In relation to musical qualities

From different perspectives, the three articles concur that teachers’ musical qualities are important for the effective development of their teaching practice. Whilst the results of the first article emphasise the role played by certain musical competences, the narratives included in the second and third highlight the relevance of previous musical experiences in the achievement of more effective practices. Following this, it can be appreciated how contact points can be found in both views.

The results of the first article underline the importance of mastering competences relating to field content, especially those related to music listening. Also, these results suggest that it would be necessary to strengthen the training received in order to exercise the competence related to musical creation so that students are able to engage with the subject more effectively. On the other hand, the results emphasise that the importance that teachers award to musical competences increases with experience. Interestingly however, novice teachers are the ones who appear to use

6. Overall results summary and discussion

150

them more often in their practice. As already noted in this article, the confidence the teachers gain by involving students in musical learning through what is best known to them –music itself– could partly explain these results. Moreover, this hypothesis seems to be confirmed by the experiences collected in the narratives included in the second and third articles.

Before commencing their teacher training programmes, the teachers who work in the area of the Arts –particularly those who teach in secondary schools– have been actively involved in their artistic training and practice. Therefore, these teachers develop a solid identity as artists, often lasting beyond their initial training (see Article 2).

On the other hand, the narratives included in the second and third articles highlight the limited teacher training that the participating secondary school teachers received and the lack of support in adjusting their identity as artists to one which complemented their new teacher role. The results of the first article, which portray that primary school teachers perceive having received more training than secondary school teachers in relation to pedagogical and didactic competences, complement these results. The secondary school teachers music teachers felt it necessary to initially trust and draw upon their identities as musicians in order to compensate for what they perceived as limitations in their initial teacher training. This is evidenced in the following excerpt:

Similarly [to Carmen], Tim often relied on his well-established ability as a musician to engage his students in his subject. Tim, who began teaching in a school with a high proportion of students from multicultural backgrounds revealed that he often utilized performance strategies as a means to cope with the difficult clientele from the school, but also as a tool to enhance his students’ confidence in their capacities as musicians. I often took whole groups of kids out to play at Aboriginal festivals and we got lots of rewarding experiences out of that. The kids all loved to be doing things with music and then getting this appraisal.

(Article 3, p. 180)

With experience, however, some teachers develop a ‘hybrid identity’ as teachers and artists, and as such, are able to use strategies within musical practice as pedagogical tools:

6. Overall results summary and discussion

151

It became increasingly apparent upon further reflection that as we gained confidence in the school classroom that far from remaining distinct, our artistic and teaching identities began to complement one another. Carmen told Margaret that she utilised performance to enhance the students’ interest and the attitudes of the students improved rapidly after using this tool in the classroom... even the students who were more problematic, were enthusiastically involved in playing the instruments together with their friends. This improvement in student engagement when exposed to a less theory driven curriculum was also a much welcome by-product of a similar decision on Margaret’s part to use art exhibitions as a pedagogical tool. Though we were both too intimately involved to be fully aware of the processes we had initiated, it is now clear that there was no compartmentalising of our identity as artists and teachers, but rather we had assumed a hybrid identity as an artist teacher; first as a matter of professional survival and later as a philosophical choice. (Article 2, p. 120)

In the use of strategies of musical practice as pedagogical tools, the subject music is also significant in addressing classroom diversity. The results of the first article emphasised the need to have resources available to adapt teacher interventions to the characteristics of students, including, but not limited to social, emotional, cultural and academic contexts. On the other hand, the experiences recounted by one of the teachers who participated in the third study, confirms the usefulness of music as a means to deal with diversity in the classroom and create positive synergy with and among students.

We can thus conclude that limited preparation and lack of support in the secondary school teachers’ training programmes, encourages teachers to rely on their previous musical experience and identity as a musician and, consequently, avail themselves of musical strategies as tools to face challenges in their teaching activities. This data would explain the importance given by the teachers to the musical competences and the perception of their utmost utilisation by the novice teachers.

In conclusion, some of the results emphasising the importance of musical qualities to effectively exercise teaching activities have been presented. However, it is worth mentioning that the results of the first article suggested that having specific training in the content of the music discipline does not guarantee this knowledge will be applied in context unless didactic preparation is also available. Hence, it can be

6. Overall results summary and discussion

152

concluded that musical qualities, on their own, cannot affect the effectiveness with which music teachers carry out their professional activities.

V. FINAL CONCLUSION,