Towards a sustainable, student-centred approach for technology-supported music education: A Dutch perspective

Applying technology in music education is not always obvious for music teachers. Pre-service music teachers should be trained in technology-supported music pedagogy, but this requires more than isolated lessons, short projects and ad hoc support. This article reports on an exploration towards a structural implementation of digital pedagogy in higher music education (i.e. a bachelor of music in schools). This exploration was based on student-centred approaches that were iteratively developed over time and have been investigated through an action research strategy. The aim of this article is to inform about the design of the approaches, such as the structure of courses with its assignments, participants and external collaborations, and turning points and insights that steered the approach. Focus is put on the so-called technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), technology acceptance and students’ motivation. In the end, this article presents recommendations for designing education that prepares students to enhance their practice with technology: (1) adapt to your students; (2) be concrete to your students; and (3) embrace collaboration. This article concludes with explaining the value of these recommendations beyond higher music teacher education by providing examples of how these recommendations can be translated to higher music performance education.

A meta-analysis study on the attitudes of pre-service music teachers towards the teaching profession in Turkey

The objective this study was to determine whether music teacher candidates’ attitudes towards the teaching profession in Turkey differ with respect to different variables. In this direction, a meta-analysis study was carried out on the pre-service music teachers’ attitudes towards their profession. The study consists of 12 studies chosen with predetermined criteria. Since the effect sizes of these studies display a heterogeneous structure, the random effects model was conducted. Effect sizes in the random effects model were calculated by using Hedges g coefficient with 12 studies for gender and nine studies for the form of high school graduated. Taking the results of the findings into consideration, it was concluded that the attitudes of female music teacher candidates towards the teaching profession are more positive than male candidates. There is no difference between Fine Arts and other high schools regarding the variable of the form of high school.

An Investigation of Pre-service Music Teachers’ Attitudes towards Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The aim of this research is to determine the pre-service music teachers’ attitudes towards online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study investigated the attitudes of music teacher candidates toward online learning and if they differed by the variables of gender, year of study and academic achievement. The “Online Learning Attitude Scale” was used to collect data for the study. The study was conducted with 164 pre-service music teachers studying at the education faculties of Aksaray University, Çanakkale 18 Mart University, and Necmettin Erbakan University in the 2020-2021 academic year. The independent groups t-test and one-way analysis of variance were used in the data analysis. Results from the study suggested that pre-service music teachers’ attitudes regarding online learning in the COVID-19 pandemic were negative to moderate. In addition, the study indicated that the attitudes of music teacher candidates towards online learning differed by gender, year of study, and academic achievement variables during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Curriculum Philosophy and Theory for Music Education Praxis

Curriculum Philosophy and Theory for Music Education Praxis is offered for advanced pre-service music education students, in-service teachers, and doctoral students. “Curriculum” is often poorly understood by music teachers. It also is a typically ignored topic in their teacher training where emphasis is on “methods,” but without prior planning of the musical goals those methods supposedly serve. The basic question of curriculum planning in this book, “What of all that could be taught is most worth learning?,” is not usually what teachers usually have in mind. In any case, too often their answers are not supportable by the rigorous philosophical and theoretical scholarship of this monograph. The result is the present anarchy of “programs” that fails to promote pragmatic and long-lasting results. This leads to the ever-growing “legitimation crisis” that advertises the aesthetic benefits of music education in schools. However, since these benefits are vague and intangible, music teachers constantly must engage in “advocacy” of their “programs.” This scholarly monograph accepts that pre- and in-service readers can understand the challenges of curriculum planning. It begins with a brisk survey of philosophies of music and music education inherited from the Greeks—included because they too often still dominate contemporary music teaching in negative ways. Then more recent and substantial bases of music curriculum and praxis theory of music and music education are examined as alternatives for planning curriculum built on intellectually substantial philosophical and theoretical grounds. The study concludes with a model curriculum based on recent praxis theory where musical and educational benefits are evident to students, administrators, and taxpayers and lead to “artful” living through music.

Introduction

The Introduction emphasizes the idea that music educators teach people through the art of music. The authors acknowledge their positionality in the LGBTQ and music education communities. They seek to elevate the voices of trans and gender-expansive (TGE) persons so that TGE stories may educate and inform pre-service music teachers, professional music teachers, and music teacher-educators. Two principal goals of the book are established: (a) celebrate and honor TGE persons in their own voices, and (b) create a resource with and for music teacher colleagues. The authors introduce their TGE collaborators and school music teacher collaborators working with TGE students. A book outline is provided.

COVID-19 and Digital Literacy: Assessing Pre-service Music Teachers’ Views on Piano Lessons Provided in Emergency Remote Teaching

This research aims to examine pre-service music teachers’ views on piano lessons provided in the emergency remote education process during Covid-19 lockdown. The population of the research comprises 82 students studying at the Departments of Music Education at Kastamonu University and Gazi University. The survey model, which is one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the research. Research data were collected through a “pre-service teacher feedback form” comprising 19 questions prepared by the researchers and finalized through expert opinions; the data obtained are compiled under relevant tables. The results of the research indicate that majority of the pre-service teachers follow piano courses through their computers, that more than half of the students have the opportunity to play the piano and/or keyboard at home, that they have problems with sound and image synchronization, and that they evaluate the infrastructure of the courses as inadequate. The opinions of the pre-service candidates expressing that they want to pursue their piano education face-to-face after the pandemic ends and that the instrument education they received during emergency remote teaching is not acceptable, which also due to the insufficient level of digital literacy, are also among the results of the research. Pre-service music teachers suggested that piano courses should be held one-on-one and face-to-face, the synchronization problem should be resolved, and the hours for piano courses should be increased. The results of the research presented suggestions regarding the instrument education process and future studies to be conducted on this subject.

Investigating entrepreneurship levels of pre-service music teachers

The aim of this study was to examine the entrepreneurship levels of Pre-Service Music Teachers (Bursa Uludağ University Faculty of Education Music Teaching Undergraduate Program students) in terms of gender, grade level and career goals. For this purpose, data were collected from all 1st and 4th year students studying at Bursa Uludağ University Faculty of Education, Department of Music Education. The Individual Entrepreneurship Perception Scale (IEPS) and a Personal Information Form were used to collect the data. Mann Whitney U test was used to analyze the data. In line with the findings obtained, it was found that there was no significant difference in terms of IEPS total and subscale scores by gender. However, there were significant differences in favor of 4th year students in terms of locus of control, self-confidence and self-discipline sub-scores, as well as the total IEPS scores by grade level. It was concluded that those aiming for a non-teaching profession got significantly higher locus of control scores than those aiming to become a teacher. Regarding these results, suggestions have been developed to increase the entrepreneurship level of pre-service music teachers.

An Investigation of Pre-Service Music Teachers’ Self-Regulatory Skills

Self-regulatory skill is one of the important factors affecting academic orientation and performance of learners at all levels in learning-teaching processes. The aim of this study is to compare the self-regulatory skills of pre-service teachers studying in music education departments based on the variables of gender, class, overall achievement and performance in individual instruments lessons. The study was conducted with 198 Pre-service Music Teachers studying at Necmettin Erbakan University and Gazi University. Data were collected by using Academic Self-regulatory Skills Scale. Research findings showed that pre-service music teachers’ self-regulatory skills differed based on the variables of year of study, achievement levels in individual instrument lessons and overall academic achievement. It was found that students with high academic achievement levels had effective self-regulatory skills. However, no significant difference was found between the self-regulatory skills of male and female pre-service music teachers.