%20-%20https://sketch.com%20--%3e%3ctitle%3e3ECBBF50-FD08-412A-943D-2CFC5E025A16%3c/title%3e%3cdesc%3eCreated%20with%20sketchtool.%3c/desc%3e%3cg%20id='Stylesheet'%20stroke='none'%20stroke-width='1'%20fill='none'%20fill-rule='evenodd'%3e%3cg%20transform='translate(-926.000000,%20-668.000000)'%20id='BUTTONS'%3e%3cg%20transform='translate(100.000000,%20597.000000)'%3e%3cg%20id='BTN-/-RIGHTS'%20transform='translate(816.000000,%2065.000000)'%3e%3cg%20id='ICON-/-Rights'%20transform='translate(10.000000,%206.000000)'%3e%3cpath%20d='M13.5752841,0%20L1.34943182,0%20C0.59375,0%200,0.586666667%200,1.33333333%20L0,22.6666667%20C0,23.4133333%200.620738636,24%201.34943182,24%20L17.6505682,24%20C18.40625,24%2019,23.3866667%2019,22.6666667%20L19,5.36%20L13.5752841,0%20Z%20M13.5752841,1.89333333%20L17.0838068,5.36%20L13.5752841,5.36%20L13.5752841,1.89333333%20Z%20M1.34943182,22.6666667%20L1.34943182,1.33333333%20L12.1988636,1.33333333%20L12.1988636,5.36%20C12.1988636,6.10666667%2012.7926136,6.69333333%2013.5482955,6.69333333%20L17.6235795,6.69333333%20L17.6505682,22.6666667%20L1.34943182,22.6666667%20Z'%20id='Shape'%20fill='%23595959'%20fill-rule='nonzero'%3e%3c/path%3e%3ccircle%20id='Oval'%20stroke='%23595959'%20stroke-width='1.5'%20fill='%23595959'%20cx='9.5'%20cy='13.5355339'%20r='5.5'%3e%3c/circle%3e%3cpolyline%20id='Path-2'%20stroke='%23FFFFFF'%20stroke-width='1.5'%20transform='translate(9.500000,%2013.035534)%20rotate(45.000000)%20translate(-9.500000,%20-13.035534)%20'%20points='8%2016.0355339%2011%2016.0355339%2011%2010.0355339'%3e%3c/polyline%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e)
Introduction and background
Following Bransford and Brown's (Reference BRANSFORD and BROWN2000) description, Mills (Reference MILLS2004) argues that performer-teachers (‘performers for whom instrumental (including vocal) teaching is integral to their professional identity’) are ‘accomplished novices’ rather than ‘answer-filled experts’ who are highly motivated to develop their teaching expertise, learn from their teaching activity and transfer this knowledge into the performing context to help their further development as performers. This study seeks to address a related question in the context of classroom music teaching: Do extra-school musical activities of classroom teachers affect their teaching positively? Is there, therefore, a similar but opposite trend in this case? That is, does music making affect music teachers’ classroom teaching?
According to Bernard (Reference BERNARD2004a), a number of prominent scholars in music education (e.g. Hoffer, Reference HOFFER1993; Klotman, Reference KLOTMAN1972) have argued that making music and teaching music are two contrasting roles of the music educator which cannot be fruitfully balanced in the music classroom. Other scholars (e.g. Kneiter, Reference KNEITER1989; Strauss, Reference STRAUSS2001) focused on the importance for the music teacher to have good musical skills in order to pass on relevant musical knowledge and help students develop their own vocal and instrumental skills. However, other aspects of the music teacher's life were overlooked in the literature (see Bernard, Reference BERNARD2004a).
Recent empirical work has particularly explored music teachers’ perceptions of their music teaching and music making roles. In Cox's (Reference COX1999) study, all ten music teachers interviewed expressed positive feelings towards an active musical life outside school. In a survey carried out in the USA, the National Center for Education Statistics (2002) reports that, out of the 453 public elementary music specialists who responded to the survey, 83% had an active performing role as a soloist or with an ensemble.
