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Trevor has worked in education since 1975, spending twelve years as Head of Department at Mangere College and seven years as Head of Department at Selwyn College. He came to the Auckland College of Education as a Senior Lecturer responsible for Secondary Music Education in 1993.
Trevor has also had a long career as a performing musician in New Zealand, Europe, England and the United States, as a jazz drummer and vibraphonist, as a percussionist with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, the St Matthews Chamber Orchestra, the Auckland Symphony Orchestra, and the Mercury Theatre. He also directs the Prohibition Big Band and has been musical director for over a dozen musicals including West Side Story, Oklahoma, Guys and Dolls, South Pacific, They Shoot Horses Don’t They?, Fiddler on the Roof, in both amateur theatre (Howick Little Theatre, Titirangi Players, Glen Eden Play House) and schools.
As a composer, Trevor has written music for school combinations, as well as working as a jingle writer and sound designer in a study co-owned by Jon McKeown. He has written school resources in ear training, improvisation, and percussion scoring, and has written music for several shows (including The Smurfday Party) and wrote the entire show - Tangata Toa. He was also co-publisher for four years of the specialist music teachers’ magazine Music Teach.
Trevor was Project Director responsible for Music in the development of The Arts in the New Zealand Curriculum document and has been a part of the advisory team working on the draft New Zealand Curriculum document 2006. He was Chairperson of the Music Advisory Group responsible for the development of unit standards for the New Zealand Qualification Authority from 1995-2003 (when the position was disestablished). He is National Moderator for unit standards at levels 1-7 2001-2006 and holds a key role in national moderation for NCEA. He has both written and marked national examinations, was regional coordinator for School Certificate 1993-2001, was Assistant Chief Moderator for Bursary Music. He was also on the Expert Panel that developed Achievement Standards for the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) and has ongoing contracts with both the Ministry of Education and NZQA for the writing of training and assessment materials to support the qualification. He was national moderator for music levels 1-4 unit standards and NCEA from 2000-2007.
Trevor was on the Executive of the New Zealand Society for Music Education 1999-2004. He is a member of the Education Advisory Group for the New Zealand Music Industry Commission, and on the Advisory Group for Honours and Masters programmes for the School of Media Arts, for WINTEC, Hamilton, and has carried out quality assurance and moderation work for the Music & Audio Institute of New Zealand, Excel School of Performing Arts, and Nelson School of Music, and has advised UNITEC on the development of a contemporary music education course. Trevor is a member of the International Society for Music Education (ISME) and the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA).
Research and creative outputs
Trevor’s research interests include philosophy of education, music education, assessment in the arts, globalisation, postmodernism, copyright law and the arts, cultural studies, culture and communities of difference.
Trevor's PhD is entitled: Being-literate-in-the-world: Music, Language and Discourse in Education. He completed his Masters of Education in 1998: Music Education in New Zealand Secondary Schools: Crisis or crucible?
Trevor’s recent conference papers include:
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When the canon falls silent: Music education in a globalised and diverse world of local and trans-national identities. International Society for Music Education 28th World Conference, Bologna, Italy, 20-25 July 2008.
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The question concerning creativity. Creativity Enterprise and Policy - New Directions in Education - The annual conference of the Philosophy of Education society of Australasia, Wellington, new Zealand, 6-9 December, 2007.
- Politics, business, and the New Zealand Curriculum. Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia conference, University of Sydney, 23-26 November, 2006.
- NCEA and outcomes-based assessment - the likely impact on university programmes. Vice Chancellor’s Symposium, The University of Auckland, NZ, October, 2006.
- The Arts and new concepts of literacy. Building creative capacities for the 21st century. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. World Conference on Arts Education, Lisbon, 2006.
- Culturally inclusive arts education in Aotearoa/New Zealand. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. World Conference on Arts Education, Lisbon, 2006. (With Anderson, A., Hoeberigs, R., & MacKinnon, L.)
- Education in the new age of empire. 33rd annual Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia conference (PESA). Hong Kong, November 2005.
- Being literate-in-the-world: Re-thinking the values of literacy education. 33rd annual Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA) conference - Education and Values. Melbourne, Australia. 2004.
- You’ve got to accentuate the praxial. International Society for Music Education - commission for the education of the professional musician. Barcelona, Spain. 2004.
- Music and identity. Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia - Education and Difference. The University of Auckland, NZ. November, 2003.
- Whistle while you work? Copyright, education and the ‘man in the street’. Joint Annual Conference of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education (NZARE) and Australian Association for Research in Education, NZARE/AARE. Joint conference proceedings 2003. (With McKeown-Green, A. J.)
- How primary school students view music and the arts. ACE Papers: Working papers from the Auckland College of Education, 2003, 13, pp. 87-101.
- Multiliteracies - a new paradigm for music. SAMSPEL - ISME 2002, 25th world conference and music festival for the International Society for Music Education, Bergen, Norway, 2002.
- Expressive intelligence: The cognitive-affective interface. Breakthroughs in thinking conference, Auckland, NZ. January 2001.
- Assessing for change or changing for assessment. Taonga of the Asia/Pacific Rim conference. New Zealand Society for Music Education and International Society for Music Education, The Edge, Auckland, NZ. July 2001.
- Standards in music: From process to outcomes. (1997). Access: Critical perspectives on cultural and policy studies in education, 16(2), 74-81.
Creative outputs
2006 Ministry of Education contract
Upgrade of Level 1, 2 and 3 Music assessment exemplars for Te Kete Ipurangi website.
Trevor Thwaites and Maree Ferens
2006 Ministry of Education contract
Rewrite of Level 3 Music assessment exemplars
Developer: Trevor Thwaites
Critiquer: Maree Ferens
2003 Ministry of Education contract
Achievement Standards teacher training and facilitation materials (including audio-visual materials) - Music, Level 3.
Trevor Thwaites and Maree Ferens
2001 Ministry of Education contract
Levels 1 and 2 Music (subject specific) training materials development
Trevor Thwaites and Maree Ferens
2001 Ministry of Education contract
Achievement Standards teacher training and facilitation materials (including audio-visual materials) - Music, Level 1.
Trevor Thwaites and Maree Ferens
