Promoting cultural understandings through collaborative teaching: virtual drumming opportunities in teacher education

Valuing diversity in education and educational research is at the heart of higher education institutes. This research takes place in Australia, a multicultural society that is still predominantly Western Anglo-Celtic. Through blended modes of delivery, this paper focuses on three tertiary educators collaborative autoethnographic voices sharing how they used drumming as a conduit to teach about music and culture from different lands. In preparing initial teacher education students to be culturally responsive, they argue that pre-service teachers need to be exposed to different pedagogies and practices that foster cultural competencies. Through reflection and collaboration, they provide insight into promoting diverse music and culture that can build cultural competence and culturally responsive pedagogies. They recommend working with colleagues, culture bearers, and local communities locally or virtually as an effective way to promote intercultural understandings. This paper adds to the body of the literature for teacher educators to work reflexively in blended modes. Further research is required to support the value of teaching diverse music and culture to pre-service teachers.