Developing and renewing music teacher competences: prospects and challenges

Author(s):  
Jolanta Lasauskiene

The topic of music teacher education and training raises many issues for discussion. The purpose of the present study was to analyse the approach of pre-service music education teachers towards their professional activity and to discuss their expectations within the context of the competence-based education. Thirty four students (international and national), all pre-service music teachers studying in Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, were included. The results indicated that generally the expectations of students were (more or less) in line with the principles of the competence-based initial music teacher education. Prospective music teachers describe their professional activity as broad and multidimensional but they also emphasise the importance of personal and ethnic values, implementation of general, subject-specific and professional competences and continuous improvement. It has been revealed that in music education it is particularly important to combine orientation towards pedagogical activities with orientation towards the spread of the learner’s personality. Keywords: Competence-based education, music teacher education, competences, student’s expectations, Lithuania.

Author(s):  
Urve Läänemets ◽  
Katrin Kalamees-Ruubel ◽  
Kristi Kiilu ◽  
Kadi Kaja ◽  
Anu Sepp

This is the final part of research started in 2014 when development of the new National Curricula (NC) was initiated. The role of music education had to be mapped to prove its meaning as a traditional mandatory subject in the NC. According to the research program, different aspects, related to music education (content, integration of art subjects, informal and non-formal music activities, supportive learning environments, etc.), were analysed. The research of 2020 is summarising the values music education can provide for development of educated, responsible, ethical and creative people. The data collected from essays of school students and (future and in-service) music teachers (n=166), were analysed by qualitative methods. The values were classified by the following categories: social, cultural, cognitive, moral, aesthetic, personal. The research results can be used as arguments for developing music education syllabi in the NCs from kindergartens to gymnasia. The whole program of research is already being used for further development of music teacher education.  


2019 ◽  
Vol 106 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-37
Author(s):  
John Kratus

The future of American music education may be found in its past—a time when music teachers instilled lifelong amateur music-making in their students. There are differences between amateur and professional musicianship, and the focus of American music education shifted from amateurism to semiprofessionalism in the mid-twentieth century. An orientation toward semiprofessionalism makes little sense given the limited performance opportunities in large ensembles after high school and college. This article suggests a way back to nurturing amateurism and highlights two obstacles to this goal: the inflexibility of music teacher education and the profession’s reluctance to accept popular music. The article concludes with a narrative of what a world of amateur musicianship looks like.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 101-114
Author(s):  
Jolanta Lasauskiene ◽  
Yuqing Yang

The main aim of every teacher education programme is to educate competent teachers and to develop necessary professional qualities to ensure lifelong teaching careers for teachers. In various countries different traditions of educating teachers of music have been established following the traditions and needs of each country. The aim of this study is to present and generalise an overview of the most common models of music teacher education in Lithuania (with a focus on Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences) and other countries, so as to highlight the main features that might initiate discussion of critical issues in the context of music teacher education nationally and internationally. The article focuses on pedagogical study programmes of Music Education as well as on similarities and differences in their curricular. The research on models for teacher education in the best foreign higher education institutions creates conditions for adoption of the most successful international teacher education practices. Keywords: Initial music teacher education, teacher education curriculum, teacher education models, study programmes;


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-73
Author(s):  
Monica Lindgren ◽  
Ragnhild Sandberg-Jurström ◽  
Olle Zandén

In this article, we explore and problematise admission tests to specialist music teacher education in Sweden from a governing perspective, where higher music education is considered a discursive practice. It illustrates how power operates in legitimating the tests. The study uses stimulated recall in jury members’ talk about assessing applicants for music teacher education programmes, and uses Foucault’s concept of governmentality to reveal entrance tests as something regarded as generally good for all. This operating discourse is built on governmental rationality and processes that make it possible to reach conclusions about the applicants’ personalities and prospects for learning and developing in the future. Through care as technology of power, failing applicants are excluded from becoming music teachers and at the same time they are rescued from struggling in the future. The results are discussed in relation to issues of democratic music education, ethics and requirements for widened access to higher music education.