Bernard's research (Reference BERNARD2004a, Reference BERNARD2004b) sheds some light on how music teachers who are also performing musicians speak about their work in terms of the relationship between these two professional activities. In her interviews of six music-teachers, she found that they perceived their music making and music teaching either as two distinct roles that they take on in their professional lives or as two closely connected activities. The latter, in particular, was evident in the significance for some participants to establish close relationships and communicate through the music in both the music making and music teaching contexts and, for others, to make their own experiences possible for their students (Bernard, Reference BERNARD2004a). Research with early career music teachers (Ballantyne, Reference BALLANTYNE2005) found that, even though most music teachers were passionate about music teaching, they perceived their professional identity in three ways: as a musician who happens to be teaching, as a music teacher or as a teacher who teaches music. The latter, in particular, ‘do not consider themselves to be musicians, often because they perceive their musical skills as sub-standard’ (p. 7). Ballantyne's study revealed a relationship between being a good music teacher and being a good musician.
Drummond (Reference DRUMMOND2001) found that student music teachers considered musical enthusiasm to be the most essential quality in a music teacher. In the same study, extra-curricular, GCSE and A-level classes were generally approached with higher levels of enthusiasm than non-examination KS3 and KS4 classes. As Drummond (Reference DRUMMOND2001) explains, music students and teachers continue to derive the highest satisfaction from those aspects of school life where they had themselves discovered high satisfaction in their own school days. Extra-curricular music making, in particular, is considered to be a valuable part of school life for both pupils and teachers. It can increase pupils’ confidence, help develop social networks and a sense of belonging (Pitts, Reference PITTS2007) while having a powerful impact on young people's self-esteem and identity formation (Kinney, Reference KINNEY1993; Kokotsaki & Hallam, Reference KOKOTSAKI and HALLAM2007). Music teachers draw ‘instinctively on their own enjoyment and expertise in music to form choirs and orchestras and direct them in public performances’ (Pitts, Reference PITTS2000).
Drummond's study also suggests that teachers’ commitment to their music teaching can be influenced by pupils’ commitment to the subject. He concludes that music teachers believe that they get more satisfaction from their work than other teachers. It seems that it provides compensation for other everyday problems they encounter. ‘It is unfortunate, therefore’, Drummond (Reference DRUMMOND2001) argues, ‘that opportunities for personal musical development will quickly diminish when they begin their teaching careers’ (p. 24).
When asked to provide their views on music in school, 8–14-year-old pupils identified playing instruments as one of their most favourite aspects in addition to having the opportunity to have contact with ‘real’ professional musicians (Lamont et al., Reference LAMONT, HARGREAVES, MARSHALL and TARRANT2003). This finding ties in well with the proposed research which will hypothesise that musically active teachers could themselves provide this kind of ‘real’ professional musician role model to their students. This in turn might enthuse their students, ensuring a positive feedback loop.
In addition, Hamann et al. (Reference HAMANN, DAUGHERTY and MILLS1987) argued that teachers ‘must sustain high energy and enthusiasm for their professions’ in order to avoid possible burnout which they identified as a ‘potential major concern’ for music teachers. Among those teachers, the ones who experienced the highest levels of burnout were also found to lack goals in their career plans.
Two possible sources of lack of congruence have been identified in the lives of music teachers in the relevant literature. There is, firstly, the issue of a possible identity clash between the roles of ‘performing musician’ and ‘classroom music teacher’. These conflicting identities may arise, according to Hargreaves et al. (Reference HARGREAVES, WELCH, PURVES and MARSHALL2003, Reference HARGREAVES, WELCH, PURVES and MARSHALL2005), from the difference between the diverse genre demands of the secondary school classroom and the teachers’ musical education within the Western classical tradition where music making is primarily based on a ‘professional performance’ career model. However, Green (Reference GREEN2002) found that teachers often express more positive attitudes towards popular music in the classroom than they used to.
