The music curriculum, along with the other arts in primary education in England, is under pressure from an increasing governmental focus on ‘core’ subjects. Recruits to the profession are particularly important to the long-term health of music in schools. As part of a longitudinal study to evaluate the efficacy of the university-based arts courses in preparing student teachers, the author looked at the factors affecting music. In so doing it emerged that feelings of confidence were a significant feature in the profile of successful students. The findings from this longitudinal study contribute to our understanding of how students perceive their development as teachers of music and the other arts in primary schools. The subjects of this study were students following a four-year Bachelor of Arts in Education BA(Ed.) course that prepared them to teach the full range of school curriculum subjects as generalists. The analysis of a series of semi-structured interviews reveals a complex interaction between prior experience and beliefs, and the quality of school experience.

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The issue of music teacher training for primary generalist teachers is shared by many\ud countries in the world. We know from a range of studies which factors contribute to\ud teachers’ abilities and confidence, but there are fewer studies that document the possible\ud training approaches and interventions that might improve the outcomes. This article\ud describes an international educational experience addressed to 23 trainee primary teachers\ud coming from Austria, Italy, the Netherlands and Slovenia. The Intensive Programme1 called\ud ‘International Summer School in EducatingMusic Teachers’ (ISSEMT) was offered at Padova\ud University, Italy with the purpose of fostering confidence and competences among trainee\ud generalist teachers for teaching music in the primary school. In planning the didactic\ud approach of the ISSEMT, methods designed to enhance participants’ understandings of\ud teaching creatively and teaching for creativity were adopted. The entire educational activity\ud was evaluated by students using questionnaires and discussion. In addition, a follow-up\ud interview was conducted with students after two years and five months, at the end of\ud the ISSEMT. Students refer to the improvement of confidence in teaching music and the\ud application of a creative approach. They appreciated the approach, the practical teaching\ud ideas and the way the course closely related to their educational needs. These results are\ud discussed in the framework of confidence development of the generalist teacher in the\ud primary school for teaching music. The key factors that contributed to the effectiveness of\ud the ISSEMT are also discussed

Mitigation translocations are increasing and if they are to fulfill their regulatory intent, the application of best‐practice principles to release strategy and monitoring is required. With an investment of 3 years, we engaged with stakeholders, including developers, to improve outcomes from mitigation translocations of an at‐risk species, the western burrowing owl Athene cunicularia hypugaea (BUOW). We evaluated the consequences of two primary translocation methods, displacement (i.e. exclusion from burrow) and translocation, against control owls, using a suite of success metrics focused on dispersal, survival and reproduction. We also tested the provision of visual and acoustic conspecific cues to dampen dispersal away from release sites. Within the displaced group, BUOW settled closer to the origin site if burrows were available nearby. Although translocated BUOW dispersed farther from the release site than displaced BUOW, this difference disappeared when conspecific cues were present. BUOW were 20 times more likely to settle at the release site when conspecifics or their cues were present. Translocating animals over longer distances (>17.5 km) reduced the incidence of BUOW returning to the origin site. When avoiding direct impacts to BUOW is not feasible, a determination of the most beneficial translocation method must be made, driven by site‐specific conditions and the feasibility of implementing best management practices. The known costs of translocation to survival may be offset by long‐term advantages such as the establishment of breeding populations inside protected areas. Mitigation translocations can benefit from carefully devised and tested hypotheses to determine what works and what does not; we advocate the increased use of evidence in mitigation translocation to guide management decisions and policies.

This study is concerned with the factors in uencing the development of student teachers' con dence to teach the arts in primary schools in England. In previous research (Green et al., 1998), which sought to study students' perceptions of teaching the arts, con dence emerged as being signi cant to their development as teachers. A sample of twelve primary BA (Education) student teachers were followed over a period of three years. This included two ten-week school placements, each in a different school. Each student undertook a series of six semi-structured interviews, and the data were analysed using the procedure of recursive comparative analysis. This paper reports on the case studies of three students in order to look closely at what factors affected their perceptions of their con dence to teach art, dance, drama and music. The ndings are consistent with previous research in student learning and reveal a complex interaction between prior experience, content of the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme and the quality of school experience. Finally the implications for the development of students' con dence in teaching the arts are discussed.