The project has been completed and the results of this project and the"ViMuBi" project have been published in the publication"Musik in der Kita - inklusiv und kooperativ".

The MuBiKi project comprises the conception, implementation and evaluation of a professional qualification for musicians and educators for music programmes at daycare centres (in cooperation with Klaus Bredl (State Association of Music Schools in Lower Saxony), Prof. Dr Ulrike-Marie Krause (Professor of Educational Sciences, University of Oldenburg); BMBF project.

Duration: 1.9.2014 - 31.10.2017

You can also download the poster and the following descriptions in our download area.

From early summer 2015, the State Association of Music Schools in Lower Saxony will be training up to 40 elementary music teachers in a professional development programme.

As numerous practical examples show, the cultural education mission of our daycare centres is becoming increasingly important. The demand for qualified teaching staff in the field of elementary music education is growing accordingly. Based on this development trend and against the backdrop of the successful Lower Saxony music education programme "Wir machen die Musik!" ("We make the music!"), the State Association of Music Schools in Lower Saxony is conducting an in-service and field-expanding qualification for musicians and educators for elementary music programmes at daycare centres between spring 2015 and summer 2017. The scientific evaluation of the project is being carried out by the University of Oldenburg (Prof Dr Lars Oberhaus and Prof Dr Ulrike Krause). The joint project Musikalisch-kulturelle Bildung in der Kita (MuBiKi) is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and includes two 1.5-year qualification courses, which are to be located in the eastern part of Lower Saxony (Wolfenbüttel or similar) and in a region in the west (Oldenburg/Emsland area), if possible, and which can accommodate up to 20 participants each.

The target group of the further education programmes are artists, cultural workers and educators. In individual, tandem and team phases, participants acquire basic knowledge, skills and methods of elementary music education. The course content covers the following areas, for example: Early childhood pedagogy, music and movement, listening, singing and speaking as well as elementary instrumental playing.

The special feature of the courses is that a heterogeneous group of participants consisting of artists and cultural workers (musicians, dancers etc.) and educators with different specialist skills are to be trained together. The formation of learning tandems is intended to facilitate the continuous mutual exchange of experience and the acquisition of skills among the participants. A training programme will comprise several weekend blocks and training weeks as well as ongoing practical and observation phases.

Due to the BMBF's funding guidelines, participation in the qualification courses is free of charge. Only accommodation and catering costs are payable. These costs are also likely to be covered for participants from the arts and cultural sector.

Prerequisites for participation are existing basic musical knowledge and skills. Further information can be found in our flyer:

Further information can be obtained from the Landesverband niedersächsischer Musikschulen.

Contact: Rhea Richter
Project coordination
"Musical and cultural education in daycare centres"
0511 - 270 640 53

CONCEPT AND GOAL

The aim of the project is to develop, test and evaluate a professional qualification programme for arts and culture practitioners and nursery school teachers that involves cooperative learning in heterogeneous groups. At the centre is the effective cooperation between artists and cultural professionals with musical experience and educational professionals with an interest in music (nursery school teachers). In the training programme, the participants are trained by experts with a view to music education issues; in addition, a mutual exchange of knowledge and experience is facilitated in tandems, each consisting of an arts/cultural professional and an educator. The testing and evaluation of the measure is intended, among other things, to provide insights for effective music education qualification measures and thus contribute to a high-quality music programme in daycare centres and to strengthening early education. As a rule, the subject of music plays almost no role in early childhood educator training. For this reason, in many cases hardly any singing or music is played in daycare centres. There is therefore a great need for qualified specialists to provide support programmes in the field of elementary music education (EMP) in daycare centres. Demand is increasing due to the growing number of co-operations between music schools and daycare centres as part of Lower Saxony's music education programme Wir machen die Musik! The cooperation programmes currently offered in around 500 daycare centres are run by music school teachers who have a corresponding EMP qualification (university degree or professional qualification). However, many re-registrations from music schools indicate that the existing teaching staff cannot fulfil the high demand. Competent teachers are urgently needed throughout Germany. For this reason, this project aims to provide further training in the field of early childhood music education that expands the professional field and is aimed at already musically pre-qualified artists and cultural workers from various professional fields (e.g. instrumental teachers, dance teachers, school and church musicians, orchestral musicians) and educators. The different experiences of the participants are utilised as musicians and educators work together in tandem over the course of the training period and learn from each other. In individual, tandem and team phases, the participants acquire basic skills in the field of elementary music education and cooperative learning.

SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

In the accompanying evaluation, the individual experiences of the participants from their particular artistic-cultural, educational and academic appointments are to be explicitly taken into account. The following scientific objectives will be pursued:

- Gaining insights into the effectiveness of the training programme and the implemented cooperative forms of teaching/learning, into music education teaching/learning processes and into the relevance of certain participant profiles for skills development,

- Development of instruments for competence assessment in the context of music education qualifications,

- Reconstruction of the relationship between participants' biographical and musical-cultural experiences and the skills and abilities acquired in the training programme.

ABOUT THE CONCEPT OF THE TRAINING PROGRAMME

The training programme lasts a total of 18 months. As an example, the project will initially be trialled in two sessions in both urban and rural areas. The participants work closely with regional daycare centres and music schools in order to gain practical experience. Approximately 20 people will take part in each round and location. Accordingly, 10 tandems will be formed, each consisting of an arts/cultural practitioner and an educator. Potential participants will be made aware of the training programme via a call for applications.

Prior to the call for applications, five renowned experts from different areas of musical and cultural early childhood education come together to develop a skills-orientated, module-based training concept. Suitable lecturers are then selected, who are informed about the training concept at a one-day meeting and are responsible for the subsequent implementation of the training programme.

Following the nationwide call for applications, interested artists, cultural workers and educators are invited to an assessment centre for the selection of participants for the qualification measure. There they complete various group exercises, which are supervised by a commission (musician, educator, psychologist or coach). This is not an entrance examination that primarily tests musical abilities and skills, but a criteria-based procedure that primarily takes into account the willingness to work together in the field of elementary music education.

The qualification programme is led by two people (teacher, music teacher). A special role is played by a coach who accompanies and advises the group through various supervision sessions and, above all, takes into account the dynamics within the group. The qualification consists of different learning phases. These include tandem phases in which a practical unit is planned, implemented and reflected on in pairs in a daycare centre. There are also weekend blocks and training weeks in which the team is supported by professional lecturers. These are (music) teachers selected by the project team with further training experience, who lead the workshops and put the concept created by the experts into practice. In addition to self-learning phases, there is also a shadowing phase in which the participants are accompanied by mentors (trained early childhood (music) education professionals (EMP)) who are already working in existing daycare centre co-operations. Practical projects are carried out as part of these observations, which are also documented and reflected upon. The examination block consists of project documentation (portfolio) and musical presentations.

The implementation and evaluation at the two locations is staggered so that experience from the first implementation and partial results of the evaluation can be used to optimise the concept for the second implementation. Two research assistants are employed in the project.

A first interim report on the quantitative survey can be downloaded here.

Project leader:

Prof. Dr Lars Oberhaus Professor of Music Education Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, School III - School of Educational and Cultural Sciences, Institute of Music Prof. Dr Ulrike-Marie Krause Professor of Educational Sciences Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, School I - School of Educational and Social Sciences, Institute of Educational Sciences Research assistants

Christiane Leder Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Faculty I - School of Educational and Social Sciences, Institute of Educational Sciences (quantitative evaluation) Zoë Schempp-Hilbert Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Faculty III - School of Educational and Cultural Sciences, Institute of Music (qualitative evaluation) Cooperation partners Klaus Bredl Managing Director of the Landesverband niedersächsischer Musikschulen Landesverband niedersächsischer Musikschulen e.V. Rhea Richter Project coordination Landesverband niedersächsischer Musikschulen e.V.