Teachers' beliefs about effective instrumental teaching in schools and higher education

Abstract

What makes instrumental teaching, including vocal teaching, effective? And is this the same in schools and in higher education (HE), including conservatoires? We asked 134 local education authority (LEA) instrumental teachers to state what they believe makes good teaching in schools and in HE, and to list the strengths and weaknesses of the teaching that they recall receiving as students. We found that many teachers believe that good teaching in schools differs from good teaching in HE. There are differences in the beliefs held by teachers with and without qualified teacher status (QTS), and also in those of men and women. Many teachers report that their teaching is influenced by the ways that they were taught, and the ‘peak’ lessons that teachers received often appear particularly influential. We explain the steps we have taken to enable LEAs to apply the findings when planning professional development for their teachers, and suggest further applications.

Music performance teachers’ conceptions about learning and instruction: a descriptive study of Spanish piano teachers

“…Three likely explanations could be argued to interpret why they still maintain these theories, even though they are incompatible with the current curricular proposals. First, as for instance Mills & Smith (2003) showed in their study, these teachers' conceptions might have been influenced by the teaching that they received. Following Bruner's perspective (1996), it seems clear that they all were instructed within a historical and sociocultural context in which very traditional ideas about education predominated, that is, under past cultures of learning (see also Pozo et al, 2006).…”

Developing musical and educational identities in university music students

“…A creative artist working as an educator whilst aspiring to a performance career, for example, is likely to have a subjective career as an artist rather than as an academic. Conversely, someone who proactively takes on an academic role and considers academic life to be a positive, ongoing professional activity is likely to have a subjective career identity that concurs with the objective one (Mills and Smith 2003).…”

“…This is true across employment fields in music, whether based in applied studios, recording studios, rehearsal halls or classrooms. Whilst much of the research concerning music students' identity construction and career development has concerned music performance majors (Huhtanen 2008;Mills and Smith 2003;Ryan 2010), this article is concerned with identity construction among majors in music education. We begin with a brief discussion of some of the key concepts that underpin our work and then describe the self-reported experiences of two cohorts of music education students in Australia and the USA.…”

Instrumental and vocal teacher education: competences, roles and curricula

“…The approach was seen to be more teacher-directed than student-centred. Recent research on instrumental teaching and teacher education has begun to question traditional approaches and to open up the discussion around such issues (Baker 2005(Baker , 2006Burwell 2005;Cain 2007;Cheng and Durrant 2007;Gaunt 2008Gaunt , 2009Haddon 2009;Hallam 1998;Lennon 1995Lennon , 1996Miller and Baker 2007;Mills 2004Mills , 2007Mills and Smith 2003;Presland 2005;Purser 2005;Young, Burwell and Pickup 2003). As research has begun to focus on various aspects of the instrumental/vocal teaching transaction, in many countries the focus of the pedagogical discourse has shifted from the teacher to the student, from the musical product to musical processes and from teaching to learning.…”