Developing confidence and competence as a pre-service music teacher: personal epistemology in a middle years course

Abstract

For many pre-service music teachers the prospect of teaching in the 'real world' can be daunting, as they often lack classroom competence. Hence, they need to be prepared in ways that develops these kinds of capacities. This paper reports on findings from a research study into music teachers' professional preparation. It argues that levels of confidence are essential for pre-service music teachers as they help develop their capacities to frame and enact a personal philosophy or epistemology to the teaching and learning of music that secure their intended education purposes. In a middle years music education course, both under- and post-graduate students learn about teaching music to young adolescents in school settings. They are introduced to relevant theories and pedagogical practices to the teaching and learning of music in contemporary schooling contexts. An integral element of this course was for students to develop their own personal philosophy and approach to music education. To evaluate the efficacy of these experiences, these students were asked to participate in pre-course and post-course surveys and write personal philosophies that elicited data about their capacities and confidence to teach middle years music.