Name
The Potential Power of Pedagogical Love in Music Education
Date & Time
Friday, July 31, 2026, 9:45 AM - 10:00 AM
Description
The Finnish Teacher Education is based on the notion of pedagogical love, first named as teacher’s love by Cygnaeus in 1863 (Mikkola, Leinonen & Rekola, 1937). Recently, pedagogical love (Kaukko, Wilkinson & Kohli, 2021) or love pedagogy in which, emotional and relational aspects are inseparable dimensions of education (Daaboul, 2024) has become a subject of interest in the field of education. Silvermann (2022) discusses the implications of critical pedagogy as pedagogy of love in Music Education. There has been, however, no scientific discussion of pedagogical love connected to professional agency in Music Education. Thus, the aim of the study is to investigate how pedagogical love manifests itself in the experiences of the Finnish Music Educators and what are the educational possibilities for Music Education that arise from these experiences. Pedagogical love emerged as an interesting factor in the Music Educators’ experience of their agency in a broader data collected to investigate the professional agency of Finnish primary school Music Educators. The aim of this qualitative study is to examine the views and experiences of Music Educators (N=10) about pedagogical love in their everyday work. The participants of the study were 10 Music Educators from different parts of Finland who took part in semi-structured interviews. The data was analyzed by conducting qualitative content analysis by using inductive approach. The interview data highlighted the aspiration of a Music Educator to ensure the participation of every student in joint music-making. The basis for enabling student participation is pedagogical love that the teacher feels for one’s students, ”a striving free form all selfishness to help people live a richer life and find themselves” (Harva, 1955, 60; see also Kaukko et al., 2021). Pedagogical love becomes evident in the data as the Music Educator desires to acknowledge the uniqueness of every child. E.g. encouragement and showing empathy are acts of pedagogical love of a professional Music Educator. According to the findings, pedagogical love manifests itself in the actions of Music Educators as they strive, above all, to involve every child in joint music-making; thus, to connect every child to their own community with a unique voice of their own, both concretely and symbolically. Since joint music-making is potentially a dialogical activity, it contains the possibility to empower the individual and thus, to change the community as a whole (see Silverman, 2022, Lindström 2011, 193-198, Burbules, 1993 and Buber, 1965).
Location Name
510A
Full Address
Palais des Congres - Montréal Convention Centre
1001, Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle
Montreal QC H2Z 1H2
Canada
1001, Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle
Montreal QC H2Z 1H2
Canada
Session Type
Short Paper Presentation
Presenting Author(s)
Tuija Elina Toikkanen