Becoming a music teacher: Korean music student teachers’ perceptions of their student teaching experience

ABSTRACT

Student teaching is the culminating field experience in a teacher preparation programme. The purpose of the study was to explore Korean music student teachers’ perceptions of their student teaching experience. To collect data for this study, in-depth interviews, observation, and documents were used. The results of this study showed that during student teaching, participants had authentic teaching experiences, but needed closer collaboration between the university and the teaching context. Korean music student teachers also felt that a community of student teachers helped them grow as professional music teachers; hence student teacher peers may be another important resource for successful student teaching. Finally, they focused on reflective teaching, but specific ideas and strategies to improve their teaching skills were rather vague. Suggestions for future research on music student teaching are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Student teaching
• pre-service music teacher
• Korean student teacher
• music teacher preparation programme

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Jihae Shin is an assistant professor in a graduate school of education at Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea, where she teaches music education courses. She earned her master’s degree at the Ohio State University and doctoral degree at Teachers College, Columbia University, USA. Her research interests focus on teacher education, professional development, string music education, and music teaching and learning.