The second potential lack of congruence is between the identities and attitudes of pupils and teachers (Hargreaves et al., Reference HARGREAVES, WELCH, PURVES and MARSHALL2003, Reference HARGREAVES, WELCH, PURVES and MARSHALL2005) resulting from the lack of authenticity that often characterises the secondary school musical experience – pupils appear to relate ‘school music’ to ‘serious genres’, learning and information, teacher direction and control, and ‘out of school music’ with popular genres, enjoyment and ownership of their music making (Hargreaves & Marshall, Reference HARGREAVES and MARSHALL2003). This is also echoed in Dolloff and Stephens’ (Reference DOLLOFF and STEPHENS2002) work where they talk about the creation of a ‘dissonance’, a ‘false division between music studied by musicians and music studied by teachers’. This perceived conflict between in-school and out-of-school music is not only pertinent to pupils’ perception of school music but may also negatively affect student teachers because of a dissonant experience between their former identity as students and musicians and their ‘teacher’ identity (Dolloff & Stephens, Reference DOLLOFF and STEPHENS2002). Making meaning of their identities as musicians and their identities as teachers is often considered a struggle for student music teachers (Woodford, Reference WOODFORD, Colwell and Richardson2002; Bernard, Reference BERNARD2009).
The main aim of this study is to assess the perceived impact of PGCE (Post-Graduate Certificate in Education) music students’ engagement in music making outside school on their personal and professional self during their training year and its anticipated impact as qualified music teachers. In particular, it aims to explore music student-teachers’ attitudes towards their current and possible future involvement in such musical activities to reveal any possible effects these may have on the quality of their teaching and their anticipated job satisfaction.
Method
In England, would-be secondary school teachers generally train to teach on a one-year PGCE (Post-Graduate Certificate in Education) course in a university following their first degree. Fifty-one students wishing to teach music in secondary schools in England were asked to report on the perceived impact that their participation in music making outside school had on their lives during their training and on its expected impact as a qualified music teacher. Data were collected from students from two year groups who attended the music teaching training course between 2006 and 2008 at the University of Durham. Their age ranged from 21 to 28 years and they were mostly (80%) from a classical musical background with 11 student-teachers coming from courses which emphasised popular musical styles.
Student-teachers were chosen as the sample for this study to offer an understanding of the perceived impact of active music making at the very start of a music teacher's career. In addition, as these student-teachers were also accomplished musicians having recently graduated from university, it was deemed necessary for their education to focus on helping them ‘harmonize the various voices that they bring to the teaching/learning situation’ (Dolloff, Reference DOLLOFF2007). The research, therefore, aims to make meaning of the various layers of these music student-teachers’ professional identity focusing on the relationship between their music-making and teaching self.
Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire after having taught music full-time in two different secondary schools for about 10 weeks overall (student-teachers are required to teach about 13 full-time weeks during the academic year). It was anticipated that the amount of time they had spent teaching would have shaped their perception of the impact of their active musical involvement outside the music classroom.
The questionnaire was chosen as a useful data collection tool as, compared with the more time-consuming interviewing technique, it would allow the recruitment of a substantially larger number of participants (Tuckman, Reference TUCKMAN1972; Gillham, Reference GILLHAM2000). Interview responses would potentially help explain and illuminate some of the participants’ comments in more detail. However, participants were happy to complete the questionnaire and provided detailed and well-thought out answers to the questions. Therefore, both the number and conceptual depth of the questionnaire responses were deemed appropriate to meet the aims of the present study.
The questionnaire consisted of the following open-ended questions:
• Are you involved in music making outside school? (Please specify the musical style and genre.)
• What other kinds of musical activities have you been involved in in the past?
• Does your musical involvement outside school help you in any way? Personally? Professionally? In what way?
• Does it increase your job satisfaction in any way? How?
• Does it help you become a better teacher? If so, how?
• Do you see yourself continuing to be involved in such musical activities outside school as a qualified music teacher?
• Do you think it is important or not?
