Becoming the music teacher: Stories of generalist teaching and teacher education in music
Abstract
Teacher preparation for generalist (non-specialist) elementary teachers in Ontario typically comprises one compulsory music class. In entry surveys, many generalists describe themselves as highly apprehensive about and unconfident in their ability to teach music, confirming previous research. Using narrative inquiry, we explore the stories of both preservice and in-service generalist teachers. Data from focus groups with preservice teachers revealed that most participants felt markedly more comfortable with the prospect of teaching music in primary grades after taking our music courses; while fewer expressed confidence in teaching music to junior/intermediate grades. However, preservice teachers are rarely given the chance to observe or teach music while on practicum. Interviews with in-service generalist teachers revealed that a lack of confidence compelled them to take part in intentional, incremental, self-directed learning experiences to further develop their knowledge and skills for the elementary music classroom. The pandemic largely halted music activities, creating new barriers for generalist in-service teachers who teach music. The enduring gaps identified by this research are how to build more opportunities for generalist preservice teachers to practice their newly acquired skills while on practicum; and how to better support generalist in-service teachers to acquire additional skills for teaching music once in the classroom.
Introduction
“I can’t sing!”
As music teacher educators who teach preservice generalist (non-specialist) elementary teachers, we have often observed our students’ apprehension, and sometimes resistance, to taking a course in music education. The most common disclaimers we hear from students as they enter the music classroom are, “I’m not good at music,” or “I’m not musical,” or “I can’t sing!” To explore the experiences of preservice teachers, we started a longitudinal research project in 2016. The purpose of this study arose from our belief that relevancy and engagement in our classes would be more likely if we understood our students’ sense of their own musical identities; their perceptions of their own musical abilities; their expectations for teaching music; and their experiences on practicum. We suspected that we could promote greater confidence and engagement in the Bachelor of Education music classroom if we engaged in teaching practices that recognized the preservice teacher’s musical experiences and narratives of identity. We also wanted to explore where gaps might exist between our teacher education courses—what we were doing to prepare preservice teachers—and actual teaching practices in music classrooms taught by generalist teachers. Hence, our two research objectives, (1) to change our own teaching strategies and see if it resulted in increasing confidence in our students; and (2) to determine whether what we were teaching mapped onto what in-service teachers were doing in the classroom; led us to complete this research in two phases.
In this paper, we examine preservice and in-service generalist teachers’ stories of learning and teaching music in Ontario, Canada, providing narratives from those within the profession and from those still outside the gates. We conducted small focus groups with preservice teachers in 2017 and 2019 (Phase 1); and individual interviews with in-service teachers in 2020 (Phase 2). Each of the two phases included specific research objectives. Given the length of time during which this research took place, several events occurred that bent the arc of our inquiry. Research began amidst the transition from a 1-year to a 2-year teacher education program (2016); continued through rotating teacher strikes (2019) that delayed interviews; and concluded after the first school shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic (2020).
Context
Over the past 20 years in Ontario, the number of specialist1 teachers teaching music to elementary grades has fallen from an all-time high of 58% to an average of 46% (People for Education, 2018). However, while over 50% of urban schools have a music specialist, only about 34% of schools in northern and rural Ontario have one (People for Education, 2018). Furthermore, as Sefton and Bayley (2010) revealed, many principals do not know the exact qualifications of the teachers who are teaching music. Elementary principals have often been more concerned with having someone to cover “prep”2 time for classroom teachers, and less concerned with whether they have a music specialist on staff (Sefton & Bayley, 2010). The percentage of schools with a music specialist, therefore, may be significantly lower than an average of 46%.
As these data reveal, generalist elementary teachers are regularly responsible for delivering music curriculum required by provincial regulation. During the pandemic, the number of generalist teachers required to provide music instruction continued to increase. Government announcements and news outlets reported that many specialist teachers were reassigned to general classroom teaching to facilitate class cohorting (Government of Ontario, 2020) and to address the staffing challenges caused by the pandemic (Teotonio & Rushowy, 2022).
