An investigation into the most significant influences on the way beginning teachers incorporate music into their primary classrooms

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify the significant influences that effect the way beginning teachers in the A.C.T. incorporate music into their primary classrooms.
Twenty-eight teachers from 23 different schools were interviewed in this study. These teachers were chosen on the basis that they were beginning teachers (teachers who were in their first, second or third year of teaching) and had graduated from the University of Canberra from 1988 to 1990. The teachers were interviewed over a 7 week period in Term 4 of 1990. The interview schedule incorporated aspects of a questionnaire and an interview employing both closed and open-ended questions.
The study found that although 71% of the teachers taught some music in their classrooms, no teacher actually taught the whole music curriculum (as defined by the A.C.T. Curriculum Guidelines, 1990). Singing, listening and moving were taught by most teachers but areas of the music curriculum such as playing, reading and writing, improvisation and composition were rarely included. These results were influenced by factors such as the musical background of the teachers, preservice courses, the school music curriculum, whether or not teacher's colleagues taught music and the school's utilisation of the music specialist. For example, teachers who taught music were more likely to come from a school that had a music curriculum rather than from a school that did not.
This study has implications for the development and implementation of primary school music curricula, the reassessment of future preservice and inservice programs, the utilisation of human resources within primary schools and the development of more positive attitudes towards music in schools and society in general.

Date of Award	1992
Original language	English
Supervisor	John Fraser (Supervisor)