Diffusing and sustaining ground-up arts partnership initiatives in a de/centralized education system: the case of Singapore

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine how ground-up, small-scale research partnership initiatives can be incorporated and sustained in a school’s curriculum. Two problems are explored: First, how can innovations from small-scale partnerships be transformed into large-scale policies? And, second, how do we sustain values cultivated from small-scale partnerships into larger networks? Using classroom observations and narratives of teachers and community musician partners who co-designed a community music-based curriculum with a researcher, this study presents the challenges of diffusing and sustaining partnerships in two schools, primary and secondary, amidst the constraints of the standards-based curriculum in a de/centralized education system.

Keywords:

• Educational partnerships
• centralized-decentralized education system
• school-community partnerships
• arts education partnerships
• professional development

Notes

1 https://aep.nac.gov.sg/nacaep/nacaep/programmes-and-schemes/Artist-in-School-Scheme.html

2 https://aep.nac.gov.sg/nacaep/nacaep/public/for-artist-art-group.html

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Institute of Education (Singapore), Office of Education Research, Education Research Funding Program, OER 01/14 OP and SUG 08/16/OP.