide personalised learning opportunities for their students, and assess students’ progress “against their respective characteristics and abilities, rather than by a reliance on uniform standards and statistical indicators” (Sahlberg, 2015, p. 123). Schools are expected to learn from rather than to compete against each other, and teachers are encouraged to meet the needs of their students instead of teach to the test. In an ideal situation, pedagogical freedom allows the teacher to follow their innovative ideas without being restricted by ready-made instructional methods or formulas.

As noted by Randles and Muhonen (2014), there are a number of opportunities for a music teacher with skills and professional flexibility to incorporate composition activities as part of music instruction in Finnish schools. The option for combining the creative production of music with other school subjects, especially in primary school, is also rather exceptional, even on a global scale. This potential for integrating musical composition into other subjects, in turn, opens up multiple “possibilities for creative activities without subject boundaries and tight schedules” (ibid., p. 14).

The pedagogical freedom enjoyed by teachers, however, can bring about shortcomings in comparability and consistency as well as in learning outcomes (Juntunen 2017). Due to the considerable amount of professional autonomy, including decisions on how and how much to teach composition, the implementation of the objectives differs from one classroom to another. Furthermore, the responsibilities of expanding one’s teaching repertoire and determining students’ personal progress can weigh heavily on the shoulders of an individual teacher.

This may be particularly burdensome for music teachers, who often experience isolation and suffer from a lack of collegiality when working as the only music teacher in their school (Muukkonen, 2010; Burnard, 2013). Also, teachers’ competencies to teach music and musical composition vary significantly, particularly among general classroom teachers (Suomi, 2019). As pointed out by Huttunen (2017), classroom teachers are in urgent need for “tangible support, models, tools, and help” (ibid., p. 12, my translation) in order to offer their students with opportunities to learn music through “singing, playing instruments, listening, moving, improvising, and composing as well as through cross-disciplinary work in artistic subjects,” as guided to do in the core curriculum (FNAE, 2016a, p. 152).

According to a survey conducted with music teachers and classroom teachers (Partti, 2016), as many as 75% of teachers felt that they had not been equipped with adequate tools and skills for teaching composition during their studies, and 80% of teachers voiced their hope for professional development in composition pedagogy. Thus, although composition pedagogy has received much more attention in recent years, one could argue that the aim of “regularly providing [students] with opportunities for working with sound and music as well as for composing” (FNAE, 2016a, p. 454) is yet to be systematically established in and across the system.

Mind the Gap! Increasing Opportunities for Professional Development in Composition Pedagogy

The past years have brought about various composition initiatives in Finland. Many of the recent initiatives have sought not only to inspire children and young people to make their own music, but also to equip teachers with the skills and tools needed to facilitate composition in various music educational contexts. Such projects include, for instance, BiisiPumppu (2013-2014), a classroom composition initiative organized by the Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society Teosto (see, Partti & Vakeva, 2018); the multidisciplinary arts project ITU (2013-2015); and the Aaneni aarelle project initiated by the Society of Finnish Composers in 2017 with the particular aim of responding to the pedagogical needs arising from the reform of the curriculum regarding the teaching of composition in extracurricular music institutes.

So far, one of the largest professional development projects was SAPE—Composition Pedagogy Training (Metropolia, 2020). This joint project (2016-2020) organized by multiple institutions aimed to provide practical tools for guiding composition in schools and music institutes. Hundreds of classroom teachers, music subject teachers, and music pedagogues were trained to creatively make music and facilitate musical composition at different educational levels. A guiding principle in the project was the nurturing of shared expertise of the participating teachers.

By contributing their expertise, ideas, and knowledge of local contexts, the participating teachers were able to develop new ideas and tools for their own work. Importantly, the training weekends and networking of colleagues provided during the project offered the participants with collegial support and the courage to extend their teaching into the area of composition pedagogy. A tangible result of the SAPE training is the “recipe book” (Hartikainen, 2017), which includes best practices and ideas for composition pedagogy developed by the trainers and participants. By following the step-by-step instructions, it is possible for teachers to begin facilitating creative music-making with their own students. The e-book Resepteja saveltamisen ohjaukseen [Recipes for facilitating composition] (ibid.) is available for free (in Finnish).

Another recently launched resource for composition pedagogy is the Opus 1: Composition pedagogy materials databank (Opus 1, 2020). Published in Finnish in 2018, it now also includes a partial version in English and Swedish. The Opus 1 website offers introductory insights into the teaching of composition along with a diverse range of composition assignments particularly suitable for group tuition, small group tuition, and individual tuition in music institutes. These and other online resources (e.g., Partti & Ahola, 2016) are expected to help and inspire music educators in fostering the culture of composing and exploring the world of creative music-making with their own students.

Another example of the recent initiatives aiming to support teachers in their development of composition pedagogy is the European cooperation Future Songwriting (2018-2020). The project was initiated and coordinated by the Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society (Teosto) and co-funded by the European Commission under the Creative Europe program along with seven consortium partners. Future Songwriting took place in 15 schools in Finland, France, and Germany with a particular emphasis on the professional development of teachers’ competencies facilitating technology- enabled composing practices in music education.

During the project, the training group—comprised by three professional songwriters/music producers—visited the participating schools to advise teachers on the use of a digital audio workstation (DAW) and to provide students with opportunities for technology-based musical composition. According to the research data, the majority of participating teachers considered the project to be very helpful and relevant (Partti, Weber, & Rolle, 2022^021]). Teachers pointed out various aspects of Future Songwriting that can be understood to have supported the development of their competence in digital technology-enabled composing. In particular, a heightened sense of confidence and courage, kindled by the project, can clearly be seen throughout the teacher interviews and surveys (ibid.).

This is significant, as teachers’ personal attitudes and beliefs can have a significant impact especially on the development of their technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (Gall, 2016). Based on these results, it can be expected that by helping teachers overcome their uncertainties and immerse themselves in activities, teachers can gain confidence and competence in teaching composition.

Initiatives such as the ones introduced above can have an important role in bridging the gap between curricular aims and classroom activities by supporting the professional development of teachers already working in the field. In addition to equipping teachers with current know-how, skills, and ideas for teaching composition, these initiatives can also offer important opportunities for collegial support and encourage teachers to try new practices in their teaching. As I have stated elsewhere (Partti, forthcoming), such initiatives have potential for facilitating professional learning communities for teachers to continue to develop their competencies in composition pedagogy in collaboration with their colleagues, long after the project ends.