The music education students of today are the music teachers of tomorrow. They are also the future authors of curricula, future researchers and future teachers of music education students. The basis for this paper is that the views and ideas of music education students matter. Not only for what they can do in the future but also how they affect music education of today.

The Swedish educational system stands before educational challenges, and also challenges for music education. There are demographic changes that affects the Swedish school system and the influence of neo-liberal ideas have impact. Music education is affected by different issues, such as, political decisions, migration, the me-too-movement and digitalisation. These issues, and many more, must be considered in music teacher education of today.

Within a course of music sociology, seven third year students in music teacher education have worked with issues of ethnicity, gender, class and structural changes in society. In the course they have worked with reflection, discussions, combinations of art forms, as well as reading and writing texts. The outcome, as presented here today, is the discussion of the subject of music in the future school. In this seminar, the framework of the course will be given and some challenges for Swedish music education of today. Then, the students will present their ideas for music education in the future when regarding structural issues in the school they will teach in, the music they will teach, the tools they will use, the curriculum they will create, and the values and the methods in future music education.

As music educators within music teacher education, we must not only prepare our music education students for teaching but also to be creative. What they do during their education affect their teaching