Reconceptualizing the Music Teacher Education Curriculum for the Colleges of Education in Nigeria

Abstract

The Federal Government of Nigeria has realized that low educational quality has negative implications for sustainable national development, hence her commitment to develop national policies and national curriculum for teacher education to improve the quality of education (including music education). This article observes improvement in the preparation of musician-teachers as absolutely imperative to move modern music education as a field in the direction for continued growth. It traces out a historical past and explores present-day circumstances by analyzing and critiquing the National Commission for Colleges of Education’s document—Approved Minimum Academic Standards for Music. As the document is based on exogenous paradigms, it is argued that it cannot produce the change agent in the Nigerian musician-teacher. A reconceptualization of music teacher curriculum that is socioculturally sensitive is suggested for colleges of education in Nigeria as a way of moving it toward developing sound, effective, and creative musician-teachers.