Kruger, Corne GerdaErasmus, EwieNagel, B2025-09-012024https://orcid.org/0000-0008-3641-5503http://hdl.handle.net/10394/43343Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies, North-West University, Potchefstroom CampusThe literature expresses concern about the decline in music education in schools worldwide, citing a number of issues. The idea that music is not a necessary part of the curriculum in schools, despite a wealth of academic research confirming the contrary, is reported as one of the main causes for this decline. Changing this unfounded belief in order to transform music education practice starts with teacher education programmes. Fostering transformative learning in music education as part of Foundation Phase teacher education programmes offered by South African Universities, is therefore, essential to transform music education in Foundation Phase classrooms. Grounded in the work of seminal educationalists (Mezirow, 1990, 1991, 1997, 2003; Shulman & Shulman, 2004), the theoretical-conceptual framework of this thesis embraces rational discourse (Mezirow, 2003) and critical reflection (Mezirow, 2003) in transformative learning (Mezirow, 1990, 1991, 1997, 2003), while also acknowledging that transformative learning is dependent on a sound knowledge base of music education practice (Shulman & Shulman, 2004). The literature highlights the role of individual and collaborative critical reflection on previously held assumptions in transformative learning. This study thus sets out to explore how individual and collaborative critical reflection can be fostered in a music education module to equip Foundation Phase students to transform music education practice. The design of the qualitative study draws on pragmatic paradigm (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000), acknowledging the realities of the natural world and the changing nature of knowledge when establishing what is working. In a pragmatic paradigm knowledge is generated through lived experiences and interpretation. Design-based research which is pragmatic in nature, was thus regarded as fitting to explore ways to incorporate both individual and collaborative critical reflection in a music education module that forms part of a teacher education programme. Although DBR is a fairly new approach to educational research, the literature affirms the practical value of this approach in doctoral studies. Employing DBR brings researchers and practitioners together to design practical solutions to context-based educational problems. DBR is also reported to be a scientific way to connect educational theory and practice through the practical testing and refining of design principles that are grounded in theory, leading to new theoretical understandings. The DBR approach enabled the researcher to collaborate with the practitioner, which in this study was the lecturer as designer and presenter of the music module, to improve the design of reflective learning activities that form part of the music education module. Collaboration focused on improving the design of reflective learning activities. The study population comprised two cohorts of Foundation Phase students registered for the music education module in 2021 and 2022 respectively. This module forms part of the second-year curriculum of a Foundation Phase BEd programme offered by a South African higher education institution, offered via contact and distance learning modes of delivery. The design-based research comprises three phases namely a preliminary phase, a prototyping phase and a reflective phase. In the preliminary phase, information was collected from the literature and related documents that informed the initial design of individual and collaborative reflective strategies. Reviewing the literature is, therefore, regarded as a crucial part of the first phase of the DBR. During 2021 and 2022 the designed strategies were implemented in two cycles in the prototyping phase. This phase followed the cyclic steps of collaborative and reflective designing, implementation, evaluation and redesign or adaption of reflective learning strategies by the design team, comprising the researcher and the module lecturer. After the first cycle of the prototyping phase, the literature was again consulted to inform the redesign of the reflective learning strategies. In the first cycle, blogging and WhatsApp groups were employed as vehicle for individual and critical reflection respectively. Based on the findings on the first cycle, journaling uploaded on the LMS, and WhatsApp were implemented in the second cycle of the prototyping phase. Individual interviews were conducted at the end of each cycle to determine participants’ experiences of the critical reflection strategies and the way it supported transformative learning. Data consisted of student individual and collaborative reflections as well as data collected through the individual oral, virtual interviews. A hybrid approach of deductive and inductive analysis was employed in a thematic analysis of the data. Results from the analysis of the two cycles showed that fostering critical reflection in a music education module holds value for transformative learning. Although the reflective tasks fostered critical reflection by participants about their own perceptions of music education practice and contributed to individual knowledge building and the collaborative identification of challenges in music education, the findings showed that the reflective learning strategies need to be planned with prudence. A lack of self-directed learning skills and intrinsic motivation to participate in reflective learning activities may hamper critical reflective and transformative learning. The findings indicated the need for support for the development of self-directed learning through structured and scaffolded reflection tasks guided by the module lecturer and group leaders. The data analysis identified content knowledge and skills as a prerequisite for student competencies such as, vision, motivation, a positive attitude, and self-confidence. The incorporation of individual and collaborative reflection in a reflective practice, with critical reflection at the core of the transformation of music education, is recommended in teacher education programmes. The suggested cyclic framework demonstrates that if students have opportunities to engage in structured and scaffolded individual and collaborative critical reflective tasks, and if these opportunities are founded in relevant music education content knowledge and skills that promote teacher competencies (including vision, motivation, positive attitude and self-confidence), and through which they have opportunities to explore and solve problems on individual and collaborative levels, then the design principles reflected in the framework will ultimately equip students to transform music education practice in the Foundation Phase. Reflective learning was implemented in this study to equip students to transform music education practice in schools with the potential to mitigate the decline of music education in the South African school context. Reflection and specifically critical reflection is necessary to motivate students to think differently about music education and to enter practice with an appreciation of the role music education plays in learning. The study contributes a framework with design principles to improve Foundation Phase student reflective learning in a music module. Although critical reflection was not applied often, the findings showed necessary design features to foster critical reflection by Foundation phase students in a music module including structured and scaffolded individual and collaborative reflective tasks, fixed submission timeframes, allocation of marks to motivate participation in reflective tasks, as well as lecturer and group leader presence in collaborative tasks. A framework is suggested constituting design principles to scaffold critical reflection to motivate transformative learning by the student teachers and thereby equipping them to transform music education practice.enReflectionCritical reflectionIndividual reflectionCollaborative reflectionMusic educationTransformative learningFoundation phaseThesis