Curriculum 21 - Music
The first common curriculum for elementary school in German-speaking Switzerland is still being consulted on until the end of the year.
Curriculum 21 is a thick tome, and the Music curriculum comprises 29 pages. It sets out minimum requirements that all pupils should achieve. In accordance with the objectives of the curriculum, musical competence is built up over six areas of competence: singing and speaking, listening and orienting oneself, moving and dancing, making music, creative processes and the practice of musical knowledge (Music curriculum, meaning and objectives, S. 1).
Didactic instructions are followed by detailed tables that break down the development of skills into individual steps. The teacher is expected to act "as a role model for a musically interested person, as a musical communication partner and as a facilitator of musical processes" (p. 3).
As the Swiss-German Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (D-EDK) writes in a press release dated June 28, the parties concerned have until the end of the year to submit their comments. The revised curriculum is to be submitted to the Swiss-German Directors of Education for approval in fall 2014. It will then be up to the individual cantons to implement it.
Comments to the Curriculum 21 - Music
Wolfgang Böhler in the online magazine Codex Flores on June 28, 2013: Curriculum 21 and music
Hans Brupbacher in the Swiss Music Newspaper (10/2013, S. 23): Education for sustainable development
