Between “Ethnic” and “Global”: A Qualitative Descriptive Interview Study of Multicultural Music Education in Three International School Types in Guangdong Province, China

The rapid internationalisation of China’s education sector has positioned multicultural music education (MME) as a vital tool for promoting global citizenship. However, empirical research on the implementation of MME in China’s international schools remains limited. This study used a qualitative descriptive design and conducted interviews with 76 music teachers from three school types in Guangdong: International Divisions within Public High Schools (IDPCHSs), Sino-Foreign Cooperative Schools (SFCSs), and Private Chinese International Schools (PCISs). Based on Banks’ multicultural education framework, the findings suggest that participants welcomed MME, but institutional structures shaped the depth and form of MME implementation. Teachers in PCISs, supported by greater curricular autonomy, more often described student-led knowledge construction, identity affirmation, and culturally responsive equity pedagogy. Teachers in IDPCHSs were more likely to implement MME through content integration within existing curricular constraints. Although constrained by its regional and purposeful sample, this paper argues that Chinese ethnic music and global MME should be viewed as interconnected points along a continuum of multicultural engagement, rather than opposing categories. It concludes that effective MME goes beyond simply including diverse repertoires and requires targeted professional development to help teachers bridge local, national, and global musical worlds through listening, participation, comparison, inquiry, and reflection.