Abstract
Arts Education Policy Review has served as a primary resource for understanding policy and a publication that invites readers to “contribute to this conversation as we continue to think about these important ideas and how they might influence policy and practice in all the fields of arts education” (Wiggins, 2015, p. 158). The invitation to participate in policy is a paradigm shift from educators being conditioned by leaders within our profession to differentiate “teachers” from “policymakers” (Barrett & Stauffer, 2009, p. 112). In the spirit of encouraging arts educators to see policy as accessible rather than “beyond our reach,” Schmidt and Colwell’s recent publication, Policy and the Political Life of Music Education (p. 6), provides a broad introduction to policy work in music education, while simultaneously narrowing its focus to problematize issues such as exclusion in higher education, the exclusion of non-performing musicians, and the exclusion of non-Western music. By examining past, present, and future music education policy work from a variety of international perspectives, Schmidt and Colwell seek to provide readers with an understanding of policy, why it matters, why it has been resisted, and why continued participation is essential. The book consists of 15 chapters broken up into three parts: Policy Foundations, International Perspectives on Policy, and Policy in Context. After providing an overview of the book, I found three emerging themes: power and agency, perform-centered policy, and comprehensive music education. After an overview of each chapter, I discuss considerations of the overarching themes, implications for music education, and areas of critical examination.
The purpose of the book is to express the importance of policy participation in music education through a collection of essays written by 17 authors. Consequently, Schmidt and Colwell acknowledge, “As the first book to focus solely on policy as an area of study in music education, it could not and does not offer an exhaustive exploration of policy issues” (p. 1). Instead, the book is a compendium of works by seventeen authors who provide a variety of perspectives pertaining to the political scope of music education. While Schmidt and Colwell describe the book as the first book to only focus on music education policy, it would be more appropriate to describe it as the first book to take a helicoptered view of music education policy without shifting away from the topic itself. For example, Lebler (2015) provided a much larger scope of assessment policy, and Bartleet and Higgins provided over 100 pages dedicated to the topic of politics in community music (Bartleet & Higgins, 2018). Furthermore, Samuel Hope (1985), in his edited book Policy Questions In Music Education, combined essays on policy in music education. What is different about this book is the sheer variety of topics covered under the umbrella of music education policy. Consequently, while the book is divided into three parts, I will examine the interactions between chapters within each part. I then will discuss emerging themes throughout the book and offer a critical analysis. I will conclude by echoing Schmidt and Colwell’s emphasis on teacher agency and offer suggestions on how this book might aid in demystifying the multifaceted phenomenon of policy.