Dialogues in education: Exploring cases from music and mathematics education

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore how aspects of dialogic teaching are concretized in classrooms to fill the gap between educational rhetoric and classroom practices. A central competency needed in our time is the ability to participate in democratic dialogue. Education for democratic citizenship can be connected to the notion of “becoming human,” which is a central idea in the Bildung dimension of education. The national educational regulations in Norway state that the teacher’s mandate is not limited to conveying knowledge and skills but also includes fostering the students’ critical reflection, inquisitiveness, and participation. The research questions that guided the study are: What theoretical concepts can be helpful in understanding and analyzing dialogic classroom practices? How can participation be promoted through dialogic classroom practice? How do the dimensions of ontological and epistemological dialogue appear in educational settings, and how do they interact with each other? Methodologically, the article presents, analyzes, and discusses two cases from different educational settings: pre-service teacher education music courses and upper-primary-level mathematics education. The findings show that the chosen theoretical concepts of mathematizing, musicking, and Bildung, as well as ontological and epistemological dialogue, are helpful in making sense of dialogic classroom practices.