Rut Jorunn Rønning: The school of music and performing arts, an art and knowledge-based institution?

Field of study: Music Education

This project is about identifying and analyzing distinctive features of the schools of music and performing arts as institutions related to art and knowledge through three actors: public policy, teachers at the schools of music and performing arts and management at these schools. A qualitative analysis of the schools of music and performing arts framework plan and chapter 8 about the schools of music and performing arts in government announcement 18, 2020-2021, in addition to qualitative research interviews with informants from the field of practice, will constitute empirical evidence.

The hermeneutic tradition of interpretation forms the basis of the work with empiricism. The material will be illuminated and discussed in relation to various theories. The binding theoretical framework are disciplines within the new sociology of culture, and the theoretical approaches are management theory and art education philosophy.

Research questions

The project will identify which view of art and knowledge is applicable to the Norwegian public schools of music and performing arts, and examine it in relation to three actors:

• Public policy in relation to public documents
• Teachers within the schools of music and performing arts
• Management within the schools of music and performing arts

The investigation will consider how these three actors, with their views of art and knowledge, contribute to identifying and analyzing the distinctive features of the schools of music and performing arts as an institution.

The main research question is:

What kind of view of art and knowledge characterizes the schools of music and performing arts as an institution and how is it constituted by different actors?

The following sub-dilemmas contribute to discussions and conclusions that shed light on the main research question:

• What views of art and knowledge about the schools of music and performing arts are expressed in public policy?
• Which views of art and knowledge are expressed among teachers at the schools of music and performing arts?
• What views of art and knowledge are expressed among the management at schools of music and performing arts?