Education | 91300 Massy, France | EducOpera : Erasmus +

THE PROJECT

While the factors leading to early school leaving vary from country to country (Recommendation on policies to reduce early school leaving, EC, 2011), the causes of ineffective policies can be boiled down to three typical deficiencies : 1. lack of a comprehensive strategy ; 2. lack of evidence-based policy-making ; 3. insufficient prevention and early intervention.

Learning music enhances a cognitive, emotional, physical and social development of youngsters and is a main source of creativity. Musical education and more generally artistic education as soon as possible is most necessary for children to become adults open on the world, with the relevant knowledge and critical thinking for sharing values with the future generations (Suzana Kubik, France Musique, 2016). In an approach based on praxis, according to David J. Elliot, rhetorician in education and musician, education to music is more pragmatic than esthetic. Antti Juvonen states that « in the heart of pedagogy is the musical experience. Pupils are asked to play the instruments and to sing in order to better understand the music not as an abstraction, but through practice and sensations it reveals. Acting for feeling and understanding before learning a theoretical knowledge, this is the methodological principle». At school, education to music is part of compulsory education.

Musical education tackles three main objectives : listening to music, playing and/or composing the music, building a musical and artistic education.

Three main pedagogical actions are implemented: listening, playing and composing. In complement of the formal education, many extra-curricular activities are offered such as choirs in the framework of schools or outside schools with annual concerts to play the work done all the yearlong.
Moreover, education to music combines much knowledge : history, literature, or sciences. Therefore it plays a specific role in transversal pedagogical strategies and multidisciplinary learning (such as history of arts). Many opportunities are offered to youngsters outside school to play the music: in association, in conservatories...

Education to opera allows an opening of youngsters to artistic culture (most favored by Key competence 8) with a cultural practice which used to be a popular one. This pedagogical approach is a main asset for creativity (key competence 7) and therefore for a harmonious personal development. The opera involves disciplines such as music, drawing, sports, dance. Education to Opera may reveal hidden talents, it enhances a collective and team spirit, it improves culture and knowledge, it allows to acquire various competences, to master one’s body, concentration and breathing, it stimulates memory, it combines written and oral expression in mother tongue or a foreign language (key competence 1 & 2) , it develops the personality of the teenagers, it is a main asset for empowerment.

The EducOpera means to struggle against Earlys School Leavin (ESL) through the acquisition of skills & competences by the means of Education to Opera. To achieve this aim, it intents to design 3 main intellectual outputs :
1- A tool & method (IO1) to identify and assess the competences acquired by teenagers thanks to an education to music in general and Opera in particular which might be relevant skills & competences required at school

2- A training for professionals (IO2) - educators being trained to this pedagogical & innovative approach to enrich their professional practice and being able to use the IO1 in their assessment
3- A guidance for professionals in order for them to be able to explain the EducOpera approach to other teachers/educators (at school and outside school) teaching musical education (IO3) making the link with the struggle against Early School Leaving (ESL) ; learning to learn making the link between formal, non-formal and informal learning.

On the basis of national experiences and pedagogies already implemented the EducOpera project is meant to offer a general pedagogical strategy to enhance education to Opera as an innovative way to struggle against Early School Leaving (ESL) in Europe.

OBJECT & OBJECTIVES

EducOpera – Struggling against Early School Leaving with an education to Opera

At school, education to music is part of compulsory education. Musical education tackles 3 main objectives: listening to music; playing and/or composing the music; building a musical and artistic education. Three main pedagogical actions are implemented: listening, playing and composing. In complement of the formal education, many extra-curricular activities are offered such as choirs in the framework of schools or outside schools with annual concerts to play the work done all the yearlong (http://www.education.arts.culture.fr/).

Moreover, education to music combines much knowledge: history, literature, or sciences. Therefore it plays a specific role in transversal pedagogical strategies and multidisciplinary learning (such as history of arts). Many opportunities are offered to youngsters outside school to play the music: in association, in conservatories... In France, classrooms with an adapted schedule (CHAM) are offered to motivated pupils/students since primary school, in complement to compulsory education, in the field of music (circulaire N° 2002-165 - 29 août 2002 - http://www.education.gouv.fr/).

For the past 5 years the Opera in Massy has been implemented a project « Opéra à l’école » (Opera at school) with a primary school in Brunoy (Essonne, Ile de France). With two classrooms of pupils aged 9 years, an original play is prepared (dedicated to Bach, Didon et Enée, an opera by Mozart, fairy tales...) with a director, a scenarist, a conductor, a chief f choir and two teachers in primary school in order to make the ling with school (B. Esposito, 2017)

In an approach based on praxis, according to David J. Elliot, rhetorician in education and musician, education to music is more pragmatic than esthetic. Antti Juvonen states that « in the heart of pedagogy is the musical experience. Pupils are asked to play the instruments and to sing in order to better understand the music not as an abstraction, but through practice and sensations it reveals. Acting for feeling and understanding before learning a theoretical knowledge, this is the methodological principle». Learning music enhances a cognitive, emotional, physical and social development of youngsters and is a main source of creativity. Musical education and more generally artistic education as soon as possible is most necessary for children to become adults open on the world, with the relevant knowledge and critical thinking for sharing values with the future generations (Suzana Kubik, France Musique, 2016).

The EducOpera project means to design

1- A tool & method (IO1) to identify and assess the competences acquired by teenagers thanks to an education to music in general and Opera in particular which might be relevant skills & competences required at school

2- A training for professionals (IO2) - educators being trained to this pedagogical & innovative approach to enrich their professional practice and being able to use the IO1 in their assessment

3- A guidance for professionals in order for them to be able to explain the EducOpera approach to other teachers/educators (at school and outside school) teaching musical education (IO3) making the link with the struggle against Early School Leaving (ESL) ; learning to learn making the link between formal, non-formal and informal learning