scholarly journals Professional reflexivity and the paradox of freedom: Negotiating professional boundaries in a Jewish Ultra-Orthodox female music teacher education programme

2021 ◽  
pp. 025576142198892
Author(s):  
Heidi Westerlund ◽  
Sidsel Karlsen ◽  
Alexis Kallio
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Music Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Education Programme ◽  
Professional Boundaries ◽  
Instrumental Case Study ◽  
Jewish Music ◽  
Cultural Boundaries

Embracing an ethos of sharing music and practices across cultural boundaries, the multicultural vision of music (teacher) education has paid scarce attention to the paradox of freedom that arises between such freedoms and the complex politics that frame and constrain teachers’ choices and values. In this article, we explore these demands of professional reflexivity through an instrumental case study of music teacher educators working in an all-female, Ultra-Orthodox Jewish music teacher education programme in Israel. Through a thematic analysis of data generated together with six teacher educators, we illustrate how their context-responsive approaches to developing programme visions engage with processes of censorship and cultural translation, as teachers work to align their professional boundaries within established religious boundaries. This boundary-matching and hybridity required may be seen to result in intense processes of professional reflexivity that raises questions as to how all teacher education programme visions might engage with the moral order of a society and highlights the need for international music teacher education to develop a critical, reflexive awareness of how values shape professional work.

scholarly journals Initiating mobilizing networks: Mapping intercultural competences in two music teacher programmes in Israel and Finland

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Miettinen ◽  
Claudia Gluschankof ◽  
Sidsel Karlsen ◽  
Heidi Westerlund
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Music Teacher Education ◽  
Instrumental Case Study ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Educational Challenges ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
Group Interviews

Societies worldwide are becoming more aware of the educational challenges that come with increased cultural diversity derived from ethnic, linguistic, religious, socioeconomic and educational differences and their intersections. In many countries, teacher education programmes are expected to prepare teachers for this reality and develop their intercultural competences. This instrumental case study is based on a project that aims to initiate mobilizing networks between two music teacher programmes to explore intercultural music teacher education. In this study, we map the intercultural competences that are required of music teacher educators and that are provided in the music education programmes at two higher music education institutions in Israel and Finland. The data consists of 11 focus group interviews with music teacher educators at the Levinsky College of Education in Tel Aviv and the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, conducted by a multinational research team. The data was analysed abductively, using content analysis as a method. While the interviewed teacher educators could articulate many aspects of their own intercultural competences or the lack of them, the findings indicate that in musical diversity and teaching students from different musical backgrounds the teacher educators found it difficult to explain what kinds of intercultural competences their respective programmes provided for the students. Based on the findings, there is a need for a more holistic understanding of intercultural competences in music teacher education as well as how our institutions produce power. There is also a need for the teacher educators in the programmes to collaborate and discuss among each other in order to create “knowledge communities” and to move towards addressing intercultural issues.

Pushing the Boundaries from the Inside

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Colleen Conway ◽  
Shannan Hibbard
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Adaptive Expertise ◽  
Music Teacher Education ◽  
Classroom Relationships ◽  
School Based

This chapter situates the study of music teacher education within the larger body of music education and teacher education research. It problematizes the terms teacher training, teacher education, and best practice and introduces the concept of teaching as an “impossible profession.” Goals of teacher education, including reflective practice and adaptive expertise, are discussed. The chapter outlines the challenges that music teacher educators face as they try to prepare preservice teachers for the realities of P-12 school-based music education while instilling in these new colleagues a disposition toward change. It concludes with narratives that examine teachers’ descriptions of classroom relationships throughout the lens of presence in teaching as a way to remind teacher educators of the importance of their work to push the boundaries of music teacher education in order to serve the profession at large.

Music Teacher Education Program Practices: Preparing Teachers to Work With Diverse Learners

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-64
Author(s):  
Mara E. Culp ◽  
Karen Salvador
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Diverse Learners ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Music Teacher Education ◽  
Education Programs

Music educators must meet the needs of students with diverse characteristics, including but not limited to cultural backgrounds, musical abilities and interests, and physical, behavioral, social, and cognitive functioning. Music education programs may not systematically prepare preservice teachers or potential music teacher educators for this reality. The purpose of this study was to examine how music teacher education programs prepare undergraduate and graduate students to structure inclusive and responsive experiences for diverse learners. We replicated and expanded Salvador’s study by including graduate student preparation, incorporating additional facets of human diversity, and contacting all institutions accredited by National Association of Schools of Music to prepare music educators. According to our respondents, integrated instruction focused on diverse learners was more commonly part of undergraduate coursework than graduate coursework. We used quantitative and qualitative analysis to describe course offerings and content integration.

