Wicked Problems and Good Work in Music Teacher Education

Wicked Problems

The notion of a wicked problem is usually attributed to a seminal paper published in 1973 by urban planners Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber, who observed that most social problems elude clear definition and resist linear approaches to their solutions. When I first heard this term, common synonyms sprang to mind, such as evil, malicious, nasty, and severe. Rittel and Webber, though, use wicked in an especially intriguing way, delineating the concept from common usage by contrasting tame and wicked problems. A tame problem

Stop and think for a moment. What sorts of problems in teacher education at large or music teacher education specifically could be categorized as tame under these characterizations? For example, which lines of research can you name in which we have been able to work through a class of problems systematically in order to come to clear solutions with clear resolutions? Citing examples is challenging. The most urgent, complicated, persistent, and interrelated dilemmas in music teacher education are clearly not so tidy and contained. They warrant a more sophisticated, if somewhat daunting, label. Wicked problems

Again, list your most likely candidates. As a starting place, I would nominate the following on my Wicked Problems of Music [Teacher] Education list ¹ : conceptualizing (good, effective, ethical, excellent) teaching; designing flexible, fair, and fitting systems for music teacher evaluation; aligning musical practices and programs to realize the aims of social justice; closing the gap of access to music study for underrepresented groups; diversifying the music teaching force; reinvigorating the status of music education in schools; responding with clarity to conflicting and competing policy claims about the benefits of music; influencing policy; fostering productive collaborations between schools and universities and within schools of music; supporting meaningful music teacher learning through professional development; preparing new music teachers for an uncertain future; and generating innovative and sustainable curricular reform in our field.

Each one of these problem domains is infused with uncertainty, ambiguity, and contradiction. Various stakeholders frame and investigate any of the domains from distinctly different vantage points. Our good scholarly habits predispose us to study any problem space deeply and thoroughly by consulting the literature, debating, conceptualizing, and taking the time to construct elegant and beautifully rendered plans before we launch forth toward solution. Conklin (2006, chap. 1) contends that

while studying a novel and complex problem is natural and important, it is an approach that will run out of gas quickly if the problem is wicked. Pure study amounts to procrastination, because little can be learned about a wicked problem by objective data gathering and analysis. (p. 12)

This is an unsettling remark, but it rings true with the ongoing demands of responding, reacting, and reflecting on policy issues and persistent calls for reform in teacher education that sometimes shape-shift into something else entirely before we can even list some possible strategies for action. Reading the literature about wicked problems gives us insights (and perhaps permission) to alter our approaches. What is quite clear to me when applied to music teacher education is that the amelioration of some of the dilemmas that beset the field can only be apprehended from multiple perspectives, tackled from many angles, and addressed by moving more quickly into action, while staying alert to unexpected dilemmas and solutions that emerge along the way. Accordingly, the notion of good work helps us mobilize our collective strengths and capacities as a society.

Good Work

For a society to move beyond a self-perpetuating cycle of meetings and activities, it must align with larger purposes, move forward with appropriate speed, and respond to criticism of its efforts. At the end of the first decade of SMTE’s history, Eunice Boardman, who served as the first appointed chair of the society in 1984, took stock of the group’s early accomplishments and questioned whether the society had become the “strong and active force that [serves] as a cohesive agent for the profession” (Boardman, 1992, p. 2). More recent criticism of the status of music teacher education within the profession came from Jeff Kimpton in his address in Minneapolis in 2004:

We’re still waiting for leadership from, and standing in, this organization (MENC), as well as recognition that there is a need for new models, sponsored research or networks of colleges and districts, teachers and professors and students doing innovative work. (Kimpton, 2005, p. 9)

Current efforts since the establishment of the Greensboro Symposium in 2005, and particularly the renewed level of discourse and action fostered by the Areas for Strategic Planning and Action (ASPAs) are part of the renaissance of the Society. The concordance of research, practice, and policy has triggered sustained and significant work by the ASPAs. The restructuring of SMTE has prompted wiser use of intellectual capital while fostering greater participation, collegiality, flexibility, and especially productivity. ASPAs exemplify a principle of organizational management described by the noted public leader John W. Gardner, who described a self-renewing organization as one with

many points of initiative and decision, [thus] an innovation stands a better chance of survival; it may be rejected by nine out of ten decision makers and accepted by the tenth. If it then proves its worth, the nine may adopt it later. (J. W. Gardner, 1981, p. 68)

Many points of initiative and discussion enable important projects and initiatives to take root and move into implementation.