Prior research has found that a tension exists between a curriculum that assumes a level of music knowledge, and teachers responsible for delivering that curriculum who may have limited formal training in Western music (Baldwin & Beauchamp, 2014; de Vries, 2013, 2015; Hennessy, 2017; Holden & Button, 2006; Welch, 2021; Wiggins & Wiggins, 2008). As Welch (2021) notes,
One of the perennial challenges in music education in both nursery and Primary school is the relative mismatch between the requirements for a teacher to have “generalist” subject knowledge that covers a diverse range of subjects compared with a more “specialist,” in-depth knowledge that is perceived to be a necessary requirement to teach music. (p. 1972)
While previous research has investigated the experiences of generalist teachers who teach music, few studies have investigated the experiences of preservice generalist teachers learning to teach music. Our research addresses this gap; and makes links between preservice and in-service generalist teachers’ experiences learning and teaching music in Ontario.
Methodological approach: Narrative inquiry
“Story,” according to Barrett and Stauffer (2012), “is a means of sense making, a way in and through which we represent, interrogate, and interpret experience and come to know ourselves and others” (p. 1). Stories are not fixed, but ever in process, adapting to situations and selves. Stories are also “contingent, complex, situated, temporal, [and] often messy” (Stauffer & Barrett, 2021, p. 2). Narrative inquiry can be considered a postmodern approach, decentering the metanarrative and prioritizing the fragmented truths of individual stories. We see the multiple stories of our participants as contributing to and reflecting a social category—that of the “good teacher” (Sefton & Sirek, 2020), that may constitute a form of metanarrative. Our own prior experiences as classroom music teachers added an additional factor. We engaged as “insiders” in conversation with in-service teachers; and our past work experiences acted as a filter to our analysis.
In the following sections, we detail our approach to analysis of interview transcriptions; as well as the ethical considerations and limitations of our study.
Method of analysis
We began analysis of the data from focus groups with preservice teachers (Phase 1) by first reading through transcripts separately, creating schema and categories individually, and then working together to find a joint interpretation. While we started with a traditional approach of categorization and coding, we soon abandoned coding as too reductive. This was in part because our participants sometimes branched off to the stories they wanted to tell us rather than responding to what we had asked, particularly with questions of musical identity. We transitioned to a crystallization model of nodes and webs of connection, while constantly questioning our interpretation and the signification of any individual data point (Richardson & St. Pierre, 2000). We maintained this approach to analysis for our transcribed interview data with in-service teachers (Phase 2).
As expected in narrative inquiry, themes and findings emerged that were not anticipated in the original research objectives. The nature of narrative inquiry is to see the interview encounter as a reciprocal conversation, and to be open to wherever the participants’ stories travel. While we did discover answers to many of our initial objectives and questions, other significant themes and issues emerged from the data, which we detail later in this paper.
Ethical considerations
The two different phases of the research—focus groups with preservice teachers, and interviews with in-service teachers—presented different ethical risks. While carrying out Phase 1, we were conducting research with our own students while onsite in our classroom at the university; therefore, we had to carefully consider issues of power, coercion, risk, and benefit, as defined by university ethical review protocols (Canadian Institutes of Health Research et al., 2018). Our preservice participants held us in a position of authority and trust, as their music professors. To mitigate this risk, we recruited in each other’s classes to reduce any perceived sense of coercion; and collected participant consent forms from all students whether the student was consenting to be a participant in the study or not, to anonymize which students had agreed to participate. We scheduled focus groups for the end of term, after final grades had been submitted, and reminded participants that they could withdraw at any time. No participant expressed discomfort or withdrew from the study.
For Phase 2 of the research, we used social media to recruit in-service generalist teachers who were teaching music. One potential ethical concern for in-service teacher participants was reputational risk. To minimize this risk, and to maintain confidentiality, we anonymized the transcripts by removing names and substituting pseudonyms, and de-identified institutions and locations. As with the focus groups, no participant expressed discomfort during the study and no participant withdrew.
Limitations
Most of our participants presented with similar backgrounds and demographics, which is reflective of teacher education and the teaching profession overall in Canada (Abawi, 2018): most were White, female, and had completed their previous education in Ontario. We recruited in-service teacher participants through social media groups dedicated to sharing music education resources; thus, our in-service participants were already invested and active in music education to some degree. Due to these limitations, the experiences detailed in this study reflect the narratives shared by our participants. They are presented as particular cases that may illuminate issues, but that cannot be generalized to a larger population.
