Browsing by Author "Kytölä, Sara"

The purpose of this study was to examine how music education was displayed in national early childhood education curriculum and to highlight how it was carried out in practise by a kindergarten teacher. This study unravels some of the kindergarten teacher’s viewpoints on the role of music education in early childhood education, and deliberates the relation of these two upon one’s planning and practical execution. The main goal of a national early childhood education curriculum is to offer a reliable instrument for everyday use in kindergartens and to improve equal execution of the plan nationwide. This study clarifies how contents displayed in municipal early childhood education curriculum guides kindergarten teachers’ use of music education in practice. This study was carried out as a qualitative case study. The material for this study consisted of municipal early childhood education curriculum, from an interview and lesson plans of a kindergarten teacher, and observations of these musical lessons in practise. The method used in analyzing the data was theming. The main result of the study was that music education, within the municipal early childhood education curriculum, was not defined as a separate term but as a general subject, which was rather pre-sented amidst small sections in the curriculum. The kindergarten teacher’s views were in line with her plans, practical execution and with the curriculum. The central point emphasized in the teacher’s planning and execution was practising basic musical skills with the children. It was criticized by the kindergarten teacher, that in the curriculum a child’s need for learning basic musical skill, which acts as a gateway for a child’s self-expression, was not highlighted enough. Vagueness of the curriculum produced conflicting thoughts for the kindergarten teacher, because on the one hand it offered more freedom to create vast varying exercises, but on the other hand the curriculum may be interpreted inaccurately. As a conclusion of this study it can be stated, that even though in this case the content of early childhood education curriculum was correctly used, it was not the described tool for everyday situations. The curriculum was mostly experienced as a vague document, from which the knowledge guiding everyday situations was obtained while still being a student.