Mapping music education in Australia

Music education research in Australia has grown almost exponentially over the past 25 years. Particularly in the area of doctoral research studies, there has been a substantial increase in the number of theses completed from two in 1977 to 72 in 2002. In addition, there have been increases in professional research undertaken by university academics, in the number of nationally competitive research grants being awarded by the Australian Research Council and other research funding agencies, and in commissioned research studies. This article reviews the various types of music education research being undertaken in Australia and also discusses the dissemination of the findings of research through articles in national and international scholarly journals and papers presented at local and international conferences. One of the conclusions drawn is that Australian music education has ‘come of age’ in terms of both the quantity and the quality of its national research profile.