Phase 1: Preservice teachers
Our research on preservice teacher education takes place at a mid-size university in Ontario, which expanded the requirement for teacher education from 1 to 2 years (post undergraduate degree) in September 2015, following a provincial mandate.3 Ontario has 12 teacher education programs at publicly funded universities; and each program, while adhering to the requirements for certification, is different in its composition of course credits and content. Generalist preservice teachers in Ontario take, typically, one music education course during their 2-year Bachelor of Education program. At the institution where we carried out Phase 1, Music Methodology is a full year course (1 credit, 36 hr) for students who will be teaching primary/junior (Grades 1–6); and a half year course (0.5 credit, 18 hr) for students who will be teaching junior/intermediate (Grades 4–10). In order to teach the Ontario Arts Curriculum (Government of Ontario, 2009), the teacher needs to possess music literacy and a certain level of performance competency. The Music Methodology course content is often an attempt to compensate for high variability in music knowledge and literacy of preservice teachers, and typically includes singing and movement; instruction in basic Western music notation; and how to play classroom instruments like pitched and unpitched percussion, recorder, and ukulele. In addition to their teacher education courses, preservice teachers must also complete a minimum of 80 days of practicum. Practicum is overseen and assessed by an Associate Teacher,4 and is a work placement that includes observation and teaching. Preservice generalist teachers may be expected to plan and teach lessons in any or all subject areas. Practicum placements last from 2 to 5 weeks and are spaced out over the 2-year program.
We held five small focus groups in 2017 and 2019, with a total of 15 preservice teacher participants. Participants were between the ages of 23 and 30, were in Year 1 of a 2-year teacher education program, and had completed two practicum placements. Focus group discussions lasted 45 to 90 minutes and were guided by a set of semi-structured and open-ended questions that allowed for branching questions and participant input. Our questions and prompts were linked to the four following themes:
1.
Reflecting on this course (Bachelor of Education Music Methodology), how valuable was it? And, did you feel that your (musical) identity was valued in the course?
2.
How confident do you feel teaching/facilitating music following the Ontario curriculum?
3.
What sorts of music activities did you or your Associate Teacher do in your class? How did they reflect your teacher or student identities?
4.
Please describe your experiences teaching (leading, observing) music during practicum?
We met with students for half an hour before the focus group began, provided lunch for them, and sat and ate and chatted with them. This had the effect of opening conversation, creating a sense of ease, and allowing for a smooth transition into the formal focus group session.
Findings: Becoming someone who could teach music
I was nervous going into it so I was like, “Oh my gosh. I’m so bad at music.” Like, I’m so bad at singing. (Jemma, focus group participant, 2017)
In entry surveys for our preservice music classes, many generalist students describe themselves as apprehensive and unconfident in their ability to teach music, confirming previous research (Adler, 2012; Bremner, 2013; Hennessy, 2000, 2017; Heyning, 2011; Holden & Button, 2006). Jemma’s concern about her perceived lack of ability—“I was nervous going into it so I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. I’m so bad at music’. Like, I’m so bad at singing”—illustrates the apprehensiveness we often see in the first weeks of the semester.
Focus groups took place after the participants had completed the music course. Throughout the year, we had both made changes to our practice, using more accessible activities in our classroom that de-emphasized music theory; encouraged more self-directed learning; included students’ personal music interests and tastes; and encouraged students to gradually build their confidence in the music classroom. In post-course focus groups, most of our participants indicated that they did feel comfortable to teach music in primary grades (Grades 1–3). Few expressed confidence in teaching music in junior grades (Grades 4–6), and only those with a formal music background expressed confidence in teaching intermediate grades at the elementary level (Grades 7–8). This confirms previous research that found teachers in primary grades may be willing to sing simple songs with their young students; but are unwilling or unable to face the challenge of teaching music to the older grades (de Vries, 2015).
