Global mindset and music education: a comparison of curriculum documents in the United States and Spain

Over the past several decades, educational policymakers around the world have made changes based on three competencies they believe students will need to be successful in an increasingly globalized society: Knowledge, skills, and mindset. While many advocacy efforts in music education have focused on the first two global competency domains (knowledge and skills), relatively little attention has been given to the third domain (mindset). In this study, the authors examine and compare written music curriculum documents from two different locations through the lens of global mindset. Findings indicate the Wyoming State Standards (United States) and the Valencian Decree (Spain) diminish music education’s potential to cultivate global mindset because they uphold a hidden curriculum that implicitly and explicitly privileges Western Art Music (and related pedagogy/performance norms). The authors recommend several small changes to written curriculum documents to suppress this hidden curriculum and maximize the natural connections that exist between music education and global mindset. By replacing language that excludes, tokenizes, and “others” with language that promotes awareness and acceptance of multiple musical perspectives, we can strengthen our argument for the inclusion of music as a “basic” part of every student’s educational experience.