This is a short version of the full article that can be read in the antology Becoming Musicians

Student-centred educational practices are often high on the agenda in both educational policy and practice. Student-centred terminology has emerged as a way of promoting alternative teaching methods to the lecture format in higher education, and stimulating more engagement from students. As such, ‘student-centred’ is often understood as opposed to ‘teacher-centred’, and affiliated with approaches to teaching that are ‘learner-focused’ rather than ‘content-focused’ (see e.g. Baeten et al., 2016; Damsa & de Lange, 2019; Uiboleht, Karm & Postareff, 2018).However, rather than understanding teacher-centeredness and student-centeredness as opposites, it may be more productive to perceive them on a continuum of pedagogical approaches that complement and even depend on each other in everyday practice (Elen et al., 2007).