Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2008
One of the outcomes of the National Music Administrators' Conference held in Brisbane, Australia, in 1980 was a ‘Rationale for Music Education’ in Australian schools. This paper uses this Rationale as a stimulus for the discussion of the role of music in the curriculum. The issues raised here are neither new nor distinctively Australian. However, an attempt has been made to evaluate critically what Eisner would categorise as the ‘contexturalist’ and ‘essentialist’ justification for music in education. In an age of accountability and timetable restraints, teachers and administrators must explain their curricula to different audiences. Therefore, the ability to justify music in the curriculum must become part of the teacher's professional equipment.