Beyond policy: Conceptualising student-centred learning environments in higher (music) education

Abstract

While student-centred learning environments are placed high on the policy agenda for how educational practices can be developed, it is less clear what this term actually means and what implications it may have for teaching and learning. This article discusses how student-centred learning environments in higher education can be interpreted and conceptualized from an educational sciences perspective, in which the term is used to characterize learning environments that aim at placing students at the centre of the activities and facilitating their active participation and engagement with disciplinary and/or professional knowledge. The article also provides examples from recent research on how such environments are organised and experienced by teachers and students in different Norwegian higher education contexts. The examples are mainly taken from studies of common educational practices in the general field of higher education, such as practices employing problem-based, project-based and casebased learning. Reflections on what these insights might mean for the specific field of music performance education are included on the way, and discussed in relation to teacher collaboration as a means of supporting student engagement and learning in higher music education. The article builds on a keynote presentation given at the AEC-CEMPE conference Becoming Musicians—Student Involvement and Teacher Collaboration in Higher Music Education in Oslo in October 2018.