Facilitators and barriers to the Music College Entrance Examination among Chinese ethnic minority students

ABSTRACT

The question of how to better prepare ethnic minority students to access higher music education has raised concerns around the world in terms of educational equity and cultural diversity. In China, despite similar concerns, little is known about the preparation process and experiences of ethnic minority students to take the Music College Entrance Examination (MCEE). In this qualitative case study, we investigated the facilitators and barriers faced by 22 high school students of Yi, Mongolian and Tibetan backgrounds while preparing for the MCEE in a multi-ethnic school in Sichuan province, southwestern China. The methods included participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The facilitators identified in the study were support from family members, local teachers’ devotion, positive peer influences and nationally renowned ethnic musicians as role models. The five main barriers were financial difficulties, parents’ misconception of the value of the MCEE, limited expertise of local music teachers, exam-oriented school climate and the MCEE’s structure based on Western classical music. Based on the findings, suggestions for adopting affirmative action and reforming the structure of the MCEE are proposed.

KEYWORDS:

• Music College Entrance Examination (MCEE)
• higher music education
• equity
• ethnic minority student
• ethnic music
• policy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

The research reported in this article has obtained a formal ethical approval from the Human Research Ethics Committee of Education University of Hong Kong (Ref.no. 2018-2019-0380). As explained clearly during the ethical approval procedure, none of the authors exercised any power or employment relationship with any of the participants. The participants in the research have partaken voluntarily and given their informed consent. They were informed about the research design, aim, and planned report before the start of the study and that they could withdraw their participation at any time. The participants were promised confidentiality, and that the created empirical material was to be stored securely only accessible to the researcher.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Guangdong Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Foundation [grant no GD23YYS12] and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [grant no 2023T160143].

Notes on contributors

Tao Guan

Tao Guan presently serves as an Associate Professor at the College of Music and Dance, Guangzhou University, China. His research interests encompass intercultural music learning, intergroup attitudes and identity issues, including musical, ethnic and national identities, within the realm of music education, employing a mixed-method research approach. His publications have been featured in various journals, such as Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, Music Education Research, International Journal of Music Education, Chinese Music, People’s Music, and the Journal of Xinghai Conservatory of Music.

Ning Luo

Ning Luo serves as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts at the Education University of Hong Kong. She earned her EdD from the Education University of Hong Kong, obtained her Master of Arts Education from South China Normal University and holds a BA in Art History from the China Central Academy of Fine Arts. Dr. Luo’s research interests span Community-Based Arts Education, arts education in rural China and gender issues within the field of arts education. Her publications can be found in International Journal of Art and Design Education, Arts Education Research, 美育學刊, International Journal of Arts Education, Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, Music Education Research and International Journal of Music Education.

Koji Matsunobu

Koji Matsunobu presently holds the position of Associate Professor and serves as the Acting Head of the Department of Cultural and Creative Arts at the Education University of Hong Kong. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Music, University of Queensland, Australia, a former member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Music Education (2016–2018), the Fulbright scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He currently serves on the advisory boards of the International Journal of Music Education, the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, and the Korean Association of Qualitative Research. He is particularly interested in spirituality, indigenous knowledge, qualitative research, world music, creativity and mindfulness. His publications can be found in Harvard Educational Review, British Journal of Music Education, Music Education Research, International Journal of Music Education, Journal of Aesthetic Education, Journal of Research in Music Education, and handbooks and edited books.