Evaluating the impact of a generalist teacher-led music program on early childhood school children’s singing skills and attitudes to music

Abstract

This article reports on the impact of a generalist teacher-led music program on early childhood school children’s singing skills and attitudes to music. Singing tests and class surveys were administered to students in 11 Australian primary schools where music specialists mentored classroom teachers over the period of one to two school terms. The results show that implementing music activities in early education settings can positively impact young children’s singing skills and attitudes to music regardless of gender, ethnicity and socio-economic standing of the school. The study provides empirical evidence of the benefits accrued by children through access to music education.

The challenge of ensuring effective early years music education by non-specialists

“…Furthermore, in the example research findings from the cases provided above, there were positive impacts on young children as a direct result of the expert mentoring received by their generalist early years practitioners. The benefits that were evidenced were: 1 musicalembracing increased singing competency in two separate studies, one in Australia and one in England (Barrett et al, 2020;Welch et al, 2020); and also in general musical behaviours and development (Ockelford, in Knight et al, 2018), as measured by the Sounds of Intent in the Early Years framework (Voyajolu & Ockelford, 2016); and 2 other-than-musicalpositive changes being reported in children's attitudes to and engagement with music (Barrett et al, 2020); in improved reading competency and also aspects of executive functionbeing related to response inhibition, phonological working memory and executiveloaded working memory (Welch et al, 2020); and also social and emotional development (Knight et al, 2018).…”

“…Evaluative data included evidence of significant benefits in participant children's singing, as well as non-musical development in children's reading and aspects of their Executive Function (Welch, Purves, Saunders, Mason, & Bowmer, 2020). The children's singing development was assessed using the same rating scale (Welch, 1998) as in the earlier Australian study (Barrett et al, 2020). Overall, there was a significant improvement in children's singing (F(1,60) = 10.612; p<0.01), particularly in three of the four intervention classes.…”

“…A recent Australian example has reported on the positive impact that a generalist teacher-led pilot music programme has had on early childhood school children's singing skills and attitudes to music (Barrett, Zhukov, & Welch, 2019;Barrett, Zhukov, Brown, & Welch, 2020). The programme aimed to address a lack of music training during undergraduate teacher preparation, as well as a perceived lack of confidence in music teaching and singing amongst generalist (non-music specialist) classroom teachers.…”

“…The number of children in the mentored classes was 237, with 55 children in the control classes of matched year level. The results showed that, as well as having a positive impact on adult participants' music knowledge and confidence, the implementation of these music activities in early education settings impacted positively on young children's singing skills and attitudes to music, regardless of gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic standing of the school (Barrett et al, 2020) (Figure 1).…”

Kegiatan Menyanyi dalam Pembelajaran Anak Usia Dini

“…Sesuai dengan pendapat Irwanto (2002: 71) bahwa setelah individu melakukan interaksi dengan objek-objek yang dipersepsikan maka akan menghasilkan persepsi yang positif dan negatif. Kegiatan menyanyi secara umum dapat meningkatkan sikap positif anak-anak baik anak laki-laki maupun anak perempuan, dari berbagai usia dan status sosial yang berbeda (Barrett, M.S. et al, 2018).…”