Challenging constraints or constraining challenges: Initial teacher primary music education across the Tasman

Initial teacher educators seek to manage curriculum coverage within the time constraints of initial teacher education (ITE) courses. As a result, considered choices need to be made regarding content and pedagogical approaches based on what ITE educators deem to be valuable, memorable and transferrable. Using narrative methodology, two tertiary educators across the Tasman (the ocean that separates Australia and New Zealand) share their views about what they prioritise in their music education courses and how these choices are informed. Both authors face similar challenges, and share the view that the teaching of music goes far beyond simply entertainment. They uphold that music education provides a rich context to develop not only knowledge, skills and understandings about music itself, but also to address social, cultural, linguistic, cognitive and affective domains of learning, to name a few. This article looks at some of the ways the authors effectively support ITE students to address the music components of courses. While constraints of time in ITE programmes is not a new phenomenon, the intention of this article is to highlight the benefits of music education, and encourage other educators to critically reflect on choices made in their own teaching contexts under challenging constraints.