Validation and further validation of a measure of creative identity among USA and Finland pre-service music teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to validate a measure of creative identity with a population of pre-service teachers in the USA, to further validate the measure with a Finnish population, and to compare both populations regarding their perceptions of themselves as creative musicians. The researcher developed a tool, the Creative Identity Measure (CIM), based on the work of Isbell (2007) to examine this area. The specific research questions were as follows: 1. What factors can explain creative identity in music? 2. What is the internal consistency within the factors that explain creative identity in music? 3. Do differences exist between the two populations with regard to each sub-scale? Results of factor analysis reveal that the CIM can be meaningfully divided into four sub-scales with a US population (n = 159) and a combined US and Finland population (n = 277). Significant differences were discovered for sub-scales one (Creative Music Making Self-Efficacy), two (Value of Creative Musicianship Areas), and four (Value of Popular-Music Making/Listening in the Classroom), suggesting that the Finnish pre-service music teachers possess a stronger creative identity than their contemporaries from the USA. Significant differences were not found for sub-scale three (Willingness to Allow for Creativity in the Classroom), suggesting that both populations of pre-service music teachers are equally willing to allow time for creativity.

Measuring pre-service music teachers’ creative identities: a cross-cultural comparison of the United States and Singapore

“…At the moment a handbook for pre-service music teaching in North America is being written (Conway et al, in press). The present study is in some ways an extension of the work of Isbell (2008), within the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism, and it extends the work done by Randles and Smith (2012) in England, Randles and Muhonen (2015) in Finland and Randles and Ballantyne in Australia (2016). Findings are relevant to teacher educators who would aspire to nurture PSMT who will be more likely to be successful in developing the creativity of their future students.…”

“…Knowledge of the educational practices of these countries presents scholars and researchers in the rest of the world with possibilities for collaboration, professional growth and the formulation of important research questions. This article reports on work measuring pre-service teachers' self-perceptions of their creative identity in Singapore and the United States, as measured previously in England (Randles & Smith, 2012), Finland (Randles & Muhonen, 2015) and Australia (Randles & Ballantyne, 2018). Results of this line of work suggest that the occupational identities of pre-service music teachers (PSMT) where creativity is concerned are different in various parts of the world as a result of culturally specific socialization factors.…”

“…A 20-item questionnaire was administered to pre-service teachers enrolled in music teacher education programs within the United States and Singapore. Randles and Smith (2012), Randles and Muhonen (2015), and Randles and Ballantyne (2018) utilized Isbell's (2008) questionnaire, and adapted it to explore the creative identities of PSMTs. Isbell's 5-point, 'Rate the importance of' Likert scale, as well as his six-point, 'Indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statement', Likert scale have been employed, with responses ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree.…”

“…If we are concerned with preparing teachers for an uncertain future, one where the profession is likely to look increasingly different as the influence of technology becomes increasingly more ubiquitous (Mark, 2015;Reimer, 2015;Thibeault, 2015;Tobias, 2015), what are we doing to prepare students for that future? As argued by Randles and Smith (2012), Randles and Muhonen (2015) and Randles and Ballantyne (2018), developing teacher identity and, in particular, 'creative identity' are areas of crucial concern to those preparing music teachers for their occupation. Music teachers who have experience as composers, improvisers and arrangers of popular music covers and original songs are more likely to be able to develop those same types of skills in the music students of the future.…”

“…Continuing this line of research, Randles and Muhonen (2015) used the Creative Identity in Music (CIM) with United States (n = 159) and Finland (n = 118) PSMT to measure self-perceptions of creative identity. The purpose of that study was not only to use the CIM with those student populations and to view the results through a comparative lens, but to examine how the CIM as a tool could be further divided into sub-scales for comparative purposes.…”