When we asked participants if they felt the university music classroom supported their musical identities by, for example, including self-directed learning assignments or by using more diverse and popular music in classroom activities, the participants responded in the affirmative. But, they then clarified that this was largely because, overall, the course content and pedagogical approach treated them like teachers who could teach music:
I think the one thing that I liked from this class that more so added to my musical knowledge was just looking back at this, where we had to write down our curricular expectations. We did that a few times where it wasn’t just, “Hey, let’s do music and call it a day.” It was, “Hey, let’s do music. Now why did you do music?” (Geoff, focus group participant, 2017)I think that there [were] activities, at least that I did, they were kind of like fun in a way, kind of like silly, like stand-up and move around kind of activities and so I was interested in that just because I have a better comfort level with doing activities that are like fun and singing and silly as opposed to like if I were to be teaching a class how to like, very formally like breathing techniques and like. . . That I don’t think I would have been as comfortable with. (Jemma, focus group participant, 2017)I think it reflected me quite well and I think you made it really accessible to people that don’t have a music background. (Sarah, focus group participant, 2019)
This redirection or reinterpretation of our question about musical identity is a subtle but important shift. Rather than reflecting on the musical identity that they brought into the program, the participants were telling us that they saw their musical identity, at least in the context of our classes and the focus group, as becoming someone who could teach music; in other words, as an aspect of their “future self” (Markus & Nurius, 1986; Sefton & Sirek, 2020). For example, when we asked Isabella about her musical identity, her response shifted to nursery rhymes, music notation, and music theory:
When you were singing, like, my mom used to sing us [those] song[s]. So like all of the little nursery rhymes and things I knew and I loved, so those were really well reflected. Then also with any kind of musical notation, theory, comes from my grandmother and through my mom and so that was part of our family culture, I guess, so I’m very comfortable with that. Yeah. Then there are other aspects of my identity, that are hard to reflect because I grew up in South America. But of course, I don’t expect those to be reflected because no one else in my section had lived in South America. So yeah. I think my identity was reflected. (Isabella, focus group participant, 2019)
While our participants felt they were treated as becoming music teachers in our music classes and engaged in the course under that assumption, the students indicated that they were not treated like music teachers while on practicum. This finding emerged during focus group discussions, and was not anticipated in our research questions. During analysis of the focus group transcriptions, we identified five major barriers to preservice students seeing themselves as music teachers while on practicum: music not in the schedule (not being taught that term); music used for other purposes (classroom management rather than curriculum); music being used as “prep” time (preservice teacher stays with Associate Teacher during prep time while class goes to music); fear of failure (risk aversion); and music taught in a different room with a different teacher (preservice students being shut out of specialist music classes). As a result, most generalist preservice teachers had no music teaching experiences while in the classroom, and very few had opportunities to even observe a music class. Each of the barriers were illustrated by preservice teachers during focus group discussions.
Music not in the schedule. Participants reported that music was not always taught consistently throughout the year:
I offered to teach music but she was waiting to do it [in another term]. (Emily, preservice teacher, 2017)
Music being used for other purposes. Associate Teachers used music for “classroom management” rather than teaching music curriculum:
It just gave them something to focus on other than trying to punch the boy beside them. (Kaitlyn, preservice teacher, 2017)
Music being used as “prep” time. Preservice teachers described having to accompany the Associate Teacher for prep instead of going to music class:
I asked if I could go for [music class] to see what it was like, the [Associate] Teacher said yes but then for the other ones she made it clear that she wanted me to stay with her. (Shannon, preservice teacher, 2019)
Fear of failure. Some participants described the barrier as simply being scared, whether due to fear of failure in front of their Associate Teacher, in front of their students, or both:
I would be scared out of my own mind because I’m not good at it so. . . (Melissa, preservice teacher, 2019)
Music taught in a different room with a different teacher. When preservice teachers were “allowed” by their Associate Teacher to observe music specialists teaching, they encountered multiple barriers when the music room door—both literally and figuratively—was shut:
There was a designated music room and the door was always shut so I didn’t even know what the inside of it looked like. [. . .] She would open it for the kids to walk in and I would be like, “See ya. . .” (Emily, preservice teacher, 2017)My job is done here, I guess. I’ll go upstairs to prep or—it’s so hard [. . .] The kids would walk in and the door would be shut. (Sonia, preservice teacher, 2017)
While they told their stories with humor and shared laughter, at times there was also a sense of fatalism and defeat. As much as students wanted to try out their new music skills and activities, they felt it wouldn’t be happening anytime soon. The power relationship of preservice teacher to Associate Teacher meant that they went where they were told to go; taught what they were allowed to teach; and took no risks in what they suggested or brought into the classroom.
