Promising practices in music teaching and learning: practical recommendations and policies across cultures.

Music Education is changing rapidly worldwide. What effective and promising practices in music teaching and learning are available and can be cross-culturally applied? Using Finland as a case study, this exploratory research highlights promising current endeavors in primary and secondary school music education. In light of these undertakings, data were collected from interviews with students and teachers in Australia and England (N = 25) to investigate if these practices would be considered promising in both Australia and England. The results revealed four key areas of promising music teaching and learning: (1) Allocated Time for Music Teaching and Learning; (2) Teacher Training and Expertise; (3) A Diverse, Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Curriculum, and; (4) Transition to Tertiary Education. A number of practical recommendations are proposed and their pedagogical significance discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]