| Volume 26 Number 25 | July 31, 2025 |
Navigating Competing Demands Within Music Teacher Education: Biesta’s Three Domains of Educational Purpose
Olivia Tucker
University of Utah, United States
George Nicholson
University of Delaware, United States
Robert C. Jordan
Adelphi University, United States
Citation: Tucker, O. G., Nicholson, G., & Jordan, R. C. (2025). Navigating competing demands within music teacher education: Biesta’s three domains of educational purpose. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 26(25). http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea26n25
Abstract
The purpose of this practitioner article is to present Biesta’s three domains of educational purpose as an adaptable, pragmatic framework that provides stakeholders with language for navigating the complex endeavor of music teacher education in the United States. First, we describe how neoliberal policy has obscured questions of purpose and contributed to an overemphasis on qualification in music teacher education. Then, we argue for the importance of encouraging the emergence of preservice teachers’ subject-ness and offer our utilization of Biesta’s lens as examples of how multidimensionality of purpose might function in practice. Our applications include curricular reform within the confines of accreditation requirements, preservice teachers’ capacity for critique, and the use of Pinar’s currere as an iterative, open-ended assessment.