Phase 2: In-service teachers
In early summer 2020, we recruited six in-service teachers to participate in interviews. Interviews were 20 to 40 minutes in length, completed by telephone, and guided by a set of semi-structured and open-ended questions. In-service interview participants were all teachers in mid-career.5 Two were teaching at elementary schools in a large metropolitan city, three in medium-sized cities, and one in a rural area.
Our original goal for these narratives was to deepen our understanding of generalist teachers’ experiences in teaching music, and to gain a truer picture of what our students would be facing when they entered the classroom. However, due to the events of the spring and early summer 2020, we also wanted to hear about the impact of the pandemic on music teaching in the elementary classroom.
Findings: Becoming the music teacher
We opened each interview by asking the participant to speak about their prior education and experience with music. Although none of the in-service teacher participants had a music degree, they all had some background that had led them toward teaching music. One participant had taken Additional Qualifications6 in music and had eventually certified as a “Music Specialist.” A couple of participants had taken music lessons as children, and a couple had taken Kodály or Orff summer courses7; one had a music minor and one had taken her ARCT8 in flute. All had taught music, either within their general classrooms, or as part of their teaching assignment; and all had an interest in music. Eventually, most had become known as the “music person” in their schools, though none had started out their teaching career with that intention.
The stories our participants told us constituted a collective story (Richardson, 1990), a form of Origin Story. They explained where they currently were in their careers by going back in time, and building a narrative that started in childhood, traveled to the beginning of their teaching careers, and grew as they moved through different teaching assignments, schools, and cities. They described how they came to teach music—by volunteering or by happenstance. Their stories also offered a glimpse into how teaching assignments were sometimes determined by principals who did not have a music specialist on staff to cover music. One participant haltingly described her journey to teaching music as “giving it a try”:
So, it was offered to me. . .Well it. . .sort of opened up. . .just because the numbers had gone down. And so, he [the principal] was wondering if somebody would be willing. . . I thought, well I knew I was going off to have a baby in the spring so I knew it wasn’t going to be a whole year anyways and so I thought I’d try it out, and so yeah, yeah, I quite liked it. (In-service interviewee Hayden)
Another relayed that she began teaching music because no one else could (or would) teach it:
Like deer in headlights, ‘I’m not teaching the juniors, I can’t! I can’t do this, I can’t do that, don’t look at me’ kind of thing [laughs]. And they all were, you know, pointing fingers like right to me, ‘She does it already, she knows what she’s doing!’ (In-service interviewee Kelly)
Once they began teaching music, several participants highlighted a self-perceived lack of knowledge about the music curriculum:
Like what does this mean, what does that mean, because I didn’t know what these things were in the curriculum. (In-service interviewee Bianca)
They expressed the difficulties they had in teaching the curriculum, whether due to their own or their students’ knowledge base; or due to the considerable time restraints placed on music classes, which were sometimes limited to 40 minutes per week:
I don’t think I have ever covered the Ontario curriculum in a fulsome way, no. (In-service interviewee Shelby)
We told participants that the interviews would last around 20 minutes, and for some this was enough. But for others, the story dictated the time it took to tell. The story took over the interview. What we heard repeatedly in these stories was intimidation and hesitation that dated back to the beginning of their careers when they felt a lack of confidence about teaching music. That lack of confidence continued to resurface, echoing the narratives of our preservice participants:
It’s definitely intimidating, doubly [intimidating] singing in front of a class, like I hate singing in front of a classroom teacher when they’re there so it’s just getting over that. (In-service interviewee Hayden)
Even though, after years of experience, this same teacher trusted their ability to grow into new challenges:
Next year I have to teach a grade 5 [class]. I was fine, but that was grade 4. I’m not. . .I don’t know the grade 5 curriculum, but I’m thinking it shouldn’t be that much harder than the grade 4. I think I have enough to draw on from the Orff [music education course] and it’s just more connecting it to the kids as they get older. (In-service interviewee Hayden)
Several of our participants described this kind of growth, depicting what we identified as intentional, incremental, self-directed learning to develop their knowledge and skills in the music classroom. This was sometimes difficult, as Shelby noted:
I really had to seek out a way to learn myself and direct my own learning, and it did take a lot of effort to find learning. (In-service interviewee Shelby)
Chelsea described this incremental, self-directed learning as oscillating between the comfortable and the uncomfortable, as she stretched herself:
