Making the Case for Equity Pedagogy

Abstract

This colloquy, by graduate-student-led collective Project Spectrum, attempts to map out existing discussions around inclusion and equity in music academia, with a specific focus on identifying and analyzing the structures in academia that work against minoritized and historically excluded scholars. 

Margaret Thomas takes us into the undergraduate music theory classroom, addressing one of the entry points into the music academia pipeline. Thomas proposes two educational theories to make our classrooms more inclusive: universal design for learning (UDL) and equity pedagogy. More importantly, she calls for music pedagogues to be proactive and to address the structural inequities that shape a student’s engagement in and out of the classroom.