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The 2030 Agenda: The potential of Sweden’s art and music schools to achieve the 17 Sus- tainable Development Goals

Knutsson, Ida LU orcid (2024) In Finnish Journal of Music Education 01(27). p.26-41
Abstract
This article considers the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Na-
tions 2015) and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to music
education and specifically small-group instrumental teaching. Sweden ranks high
in democracy indices and was recently judged to be the fourth-most democratic country in the world according to Economist Intelligence (EIU 2022). Nonetheless, the Swedish society struggles with issues such as inequality and segregation. The 82 Swedish billionaires’ wealth amounts to USD 2 418 billion, which equals 49 per cent of Sweden’s GDP (Cervenka 2022), while 9.2 per cent of all children and their families in Sweden are financially vulnerable (Rädda Barnen 2021). The definition of... (More)
This article considers the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Na-
tions 2015) and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to music
education and specifically small-group instrumental teaching. Sweden ranks high
in democracy indices and was recently judged to be the fourth-most democratic country in the world according to Economist Intelligence (EIU 2022). Nonetheless, the Swedish society struggles with issues such as inequality and segregation. The 82 Swedish billionaires’ wealth amounts to USD 2 418 billion, which equals 49 per cent of Sweden’s GDP (Cervenka 2022), while 9.2 per cent of all children and their families in Sweden are financially vulnerable (Rädda Barnen 2021). The definition of poverty differs between countries. Those living in poverty in Sweden can usually pay their bills and afford food, but may not be capable of paying for children’s leisure activities – their quality of life is negatively affected and there is a risk of social exclusion. Swedish music education researchers (for example, Di Lorenzo Tillborg 2021; Jeppsson 2020) have taken an interest in how leisure time music
education might contribute to a more democratic society through broadened recruitment and increased availability and access.
This article will also discuss teachers’ professional duty to enact social responsibility
(Westerlund & Gaunt 2021) and democratic teaching (Biesta 2017). Teachers are to implement sustainable education, and thus their professionalism affects the degree to which in practice their teaching aligns with the SDGs. To make the democratic dimension explicit by linking Swedish art and music schools (kulturskolor) to the 2030 Agenda could strengthen music education’s legitimacy and future relevance.
The issues at stake are universally agreed to be desirable, namely the 2030 Agenda’s ambition to create a better world. Any tensions between normative and epistemic ideals must be dealt with responsibly. Renn (2021) describes how a goal-oriented research approach should work to systematically produce knowledge that is oriented towards a specific problem; the research provides background knowledge on which policymakers can base their decisions, and which thus helps society reach its predefined goals or address its problems. The researcher’s task is to propose strategies and assess their effects and side effects while adopting an analytical and ideology-critical approach to the analysis to counter wishful thinking or researcher’s bias (Renn 2021). (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Agenda 2030, Expanding professonalism, Group teaching, Social responsibility, Swedish art and music school, Music education, Instrumental teaching
in
Finnish Journal of Music Education
volume
01
issue
27
pages
15 pages
publisher
Sibelius Academy
ISSN
1239-3908
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3b94e4a3-1c53-41ef-8078-c67b6b0799ef
date added to LUP
2024-08-08 13:48:08
date last changed
2024-08-16 13:01:38
@article{3b94e4a3-1c53-41ef-8078-c67b6b0799ef,
  abstract     = {{This article considers the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Na-<br/>tions 2015) and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to music<br/>education and specifically small-group instrumental teaching. Sweden ranks high<br/>in democracy indices and was recently judged to be the fourth-most democratic country in the world according to Economist Intelligence (EIU 2022). Nonetheless, the Swedish society struggles with issues such as inequality and segregation. The 82 Swedish billionaires’ wealth amounts to USD 2 418 billion, which equals 49 per cent of Sweden’s GDP (Cervenka 2022), while 9.2 per cent of all children and their families in Sweden are financially vulnerable (Rädda Barnen 2021). The definition of poverty differs between countries. Those living in poverty in Sweden can usually pay their bills and afford food, but may not be capable of paying for children’s leisure activities – their quality of life is negatively affected and there is a risk of social exclusion. Swedish music education researchers (for example, Di Lorenzo Tillborg 2021; Jeppsson 2020) have taken an interest in how leisure time music<br/>education might contribute to a more democratic society through broadened recruitment and increased availability and access.<br/>This article will also discuss teachers’ professional duty to enact social responsibility<br/>(Westerlund &amp; Gaunt 2021) and democratic teaching (Biesta 2017). Teachers are to implement sustainable education, and thus their professionalism affects the degree to which in practice their teaching aligns with the SDGs. To make the democratic dimension explicit by linking Swedish art and music schools (kulturskolor) to the 2030 Agenda could strengthen music education’s legitimacy and future relevance.<br/>The issues at stake are universally agreed to be desirable, namely the 2030 Agenda’s ambition to create a better world. Any tensions between normative and epistemic ideals must be dealt with responsibly. Renn (2021) describes how a goal-oriented research approach should work to systematically produce knowledge that is oriented towards a specific problem; the research provides background knowledge on which policymakers can base their decisions, and which thus helps society reach its predefined goals or address its problems. The researcher’s task is to propose strategies and assess their effects and side effects while adopting an analytical and ideology-critical approach to the analysis to counter wishful thinking or researcher’s bias (Renn 2021).}},
  author       = {{Knutsson, Ida}},
  issn         = {{1239-3908}},
  keywords     = {{Agenda 2030; Expanding professonalism; Group teaching; Social responsibility; Swedish art and music school; Music education; Instrumental teaching}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{27}},
  pages        = {{26--41}},
  publisher    = {{Sibelius Academy}},
  series       = {{Finnish Journal of Music Education}},
  title        = {{The 2030 Agenda: The potential of Sweden’s art and music schools to achieve the 17 Sus- tainable Development Goals}},
  volume       = {{01}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}