Dissertation: The right to produce knowledge is also a human rights issue in the field of music education
Vilma Timonen contributed to the building of the music education system in Nepal.
To meet the needs of ever-evolving learning environments, organisers of music teacher education should strengthen teachers’ opportunities to learn together, take diversity into account and expand their understanding of who produces knowledge. This is argued by Vilma Timonen, who will defend her doctoral dissertation at the Sibelius Academy on 19 December.
Vilma Timonen’s dissertation focuses on the educational collaboration that took place in music teacher education between the Sibelius Academy and Nepal Music Center in 2013–2019. The aim was to study the opportunities and challenges in international educational collaboration, based on collaborative learning, for individual teachers’ professional development, education practices of music teachers and research in music education.
Multi-voiced research knowledge through studying and experimenting together
Timonen examined how international education collaboration could support teachers’ professional development and what kinds of challenges were associated with collaborative learning processes. She was working over several years with four local Nepali musicians and music teachers. The collaboration was based on studying, experimenting and reflecting together as well as presenting in several international platforms as researchers and musicians. Timonen also aimed to produce knowledge featuring a more diverse set of voices than the norm.
“Research in music education should reinforce people’s trust also in non-academic and non-Western agents, and the right to produce knowledge should be regarded as a human rights issue. This would make it possible to produce research knowledge that highlight a diverse range of voices, which could play a meaningful role in the development of the global and diverse music education of the rapidly changing 21st century both locally and internationally”, Timonen says.
Timonen suggests that to meet the needs of ever-evolving learning environments, music teacher education should promote the opportunity to engage in research-based co-learning. Organisations should support teachers’ opportunities to challenge their views and competences both at the local and global level.
Further information:
Vilma Timonen
vilma.timonen@uniarts.fi
Public defence of the doctoral dissertation of Vilma Timonen
19 December 2020 at Noon
Events are cancelled from audience until 10.1.2021 due to restrictions related to the corona situation.
Title of the dissertation: Co-constructing globalizing music education through an intercultural professional learning community – A critical participatory action research in Nepal
Opponent: Professor Alexandra Kertz-Welzel (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet,
Institute of Music Education, Germany)
Examiners of the dissertation: Professor Alexandra Kertz-Welzel (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet,
Institute of Music Education, Germany), Dr Ailbhe Kenny (Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland).
Chair: Professor Heidi Westerlund (University of the Arts Helsinki)
Events are cancelled from audience until 10.1.2021 due to restrictions related to the corona situation, but the event is available live on Sibelius Academy’s Youtube channel.