The data collected were then analysed using Atlas.ti, a software package for the analysis of qualitative data (Muhr, Reference MUHR1997). The questionnaires were subject to in-depth qualitative analysis based on Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis in line with Smith (Reference SMITH, Smith, Harré and Langenhove1995). The first step was the coding process where similar events and happenings were grouped under a common heading. The concepts that seemed to apply to the same phenomenon were then clustered together. This process led to the emergence of categories. Instances of each major category were identified in all participants’ comments, but the emphasis varied depending on which elements were perceived to have been more important in each particular case. To ensure validity, coding was checked by a second coder who independently coded a random sample of responses. There was complete agreement between the coders. The names of all respondents have been changed to ensure anonymity.
Results
The majority of the student-teachers who participated in the research reported being involved in orchestral (30% with one student-teacher reporting involvement in a youth orchestra), band (28%) or chamber music playing (28%) during their training year (see Table 1). The next most frequent categories were choir participation and being involved in musical theatre, song writing, solo performing, composing, conducting and producing arrangements. For some student-teachers (14%), private music teaching counted as their out-of-school music making and two participants felt that extra-curricular school work gave them the chance to be musically active. Fourteen per cent of participants reported not being involved in any music making during their teaching training.
Participants’ music making activities during their teaching training
Comparing student-teachers’ musical activities during their teaching training year (Table 1) with those undertaken before (Table 2), some important differences need to be noted. Even though most of the musical activities reported in both periods are the same and also similar numbers of student-teachers were involved in each one, there were strikingly larger numbers that participated in youth orchestras (49% compared to 30%), bands (57% compared to 28%), choirs (47% compared to 8%) and musical theatre productions (31% compared to 10%). This is not surprising considering that the teaching training year is not a typical one in terms of the time, energy and opportunity available to participate. Some of these student-teachers moved from a different university city in order to pursue the course and were, therefore, lacking the network of activities that they had built up in their previous location. Chamber music, solo performing, private teaching, composing and conducting were musical activities undertaken in both periods by similar numbers of participants. Some musical activities were unique in each period, for instance, involvement in extra-curricular music was only mentioned by participants during their training year whereas participation in courses, workshops and Master Classes was reported taking place before the start of teaching training.
Participants’ music making activities before their teaching training
Benefits were reported by participants on a social, personal, musical and professional level. Table 3 sets out the main sub-categories to emerge within those themes with illustrative quotations from each, and the number and percentage of responses of the total sample. The following sub-sections present participants’ perception of the benefits of their music making during their training year. The findings section concludes with student-teachers’ comments on the importance they attribute to being involved in such musical activities outside school as qualified music teachers.
Perceived effects of musical involvement for student-teachers
Social benefits
Student-teachers mentioned the social benefits they feel can be gained from their participation in music making activities outside school. More than half of the participants appreciated the development of social skills, the social interaction opportunities, meeting and spending time with like-minded people who share the same passion for music making and the active social life that travelling to perform in various events often entails. On a social level, therefore, music making was perceived as an important social activity which helps build relationships with peers.
Personal benefits
Benefits on a personal level expressed by participants included a sense of achievement and self-fulfilment, especially after hard work at a successful group performance as well as a feeling of personal satisfaction and contentment. Music making was also perceived as a relaxing and therapeutic activity which generates happy and positive feelings, is enjoyable and encourages participants to keep making music for the sheer pleasure of the experience rather than solely for teaching purposes. On a purely personal level, therefore, some participants viewed their musical involvement as an enjoyable and ‘creative outlet’ which can provide release from pressures of work offering at the same time the chance of making productive use of free time for those involved.
Musical benefits
Comments on personal development also included the musical benefits that most participants felt can be gained from such musical involvement. They thought that it can help them develop their own musicianship and interpretation of music, keep their playing and technical standard high, help them improve their knowledge of repertoire of different styles and genres and, therefore, increase subject knowledge and keep musical ideas fresh and up to date. As a result, they felt that they can maintain their interest in music making while becoming more confident musicians. For the following student-teacher, for instance, listening to music and performing outside school was vital to help him protect ‘his sense of pitch’ and also maintain an accurate, critical sense of judgement when commenting on pupils’ work. As he specifically says, being musically involved outside school helps the teacher to avoid getting into a cycle of imitation and encourages instead a desire to improve by setting higher musical standards.
