Proven Experience in Higher Dance and Music Education
Short description
What does 'proven experience' mean? How can the concept be understood and applied in higher education in dance and music? The aim of the research project is to increase knowledge about how proven experience, which is a starting point for all Swedish education alongside scientific and artistic foundations, can be developed and integrated into an education where embodied and non-verbal skills play a central role. By identifying the conditions and skills required for proven experience to become a productive tool in higher education teachers' teaching practice, the project contributes to collegial dialogue and subject-specific development. This may ultimately contribute to the development of subject-specific definitions of proven experience. In this way, the project contributes to insights into the use of the concept in both arts and other higher education programmes.
Proven experience in higher dance and music education - conditions and challenges is a dance and music education research project funded by the Swedish Research Council for the years 2025-2028. The project is led by Carina Borgström Källén, Associate Professor in Music Education at the Academy of Music and Drama. In addition to Carina Borgström Källén, the research group consists of Olle Zandén, Associate Professor of Music Education at the Academy of Music and Drama, Birgitta Sandström, Associate Professor of Education at the Academy of Music and Drama, and Ninnie Andersson, Senior Lecturer in Dance Education at the Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH).
In Sweden, proven experience, as well as scientific and artistic foundations, are inscribed as the basis for all education in primary and secondary schools and in higher education. However, there are no common or subject-specific definitions of the concept. This poses legal and pedagogical challenges for teachers and programmes at different levels. So what does it mean to say that experience is proven in the context of education? Are subject-specific definitions necessary for the concept to be productive? If so, how can the concept be understood and applied in higher education in dance and music? These are some of the questions that the Proven Experience research project will seek to answer through focus group interviews with higher education teachers of dance and music. The participating teachers have in common that they have had a long career with both artistic and pedagogical experience.
The aim of the research project is to contribute knowledge about the conditions and skills required for the development and integration of proven experience as a productive tool in programmes where embodied and non-verbal knowledge play a central role. The research team therefore takes the case of higher dance and music education to explore how university teachers describe the use of their artistic and pedagogical experience in teaching. By identifying the conditions and skills required to turn proven experience into a productive concept in these subjects, the project contributes to the production of knowledge about proven experience in teaching practices where embodied knowledge is central. In this way, the project aims to contribute to strengthening the professional spoken language of higher education teachers, with the aim of facilitating peer dialogue and critical constructive review of teaching practices.
Proven experience in higher dance and music education - conditions and challenges
Researchers:
- Carina Borgström Källén, project leader, University of Gothenburg
- Olle Zandén, University of Gothenburg
- Birgitta Sandström, University of Gothenburg
- Ninnie Andersson, Stockholm University of the Arts
- Finansiär: Vetenskapsrådet, bidrag inom utbildningsvetenskap 2024
Project duration: 2025–2028
Grant: SEK 5,987,826
