Maria João Vasconcelos

Biography

Maria João Vasconcelos is a Music Education teacher and is currently developing a Doctoral Project in Education (Supervision and Assessment), hosted by the Research Units of the University of Aveiro INET-md and CIDTFF, and funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology. She holds a master’s degree in musical sciences (ethnomusicology) from UNL-FCSH and a bachelor’s degree in music education from IPC-ESEC. In addition to these qualifications, she has completed the General Violin Course and attained the last grade in Musical Training from the Calouste Gulbenkian Conservatory in Aveiro. She has participated in various Erasmus projects as a teacher and is the author of publications in the fields of Music and Education. Additionally, she has been a flautist in a wind band for many years.

Doctoral project

Title
Musical Education in the Secondary School: didactic contributions for quality education

Supervisor
Helena Caspurro

Co-advisor
Nilza Costa

Abstract
The problem addressed aimed to respond to emerging challenges in Education, such as the development of critical, creative, and holistic thinking, cooperation, and self-regulation of learning, within the secondary music curriculum. The central question was whether a possible pedagogical implementation, integrating music learning through composition and Problem-Based Learning, could offer a path to addressing these challenges. The project presents a study conducted in a Portuguese school over the course of an academic year, led by the teacher-researcher in an 8th-grade music class. The study also included the participation of two other schoolteachers through the implementation of a supervised activity. The researcher maintained a research diary, recorded audiovisuals of classroom sessions, and conducted interviews with students and teachers. The results pointed to possibilities for teaching, learning, and assessment focused on composition, integrating the concepts of audiation, sound before symbol, and thinking in sound/music, as well as fostering cooperative work, positioning the teacher as a facilitator, and decentralizing assessment. These ideas, which conceptually framed the guiding principles of the implemented and analyzed pedagogical action, aligned with other studies and literature, revisiting and consolidating constructs problematized and deepened in this research, which have since been published. The benefits reflected the development of musical, creative, social, and problem-solving skills, while the constraints were linked to students’ adaptation to the planned strategies and the complexity of learning assessment. The study’s implications lie in the possibility of adjusting the didactic framework that structures the conceptual and organizational model developed and proposed, considering alternative approaches to composition or focusing on different curricular domains of music, such as listening and performance, while incorporating complementary assessment criteria.

Keywords
Action Research; Authentic Assessment; Composition; Cooperative Work; Music Education; Problem-Based Learning; Teacher as Facilitator.

Funding
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (SFRH/BD/147004/2019)