Essential!! Cause one thing you can tell about schools is that the music you hear there is of a calibre that is not really good on the ear – it's like handwriting, if you can't read it, you don't read it, if you can't ascertain exactly what that music is you switch off from it, you end up imitating it rather than trying to improve.
Essential to listen to music outside school because you end up conforming to how the school/class performs – they have to catch you up rather than dropping to their level.
Professional aspect of being able to say, this is wrong, why? You need to be able to play music – you may end up losing that sense of pitch, losing the ability to perform.
Professional benefits
Most of these comments on musical benefits were often accompanied by their implications for classroom teaching. Therefore, in addition to having an effect on personal development, these musical gains were highly appreciated for their benefits on the actual teaching and learning environment. In other words, the skills developed can lead to more confidence in teaching by being able to incorporate more varied activities and skilfully demonstrate different techniques in class drawing on personal experience.
On a professional level, respondents emphasised the positive effects of their active musical involvement outside school both on their ability to teach and their pupils’ learning. By acquiring more relevant knowledge and experience through their own personal musical development, they felt able to empathise with and better address pupils’ diverse needs as they had the opportunity to share ideas and discuss resources with fellow musicians, further develop their communication skills and draw links between classroom music with wider music making. They also felt that their musical experiences often enable them to act as role models for the pupils and develop higher expectations both from themselves and pupils’ work. For the following participant, for instance, being able to keep up her own piano playing would enrich the classroom music-making experience leading to a deeper and more meaningful relationship with the teacher.
I just love playing, I would love to keep it going, be able to play for the kids’ exams, really important and helpful to them etc., even simple things like singing in the classroom, the kids much prefer singing with the piano, it makes it more lively; also be able to pass on my skills and have a different relationship with you not just as a teacher but as a musician as well.
Even though they set higher standards in teaching and learning, some respondents felt that they can also adopt a less tense and more relaxed attitude towards class teaching which is related to their developed teaching confidence. More general professional benefits were also expressed regarding, for instance, how these musical achievements can look good on a curriculum vitae.
Almost all participants (49/51) in the study felt that their active musical involvement outside school helps them become better teachers mainly because of their own confidence, enthusiasm and musical experiences that can be passed on to pupils, inspire and motivate them.
Yes, because I learn lots of skills which I can pass on to pupils. By talking about my achievements, it might inspire other pupils.
Draw upon personal experience to better highlight issues to students.
It makes you more enthusiastic about playing for the kids. Lets them see you are enjoying yourself.
These student-teachers therefore, felt that such musical activities increase their job satisfaction, make them happier, more energetic and, most importantly, help them focus on the personal significance of choosing music teaching as a career. All participants (100%) expressed the desire to be actively involved in music making outside school as qualified music teachers. The following example illustrates this ‘ideal’ situation for the student-teacher where a balance between teaching and performing will form the core of her future career.
Doing the teaching made me realise that I care about music more than I thought – just not having it as intensely as I did before. Teaching music is very different to performing, just a different level; going back to a very basic level when teaching music made me realise that performing is very important to me. It would be ideal for me combining teaching and performing, it's a nice way of making a living if you can do it. I enjoy it a lot more and I think about pursuing it more in the next few years.
This sentiment is also strongly expressed by the following participant who feels that being actively involved in music making outside the classroom forms a vital part of her professional identity which not only complements her classroom teaching but, most importantly, gives it purpose and meaning. Put metaphorically, her own music making seems to be that link which holds the chain together and, therefore, gives value and importance to her teaching.
I am a music teacher that is not involved in anything this year. I feel like a music teacher that doesn't actually do music. It keeps you going really, classroom music is completely different to . . . MUSIC. I will continue what I like doing for my own sanity, rather than being stuck with reggae and blues. It's all nice but it's not WHAT I DO, really!
Time constraints
A small number of the study's participants (14%) stated that they were not involved in any music making during their training year. However, as their comments revealed, this lack of participation in musical activities did not mean that they did not see the benefits of it. On the contrary, they thought that the experience would be beneficial but they put forth time constraints as the reason for their non-involvement in such activities.