Well, I started with recorder—I’m a flute player, so I could do that really well—and then pushed myself into Orff instruments and bucket drumming, and ukuleles. . .So, you have to go with whatever is comfortable for you. And then I think if you’re an “alive” educator, you keep trying to extend your program a bit, to something that you’re not comfortable with—but [if] you have enough that you are comfortable with, then you can extend and then be a little bit uncomfortable for a few weeks, until you get that figured out. (In-service interviewee Chelsea)
When we asked our participants to describe the kinds of things they did in the classroom, they mostly detailed the same sorts of activities that we were teaching in our preservice music courses: singing; music and movement and creating actions to songs; the use of classroom instruments like rhythm sticks, drums, recorders, ukuleles, and xylophones; body percussion; music appreciation and guided music listening; music integration (especially with literacy); music to teach about significant events and social issues like Black Lives Matter, body positivity, and mental health awareness; and to learn about other cultures, particularly Indigenous cultures in Canada. Two participants had developed their music programs to become the types of programs more typical of trained music specialists—one had a choir of more than 100 students; another became responsible for a strings program.
Some described composition activities, like creating simple ostinatos and rhythm compositions. Only a couple of participants indicated that they incorporated music experiences that reflected their own personal music interests and identities outside of school, and these were almost always listening activities, never performance or creation. Importantly, while some of our participants had been an Associate Teacher to preservice students, none of them had acted as an Associate Teacher while teaching elementary music. We can only speculate why that was, but it may again reflect a lack of confidence; that they could take on the role of “music teacher” to their students, but not of “music teacher mentor” to preservice teachers.
What emerged from their stories was how their sense of identity grew over time, and the joy they took in their new professional identity. They described their personal growth, from a state of “I didn’t really know what I was doing,” (Shelby) to “becom[ing] the music teacher” (Lynda) in the school, someone other teachers would come to for ideas and help. They described their own sense of surprise at how they had taken on the identity of “music teacher”:
The music teacher retired and I was able to become the music teacher. (In-service interviewee Lynda)
When we asked in-service teachers about the impact of COVID on their teaching, that sense of enjoyment and pride gave way to stories of loss of identity, and loss of joy. The stories that they told, of adapting to COVID and to online teaching, painted a picture of disjuncture and disorientation—of music often disappearing, literally, from the screen. The participants who were still teaching music, or at least, sending music activities to the homeroom teachers to use with their students virtually, often found that they were working in a void. At times they did not even know if the classroom teachers were using these music activities, or whether students were actually completing them. As Lynda recalled,
It’s sort of like you’re working in a black hole because you keep throwing things into the black hole, and you don’t know if anyone is catching them. (In-service interviewee Lynda)
Conclusion
As prior research has documented, elementary school curriculum in Ontario and elsewhere assumes a level of specialized music knowledge; and generalist teachers responsible for delivering that curriculum may lack the training or confidence to do so (Baldwin & Beauchamp, 2014; de Vries, 2013, 2015; Hennessy, 2017; Holden & Button, 2006; Welch, 2021; Wiggins & Wiggins, 2008). Our research asked two questions: how can we teach preservice students differently, to encourage confidence and provide necessary skills; and, does our music methodology course map onto what is happening in the schools?
The “collective story” that our participants constructed through their stories of learning and teaching music serve to “narrativize the experience of a social category” (Richardson, 1990). This paper documents teacher stories in generalist music education courses and generalist elementary music classrooms—stories of fear, hesitation, and obstruction, but also risk, growth, and joy. For both preservice teachers and for in-service teachers, these were stories of becoming: becoming someone who could teach music; and becoming the music teacher. Along the way, there were significant challenges. While preservice teachers may have felt comfortable, to some degree, when teaching music activities in the preservice music course, they struggled to gain access to music classrooms or teaching opportunities while on practicum. This inhibited their ability to build a sense of self-efficacy as generalist teachers who are capable of teaching all subjects including music. For in-service teachers, the challenges lay in an enduring lack of confidence and a lack of opportunity for ongoing learning and professional development. In-service teacher participants attempted to mitigate both these challenges by seeking out or developing their own learning opportunities.
