About

I am a music teacher on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. I set this site up to reflect upon and share some questions I have of music education – the limited posts here do not suggest that I have few questions (quite the opposite!), but rather reflects the busyness of life and school life in general! The more questions I ask of my teaching the better – for my practice and for my students (hopefully!) – and this site will house some of my on-going reflections, frustrations and successes.

You can also follow me on Twitter – @cmbonar

Dr Cade Bonar EdD, MEd, BMus (Dist), BEd (Hons)

Cade is currently Head of Music at Matthew Flinders Anglican College, an independent school on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. Prior to this, he was the Head of Music at St Andrew’s Anglican College (also on the Sunshine Coast) for 17 years, where he established the Prep to Year 12 curriculum, including extension and immersion programs. Cade is passionate about curriculum, pedagogy and assessment in music, especially in the senior years. Cade was awarded the ‘Music Educating for Life Award’ from the Australian Society for Music Education (ASME) in 2019.

In 2016-17, Cade was External Lead Writer for the redevelopment of the senior Music syllabus (QCAA) as part of the new Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE). Within this new QCE system, Cade is also the Chief Endorser for Music, overseeing the validity and authenticity of assessment tasks before their use within Queensland schools.

Since 2012, he has also been involved as a sessional in writing courses, lecturing, tutoring and course coordination at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC). These experiences provided an invaluable opportunity for reflection into his professional practice as a classroom teacher.

Cade has an interest in school-based research, particularly action research. His doctoral research was situated within his own classroom, where within he engaged an action research methodology to investigate pedagogies and practices that enhance access to meaningful school music education. The findings of this project continue to inform and provoke questions of his practice.

Qualitifications

  • Doctor of Education, Griffith Univerity (2017)
  • Master of Education, Queensland University of Technology (2006)
  • Bachelor of Music (Distinction)/Bachelor of Education (Honours) (2002)

Service and engagement

  • Tertiary Representative, Australian Society for Music Education 
  • Student Representative, Australian and New Zealand Association for Research in Music Education
  • External Lead Writer (Music), Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority
  • Cheif Endorser (Music), Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority
  • Lead Confirmer (Music), Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority
  • Lead Marker (Music), Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority
  • Subject Matter Expert – Standards Setting and Validation, Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority

Memberships

  • International Society for Music Education (ISME)
  • Australian Society for Music Education (ASME)
  • Australian and New Zealand Association for Research in Music Education (ANZARME)