As long as the constraints do not effect your teaching, the experience gained is invaluable in improving your teaching.
If I have the time of course I would like to.
Depends if time allows! I do think it is quite important.
It's really upsetting, because you think ‘I haven't been in a choir’, I'll be in Newcastle and then I may leave. I may not have time, I am looking forward to being able to do things myself now. I am going to look for something.
If I was involved, then yes it may do, however I think it's important to have a break from your profession and not do it 24/7.
All student-teachers mentioned their desire to strike a balance between teaching and participation in music making as qualified teachers. In a few cases, instrumental teaching was considered a way forward to teaching music on a higher level and meeting to an extent the teacher's music-making needs.
For next year I will definitely look into joining a choir, I am looking forward to it. I really missed performing; this year has been very hectic. It is important for me to have my own musical identity. That is why I'm planning to do peri work next year. I will also be running the school choir – it will be interesting to see how it is to be in a choir rather than taking the choir; it gives you a different angle.
In addition, the actual time demands that extra-curricular work may exert upon the teacher would set further energy and time constraints on the teacher to participate in music making outside of school hours, as the following student-teacher's account illustrates.
Next year I will help with the music choir and will direct and conduct the second orchestra, the junior orchestra, taking a share of the conducting of the senior orchestra, and running a madrigal club and running a recorder ensemble and helping with the jazz band, oh, yeah, I'm going to be sometimes accompanying and sometimes conducting the choral society that the school runs for the village and that takes up a whole evening, that counts as my out of school music making!!
Relationships between the elements
Figure 1 offers a visual representation of the themes and their sub-categories that emerged from the analysis. As before, the numbers next to each code represent the number of times each code has occurred in the participants’ responses. These music student-teachers reported with enthusiasm the importance they attributed to being actively involved in music making during their training year. They also felt that keeping up their musical involvement as qualified teachers would enhance their job satisfaction and help them become better teachers. They all, therefore, reported a desire to continue pursuing their personal musical interests in their future career and strike a balance between their music making and music teaching activities.
Effects of out of school musical involvement as perceived by trainee music teachers
Music making was highly appreciated for the social interaction opportunities and the chance offered to socialise with people having the same interests and passion for music. Important perceived musical benefits also emerged from the analysis which had a two-fold impact, firstly, in enhancing purely personal aspects of the self in terms of personal enjoyment and satisfaction (personal benefits) and, secondly, in celebrating these personal achievements in the classroom to make the music teaching and learning experience more valuable and interesting for the pupils (professional benefits). The combination of these factors indicates, therefore, a good standard in music education provision where teachers are happy teaching and pupils enjoy learning.
Discussion
The study's findings draw a kind of ideal image of the classroom music teacher in secondary education. The variety of qualities and attributes mentioned depict a happy, enthusiastic, confident and knowledgeable music teacher who can inspire, motivate and help pupils achieve. These are highly accomplished musicians who recently obtained their university music degree and music making forms a significant part of their identity. They could be called teacher-performers, following Mill's description of ‘performer-teachers’, they are, in other words, teachers for whom performing is integral to their professional identity.
In line with Ballantyne's (Reference BALLANTYNE2005) finding, these teachers associated their ability to be good teachers (their music teacher efficacy) with their ability to be a good musician (their musical efficacy). They hope, therefore, to continue making music as qualified music teachers as they feel that a variety of benefits can result from such involvement both for their own good and the improvement of the teaching and learning environment.