Author(s):  
Jolanta Lasauskiene

The professional identity of music teacher represents the essence of this profession. Improving the programmes of music teacher education and deciding how to (re)construct the professional identity of prospective music teachers, it is important to discuss what contextual factors can have an impact on the development of music teacher identity and what possibilities of its (self-) development are available at university. A better understanding of the role-identity of teachers at various stages of their careers could enhance the conceptions of study programmes in music teacher education. The article analyses and discusses the conception of music teacher identities, substantiates its peculiarities during pre-service training, points out the most important characteristics for the successful professional activity of the music teacher. The research presented in the article focuses on professional identity development of 30 university music students (15 Lithuanian and 15 foreign) at Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences (Music Education). The method of focus group interview was used in this study.The research results show that the student music teachers have developed a distinctive attitude towards the professional education in universities and their own expectations. Suggestions for practice and further research are also provided.


Author(s):  
Asta Rauduvaite

The content of music teacher education study programmes is conditioned by the needs of the market economy and information society, higher education as a mass phenomenon, penetration of humanist ideas into the curricula and many other factors. The aim of these study programmes is to respond to the needs of society, develop the competencies of teacher education and establish the right conditions for successful implementation and to achieve the intended learning outcomes. The training of music teachers in China requires overall improvement in the level of music teacher training. The Ministry of National Education provides the curriculum for music teacher education as well as the guidelines for teaching compulsory courses for music teachers at general institutions and prestigious universities in China. This profession is important in professional courses and in the field of pedagogy; therefore, integrating the content of elective courses into professional courses could be more prolific and comprehensive. Keywords: Music teacher education, study programme, music education.


Pedagogika ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-104
Author(s):  
Jolanta Lasauskienė

The purpose of the present study was to investigate student music teachers’ expectations towards their future professional activity and competences of a music teacher. Two groups of students (76 Lithuanian and 64 foreign), who chose studies at Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, participated in the research. In this article, the results from the qualitative survey carried out in 2017 will be highlighted. The results showed that in music education it is particularly important to combine orientation towards pedagogical activities with orientation towards the spread of the learner’s personality. The music students at the University describe their future professional activities as broad and multidimensional ones but they also emphasise the importance of personal values, implementation of general, subject-specific, professional (didactic) competences and continuous improvement. Participation in musical and artistic activities plays a specific role in the spread of professional identity of a music teacher.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 29-41
Author(s):  
Jihae Shin

This aim of this study is to investigate the perspectives of Korean pre-service music teachers on self-directed thesis seminar conducted in the graduate teacher education program. This research focused on 1) the attitude of pre-service music teachers towards self-directed thesis seminar and 2) the impact of self-directed thesis seminar on the progress of the pre-service music teachers’ performance. Ten pre-service music teachers participated in the researcher’s thesis seminar. The results demonstrated that most of the participants were anxious and insecure in managing the various educational resources as well as monitoring the progress of their study. However, the self-directed thesis seminar has indirectly provided the participants with a new learning environment to manage their own goals, initiate their own learning, and responsible for their own progress and outcomes. The findings also showed that collaborative learning is essential as an instructional approach in self-directed learning to enable the participants to share their views from different perspectives and develop critical thinking.


Author(s):  
Jody L. Kerchner ◽  
Carlos R. Abril

One challenge in the education of music teachers is helping them prepare to teach students beyond the traditional school years in a variety of settings. In so doing, music teacher educators should consider: (a) how they can prepare all music majors to engage with community adults through music; (b) how they can better prepare teachers to teach people of all ages in a diverse array of settings in and beyond schools; (c) how they might infuse a lifespan perspective in existing music education courses, from introduction to music education to methods and graduate courses in philosophy; (d) how community music can become a specialized track in music education, at the undergraduate and/or graduate levels; and (e) how they may incorporate additional resources (e.g., personnel, materials, field experience locations) to realize the aforementioned possibilities. This article considers adult characteristics and developmental theories in relation to a lifespan perspective in music teacher education programs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuulikki Laes ◽  
Heidi Westerlund

Disability is a neglected field of diversity within music education scholarship and practices. The study reported in this article sought alternatives for the hierarchical practice-model and ableist discourses that have thus far pervaded music teacher education, through a reconceptualization of expertise. The focus is on a Finnish university special education course, where musicians with learning disabilities conducted workshops for student music teachers over three consecutive years. Student teachers’ written reflections ( n = 23) were reflexively analyzed in order to examine how performing disability may disrupt, expand, and regenerate normative discourses and transform inclusive thinking in music teacher education. Performing disability is here seen to generate critical discursive learning, and create third spaces for pedagogical diversity and the co-construction of professional knowledge. It is thus argued that through teaching with, and by, rather than about, we in music education may move beyond normalizing understandings and practices of inclusion, towards an expanded notion of professionalism.


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