We were surprised at how small the gap was between our teacher education courses—what we were doing to prepare preservice teachers—and actual teaching practices in music classrooms taught by generalist teachers. The activities that we had been teaching in our preservice music courses did map onto the teaching practices described by in-service teachers who teach music. They also appeared to be successful in building a sense of musical identity and confidence in our preservice teachers.
The pandemic created a new set of obstacles to preservice teachers and to in-service teachers. Our focus groups took place before the pandemic, but our interviews with classroom teachers occurred after the first round of lockdowns. Nearly 2 years later we have seen the effect on practicum, as two cohorts of preservice teachers have missed practicum placements; been offered “alternate placements” with no contact with students and sometimes no contact with in-service teachers; or found themselves in a classroom where there has been no music, or music instruction that has been reduced to just music listening and music theory. Music making was effectively banned by school boards for multiple months during the pandemic, due to concerns of transmission—no singing, no playing of wind instruments, no movement in close proximity, no sharing of materials. The resulting pedagogical gaps are of a different order and would be important subjects for future research.
Future research
Future research should address the limitation that we identified of gender and racial representation in participants, by conducting this research in a faculty with a more diverse preservice student body. Furthermore, by using a broad survey approach to data collection, future research could capture the experiences of in-service generalist teachers who may continue to struggle with teaching music or even actively avoid it. The impact of COVID-19 on practicum and teaching experiences for generalist preservice and in-service teachers is an additional area for future research. Such research needs to be done in the Canadian context, and focus on the impact of provincial education regulations, COVID-related health regulations, and associated restrictions on the arts.
Future research could also help to address the obstacles we identified in our research. The largest pedagogical obstacle identified by our in-service participants was accessing support for professional development in music, which confirms a gap identified in a Canada-wide report by Coalition for Music Education (Con et al., 2021). Future research should address how to better support generalist preservice and in-service teachers for a career of learning as well as of teaching. As we heard from in-service participants, generalists had to ongoingly seek out the skills and resources necessary for teaching elementary music, often with little or no institutional support. In-service teachers need more institutional support, and access to current online resources, informal learning opportunities, and professional development activities. This suggests that in our teacher education courses, we should be encouraging self-directed learning and preparing preservice students to continually build their knowledge and skills throughout their career. The bridge between theory and practice during practicum placements would also be an important focus for future research and collaboration. As teacher educators, we should work with our school partners to promote preservice generalist teachers having many more opportunities to practice their newly acquired music knowledge in the classroom while on practicum. Greater support for in-service teachers and greater support for preservice teachers will create richer opportunities for generalist teachers to become “the music teacher.”
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Funding for this research has been provided in part by the Joint Consortium of Research, representing the Canadian Music Educators’ Association and the Coalition for Music Education in Canada; and the Centred on Learning Innovation Fund, University of Windsor.
ORCID iD
Danielle Sirek https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0080-491X
Footnotes
1. A specialist teacher is one who has an undergraduate degree in the subject area, or who has taken Additional Qualifications overseen by the Ontario College of Teachers; and is accredited as a specialist.
2. “Prep time” is contractual guaranteed time for elementary classroom teachers to prepare for their classes. It is usually scheduled to coincide with Music or French. The Music or French teacher “covers” the class while the classroom teacher takes their prep.
3. Exceptions are students enrolled in concurrent Bachelor of Education programs, in which Bachelor of Education courses are taken alongside undergraduate degree courses.
4. Associate Teachers in Ontario are experienced in-service teachers who oversee and evaluate the practicum placements of preservice teachers.
5. Our participants had all been teaching for 5 years or more; for one participant, it was a second career.
6. Additional Qualifications (AQs) are courses offered through faculties of education, and approved by the Ontario College of Teachers. AQs are added to a teacher’s official certification for the purpose of hiring and teaching assignments.
7. Music education methods based on systems developed by 19th C. Hungarian composers and pedagogues Zoltán Kodály and Carl Orff.
8. ARCT stands for Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto, and is the highest level in the Royal Conservatory of Music.
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