Sustainable curriculum innovation through educational design research in conservatoire education

Abstract This study reported a four‐year educational design research (EDR) project at a Dutch conservatoire, where researchers and practitioners collaboratively redesigned the Bachelor of Music curriculum. Through iterative, practitioner‐led cycles of exploration, prototyping, implementation, and evaluation, the intervention produced a shared curriculum lens, an adapted spider web model for curricular coherence, two embedded modules (Reflective Practice and Research), and transferable design principles. Thematic analysis revealed five defining features of the co‐creation process: practitioner ownership, iterative decision‐making, shared conceptual language, balancing tradition with innovation and collaborative reflection. Together, these features illustrate how coupling curricular innovation with professional development and organisational learning fosters sustainable, long‐term educational change. Beyond the conservatoire setting, the study contributed to broader higher education reform by demonstrating how co‐creative EDR processes can support teacher agency and institutional learning in practice‐based disciplines.