Howard Gardner, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and William Damon (2001) explore the concept of good work in professional domains in the fascinating book, Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, they interviewed more than 1,200 subjects from nine professional domains to answer the question “How do individuals who want to do good work—work that is excellent in quality, personally engaging and meaningful, and carried out ethically—succeed or fail at times when things are changing very quickly?” Good work is represented as a triple helix of excellence, ethics, and engagement/meaning; the satisfaction derived from the work depends on the intersections of these three foundations. Unlike many organizational management books that privilege financial success over all other factors, the authors take a more humane and contextual view of professionalism. As part of a multiyear research consortium, the designated professional realms were analyzed according to four components (individual practitioners—the persons who elect the profession; domains or cultures that share knowledge, skills, practices, rules, and values; the field, including the gatekeepers, expert practitioners, and institutions; and other stakeholders, including consumers and citizens). The book concentrates on two areas—genetics and journalism—although other reports are published elsewhere. Genetics was found to exemplify the characteristics of a well-aligned domain; journalism did not. The authors concluded,

A professional realm is healthiest when the values of the culture are in line with those of the domain, when the expectations of stakeholders match those of the field, and when domain and field are themselves in sync. When these conditions exist, individual practitioners are free to operate at their best, morale is high, and the professional realm flourishes. We term this a situation of authentic alignment. (H. Gardner et al., 2001, p. 27)

Clearly, the contrast between authentic alignment and the current state of music education, music teacher education, or education at large should be disturbingly evident. The frustration that many teachers and academics feel about their professional autonomy is inextricably linked to the political milieu in which schools and universities operate. We often feel buffeted by forces beyond our control, especially as we fill yet another set of forms to document how teacher education programs meet proliferating requirements for licensure, just as one all-too-familiar instance.

Although Gardner’s consortium analyzed entire professional domains, I wondered if some of these characteristics could be applied to the good work of a professional society. With considerable license, I have adapted a diagram from an analysis of higher education, another of the domains included in the large-scale project. Berg, Csikszentmihalyi, and Nakamura (2003) looked at institutional strengths, mission statements, hiring practices, constituents, choice of leaders, responses to changes and challenges, and mapped them according to the components of social/cultural forces, external stakeholders, domain and field of higher education (gatekeepers) when considering institutions and their missions in order to trace whether their work was aligned or misaligned (Figure 1). Authentic alignment as described by Gardner et al. is undoubtedly a moving target, but in thinking about the ill-defined, subjective, consensus-resistant, dynamic, and open-ended nature of wicked problems, I find it helpful to portray the multidimensional arenas that must be held at attention as we strive toward seeing more of the factors that contribute to the whole. The claims and expectations of stakeholders, practitioners, researchers, the public, policy makers, and the teachers can be mapped, compared, and examined for divergence and areas of consensus. The resultant diagram is an attempt to capture the complexity of the challenges facing our field, as we align our concerted and collective efforts.

OPEN IN VIEWER

Figure 1.

Pursuing good work as a professional society

As a professional society, SMTE seeks to understand and act on the entire system, while also maximizing expertise by addressing smaller scale concerns through the ASPA structure. Music teacher educators can contribute to vital work within an ASPA in a way that maximizes the contributions of individuals. H. Gardner et al. (2001) describe this goodness of fit:

Harmonious professional realms exist when individual practitioners are attracted to the domains that most suit their interests and abilities, when they are allowed to develop and grow within the parameters of the practice, and when their rewards are commensurate with their skills and contributions. (p. 30)

Pursuing the triple helix of excellence, ethics, and engagement (and the journey toward realization is probably its own reward) inspires us to pursue good work on behalf of music teacher education. At the recent symposium, the conference theme of intersections of practice, research, and policy summoned us to think across categories and areas of specialization, which is critical if we are to address these intersecting problem domains, and to ground our initiatives in the overall milieu of social/cultural forces, stakeholders, and gatekeepers. Failing to do so compromises our efforts as individuals or as a professional society. In a study of leadership, the psychologist Robert Sternberg (2007) wrote, “wisdom is in large part a decision to use one’s intelligence, creativity, and knowledge for a common good” (p. 38). Enabling the integrity and public standing of music teachers’ work is a worthy application of such leadership.

Coda

I return to Garrison Keillor’s quip that “somewhere, there’s an organization just for you.” I am deeply indebted to the SMTE Executive Committee, ASPA Facilitators, the National Executive Board of NAfME and staff for their support of SMTE efforts in the past 2 years. It is a privilege to pursue good work in these challenging times with those who bring such vitality and optimism to the mission. I want to make special note of the exemplary leadership that our immediate past Chair, Linda Thompson, has brought to the Society, and to welcome Doug Orzolek, whose impressive organizational skills and talents will enable productive growth. It has been 30 years since Charlie Leonhard acted as the catalyst for the organization of SMTE at TMEA in San Antonio. From our contemporary vantage point, I imagine that some of the problems expressed at that time are still robust and resilient, but other wicked problems have surfaced and will continue to do so. Although much is in flux, I take satisfaction in knowing that SMTE is poised strategically to address these challenges through its commitment to do good work on behalf of music teachers.