Listening to the Experiences and Concerns of Pre-Service Teachers During Teaching Practice Programme

2021 ◽  
pp. 14-27
Author(s):  
Darshana Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Practical Training ◽  
Teacher Education Programme ◽  
Practice Teaching

Teaching Practice is widely recognised as the sine-qua-non of any teacher education programme. It is a component in the teacher preparation programme where prospective teachers are provided with an opportunity to put their theoretical studies into practice, get feedback, reflect on practice and consequently further improve their teaching skills. As teaching practice is an important component of a teacher education programme, considerable attention must be given to make it more effective and fruitful. This paper is based on a research study conducted to know pre-service teachers' experiences of the quality of teaching practice and the common concerns they have during teaching practice. On the basis of focussed group discussion a total of five themes were identified, these are (1) usefulness of teaching practice (2) experiences/concerns with pupils' behaviour (3) experiences/concerns with own behaviour (4) experiences/concerns with supervisors' behaviour (5) experiences/concerns with institutional and personal adjustments. The outcome of the focussed group discussion was used to prepare a structured questionnaire. Among other things, the study recommended rigorous practical training in lesson planning, demonstration lessons by teacher educators, simulated teaching before the commencement of practice teaching, school orientation programmes, a separate internship of two weeks and writing a journal by student teachers during teaching practice.

Pre-Service Secondary Teacher Education Programme: Some Concerns of Sustainability

2021 ◽  
pp. 29-37
Author(s):  
Indrajeet Dutta
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Secondary Teacher ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Teacher Education Programme ◽  
Teaching Pedagogy ◽  
Secondary Teacher Education ◽  
Do So

With the onset of a new academic session, teacher education programmes across the county will be in a new avatar. The revamping of a teacher education programme has been on the cards for several years but stiff resistance from different quarters of the educational community made it impossible to do so. The revised secondary teacher education programme is new in several counts. Firstly, curricular areas have been made more contextual, class, student and community based. Secondly, teaching pedagogy has been made more child centred, experiential and reflective. Thirdly, internship model has been introduced giving more thrust on acquisition of skills and competencies in actual classroom and real settings rather than artificial settings. But, the reform has brought several challenges in its realm which teacher education programmes and institutes have to face. The present paper deals with the new challenges like demand for teacher education programmes, the role of private teacher education institutes and their increasing focus on commercialization, demand for teacher educators and whether the new system is pro-rich or pro-poor student etc.

Considering Gender Complexity in Music Teacher Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 72-84
Author(s):  
Joshua Palkki ◽  
William Sauerland
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Music Teacher Education ◽  
Social Constructs ◽  
Gender Nonconforming ◽  
Complex Approach ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Many

Gender is one of the many social constructs that can influence teaching and learning. As trans(gender) people “come out” at earlier ages, an increasing number of teachers will have openly identifying trans and gender nonconforming students in their classes. Music educators and music teacher educators are often supporters of LGBTQA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, asexual/agender/ally) students; thus, these constituencies should expand their notions of gender away from a simplistic binary category toward a gender-complex approach in which all students—cisgender, trans, genderqueer, and questioning—can thrive. To that end, we provide an overview of vocabulary and teaching pedagogies pertinent to gender issues in music teacher education. In addition, we offer sample lessons and projects that could be incorporated into preservice music teacher preparation.

Music Teacher Educator Perspectives on Social Justice

2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Salvador ◽  
Jacqueline Kelly-McHale
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Music Teacher Education ◽  
Students With Special Needs ◽  
School Music

Given the shifting demographics in American education, the rising likelihood of students with special needs being taught in inclusive classrooms, and the increasing openness with which students are challenging gender and sex norms, social justice has become a prevalent research topic in music education. This survey sought to investigate the perspectives of music teacher educators with regard to social justice, music education, and music teacher education. Many of the 361 respondents indicated engagement with social justice and shared methods for addressing social justice topics in music teacher education as well as describing limitations that prevented them from doing more. However, about 50% of respondents defined social justice in “difference-blind” terms. A further 10% to 15% of respondents rejected the need to address social justice topics in music teacher education, stated it was not their job, and/or described social justice as a waste of instructional time that should be spent on content. In contrast, 10% to 15% of respondents expressed a desire for assistance understanding more about social justice in school music settings and/or suggestions how to teach about social justice topics in undergraduate music teacher education. This article concludes with a discussion of these findings and suggestions for future research.

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