Music in education (Docent Muziek)
Lecturer in didactics for primary education, internship supervisor and coordinator of primary education, graduation supervisor, and coordinator of the flexible and accelerated Bachelor’s programme Music Education.
Vivian Knols
She obtained her diploma in School Music and Orthopedagogical Music Practice at Conservatorium Maastricht in 1997. In the same year, she began working as a music teacher in the Primary Teacher Education programme (PABO) at Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Tilburg. For several years, she combined this role with that of specialist music teacher at various primary schools in Maastricht and Tilburg. In 2002, she worked at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague as a lecturer in broad musical development for young children within the PIVO project (Introductory Violin Education Project).
Since 2006, Vivian has been working at De Nieuwste Pabo in Sittard. After completing her Master’s degree in Arts and Education at Fontys University of Applied Sciences and Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, she began in 2012 as a lecturer in didactics for primary education and internship supervisor within the Music in Education programme at Conservatorium Maastricht. With her extensive experience in the network of primary schools and the Network of Music Teachers in Primary Teacher Education (NMP), she plays a connecting role, closely following current developments in music education and fostering effective collaborations. She is actively involved in initiatives such as “Meer Muziek in de Klas” (More Music in the Classroom) and the Music Education Platform Limburg.
In 2020, together with Rens Gresnigt, she gave an online presentation on interdisciplinary integration in music education, titled “Music in Context”. This led to the establishment of a research group and a series of knowledge clips explaining various forms of curriculum integration. These outcomes were presented in June 2024 at the EAS Conference in Dublin. More recently, the fifth edition of Muziek Meester! was published, a handbook for primary school music education co-authored by Vivian and Michel Hogenes. A preview of Chapter 1 is available here.
Vivian regularly provides training for Internal Cultural Coordinators (ICC coordinators) at various cultural education centres in Limburg and trains primary school teachers of groups 1–2 in “Musical Play in Early Childhood”. She is also a trainer in Assessment in the Arts.