As a Centre for Excellence in Education, CEMPE should contribute to knowledge that could develop and improve the quality of educational practice in higher music education in particular, and in the education sector in general. Acknowledging the limits of transferring knowledge from one context to another, we will in this section elaborate on possible learning points for higher education in general. We have drawn out four areas that might be valuable to look into. These include the expansion of the teacher's role to be more of a mentor than an instructor, the connection between education and society, student agency in their professional development, and national and international cooperation.
Higher music education has some distinctive features. These include the strong link between student and main instrument teacher, that a large part of the teaching takes place individually or in small groups, and that we are part of a centuries-old conservatoire tradition built on the master-apprentice model with solid links between the professional and the educational context.
As the main instrument teaching, which constitutes the core of a music performance programme, takes place individually, there is ample scope for individual adaptation, student-centred teaching and student-active learning. Through numerous projects, CEMPE has challenged the traditional master teacher role and given teachers the tools and confidence to adopt a more coaching or mentoring style of teaching. The projects have involved both individual and group teaching. This has increased students' sense of ownership and agency in their professional development, and developed students' expertise in giving and receiving feedback and expressing their opinions. In particular, the group teaching in main instrument and the fora where students act as each other's mentors have been valuable endeavours. The insights gained from these projects can also benefit other disciplines including supervision, seminar teaching, or internship situations. Other art disciplines where apprenticeship is a key learning and teaching model can also draw inspiration from the development projects exploring mentoring and peer learning.
The link between education and working life has also traditionally been strong in music education programmes. This link is established through the teachers, most of whom are or have been active musicians themselves, and the students, who are often pursuing active performance careers alongside their studies. Moreover, much of the learning is situated as learning through practice, by playing in ensembles, by reflecting and critiquing, by playing concerts and arranging festivals. Still, CEMPE has aimed to make this connection stronger, and to create both equal and relevant practicum opportunities for performance students. However, a challenge arises in the fact that today's professional life for music graduates differs greatly from what most of our teachers are familiar with. This disparity exists both because teachers established themselves in a different era with other societal conditions, and because NMH recruits teachers among the top performers who may not necessarily have experience with portfolio work and composite careers. One solution to this disparity was to open up for student-led projects.
Increased student agency and ownerhsip has been key aims for CEMPE's work, by measures such as mentoring courses, facilitating arenas to stimulate reflections, and have annual calls for student-led projects. Examples of projects include the Core Portfolio, Group tuition and the Child Concert series, described in more detail in other sections. The students themselves are in general very attuned to the societies they want to be engaged in, and also often more attuned to which knowledge and competencies that will be relevant after they graduate than their teachers. By offering project funding for student-led projects and providing an elective course in project management, CEMPE has enabled students to realize plans and start building a career during their studies. We see that many of the students who got this opportunity to run their projects created sustainable initiatives, that provided both themselves and other musicians and music students with opportunities for learning and networking. The structure where students get ECTS credits and a small sum of funding for creating projects of value for the institution and their peers must surely be worthwhile also within other disciplines to increase connections between the education, society and work market.
The role and mandate that follows a Centre for Excellence in Education has been key for our national and international collaborations. As described by previous centre director, Jon Helge Sætre, the close collaboration with AEC on LATIMPE would hardly have been possible if CEMPE had not had an independent role. Nationally we could take a lead within several arenas, and invite contributors from various institutions for seminars and conferences. We could also encourage collaborations across institutions by using collaboration and cross-disciplinary work as selection criteria for project funding.
