Editorial introduction: Special Issue on ‘Music Education in Europe’

This Special Issue on popular music education in Europe presents scholarly and ‘Practices and Perspectives’ articles from writers based in Czech Republic, Finland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom. The collection reflects some significant factors that have often prevented the cross-cultural dissemination of European scholars’ research in the field, both within and beyond the continent. These include the region’s fragmentation in relation to both popular music cultures and education systems as well as challenges and threats pertinent to different regions’ wider cultural, political, linguistic, educational characteristics, their history, forms of nationalism and identities. The first article in the collection looks across a range of European Higher Education Institutions in relation to their popular music education offering. After that, each article focuses on particular problems and potential solutions within the context of their own country’s popular music education’s history and present, governmental policy, provision, pedagogy or other areas.