MENZA Conference Online: Curriculum design with Dr Graham McPhail

Making deep connections within and across our curriculum: an approach to curriculum design, with Dr Graham McPhail.

One way in which the hauora of our ākonga can be nourished at school is through providing opportunities for deep conceptual learning. This workshop session responds to the call for deep learning and the development of critical thinking in music education – two catch-cries of the 21st century learning narrative. I will provide some examples of curriculum design and pedagogy that have been developed using the CDC Model – a model aimed at bringing about curriculum design coherence for deep learning – and then will work with participants using the model to design a topic or lesson. The aim of the workshop is to increase our awareness of the importance of our design competencies and the impact this can have on student learning. While examples shared will deal with typical western music topics, the potential for the model to be used through a bi-cultural lens will also be explored.

Dr Graham McPhail is a senior lecturer in the School of Curriculum and Pedagogy, in the Faculty of Education and Social Work, at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He took up this position in 2015 after twenty years of work in the secondary education sector including three years as the National Moderator for NCEA Music. His current research is centred on the role of knowledge in the curriculum, in particular within C21schooling and music education contexts. Along with Dr Vicki Thorpe and Dr Stuart Wise he edited New Zealand’s first volume on secondary school music education Educational Change and the Secondary School Music Curriculum in Aotearoa New Zealand published by Routledge  in 2018.

This workshop is free and you don’t have to be a MENZA member to participate. Please register here to receive the ZOOM link to the session.