The research findings indicate, therefore, that music teachers’ musical involvement outside school could possibly help address a number of problematic issues identified in the music education literature, such as avoiding burnout and having clear career goals (Hamann et al., Reference HAMANN, DAUGHERTY and MILLS1987), maintaining musical enthusiasm (Drummond, Reference DRUMMOND2001), and allowing pupils to view their teachers as ‘real’ professional musicians (Lamont et al., Reference LAMONT, HARGREAVES, MARSHALL and TARRANT2003) who they can aspire to. Finally, the lack of congruence between ‘school music’ and ‘out of school music’ (Hargreaves & Marshall, Reference HARGREAVES and MARSHALL2003) or between the identities and attitudes of pupils and teachers (Hargreaves et al., Reference HARGREAVES, WELCH, PURVES and MARSHALL2003) could be reduced as the secondary school musical experience is likely to become more ‘authentic’ for both the teachers and the pupils. For pupils, in particular, viewing the classroom teacher as an actual performing musician could help bridge the gap between their perception of music in school and out of school whereas teachers can view the classroom as an environment where their performing talents can be productively used. Therefore, teachers’ perception of a possible clash of what they do inside and outside the classroom can be reconciled.
Although the study's participants reported their involvement in a wide range of styles and genres of music making, from classical to more popular styles, this study did not aim to explore which particular musical styles may have the greatest effect on pupils’ development of interest and progress in music. To do this, future research needs to specifically focus on pupils’ musical aspirations in terms of their alignment to teachers’ interests and skills (see Hargreaves et al., Reference HARGREAVES, PURVES, WELCH and MARSHALL2007). However, this study has gone some way towards redefining the image of the secondary school music teacher by suggesting that keeping up one's musical interests may help create a better, more satisfied and happier teacher, at least as far as these music student-teachers are concerned.
A particularly interesting finding that emerged from the study was some participants’ conviction that continuing to pursue their own musical interests in addition to their classroom teaching, would help them focus on the personal significance of choosing music teaching as a career. That would help them maintain their motivation and enthusiasm for music teaching, as their own musical involvement was the principal motivating factor behind their career choice. It could be argued that these perceptions and self concepts can act as core values for music teachers offering stability and a sense of purpose in their work (Korthagen, Reference KORTHAGEN2004). This is echoed in Eisner (Reference EISNER2000) who argued that the emotional connection to music that initially drew us to music forms an important element of our teaching identity and this needs to be maintained and celebrated; this powerful emotional experience needs to be passed on to pupils.
This small-scale research needs to be further explored and validated by future research which will also shed light on the relevant attitudes of qualified and more experienced music teachers to find out whether a similar pattern exists. Is, for instance, the importance attributed to music making by music student-teachers sustained by more experienced teachers? Is musical involvement outside school still significant as a motivating factor later on in one's career? If it is, what are the major enablers and challenges in allowing music teachers to pursue their personal musical interests? Or is there a gradual shift in teachers’ musician identity, which student-teachers in this study seem to be trying to keep alive, as teachers move on in their career?
Perhaps, even these student-teachers, if asked a few years later, might not be so enthusiastic about their own music making outside school any more. They might not consider it as important as they did shortly after graduating or, if they still thought it was worthwhile, they might find themselves so involved in the day-to-day school life that they might perhaps struggle to find the time or energy to continue pursuing their own musical interests. Some of the study's respondents felt unable to do so during their training year due to time constraints. An important question to ask, therefore, would be: is it possible for qualified and more experienced teachers to strike a balance between being musically involved outside of school and music teaching in the classroom?
Would these student-teachers continue to be passionate about teaching a few years into the profession? As Roberts (Reference ROBERTS2004) argues, there is significant support for a ‘teacher self’ in school in contrast to the ‘musician-performer’ self where there is usually minimal support. It is ironic though that this may be one of the main reasons that many music teachers leave the profession in the first few years of practice as ‘the emotional payback for teaching may not be as great as that from performing, composing, or being a parent, no matter how altruistic our intentions might be’ (Dolloff, Reference DOLLOFF2007, p.16).
Considering the perceived benefits of active musical involvement for the study's participants both for their own personal development but, most importantly, for their ability to provide music teaching of better quality, serious consideration needs to be taken by policy makers to support teachers’ well-balanced involvement in both music making and teaching. As Roberts (Reference ROBERTS2004) has interestingly put it,
It is like a war, where the teaching self and the musician self battle it out for control over the person. Unlike most wars, however, we don't really want a winner. It is in the struggle that we can keep both our musical self and our teacher self alive and both must be strong to produce the kind of great music teacher we want in front of our students.
