Social Innovations in Music Education: Creating Institutional Resilience for Increasing Social Justice

Abstract

This article addresses the discourse on social justice and inclusion in music education by exploring how educational systems can be transformed in the rapidly changing world of late modernity. We aim to show that one possible approach to tackling injustice in music education at the micro level is to reflect on the possibilities for institutional change at the macro level. As an institutional context, we use Basic Education in the Arts, a characteristically Finnish system of extracurricular arts education. With the help of systems analysis and a case from the Arts as Public Service: Strategic Steps towards Equality (ArtsEqual) research project, we aim to show that the resilience of a music education system can be supported by institutional innovations that help to redefine the system's purpose and identity and make its boundaries more flexible. Our case study, the Flora project, suggests that institutional innovation can lead to new insights on how social justice and inclusion may be enhanced within a music education system by opening its borders to the exchange of new information and resourcing options. However, to grasp the full import of such initiatives requires that policy makers and institutional leaders understand the need to reflect critically on the possibilities of institutional change, recognizing the important role that operators within the system can play in such change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]