Perceived influences of a music teacher education programme on preservice music educators’ occupational identity development

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine preservice music educators’ perceptions of how the culture of a music teacher education programme and its embedded communities of practice influenced their occupational identity development. Research questions were (a) What specific cultural influences and communities of practice, if any, did the participants describe as particularly influential in regard to occupational identity development and why? (b) How did the participants describe their respective changes in occupational identities, if any? Participants were preservice music educators enrolled in an early childhood music education methods class with authentic-context learning (ACL) experiences. Data included audio recordings of classes, observational field notes, transcripts from multiple individual interviews and a focus group discussion, and students’ reflection journals. Participants cited several music teacher education courses, embedded ACL experiences, and supportive interactions with peers and professors, as a constellation of factors that influenced an occupational identity transition within themselves to think more broadly about their identities as educators and the means through which music could be taught.

KEYWORDS:

• Occupational identity
• music teacher education
• authentic-context learning
• communities of practice
• culture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 All names throughout are pseudonyms.

2 Total amount of time from matriculation to degree completion (including student teaching) is 9 semesters.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniel J. Albert

Daniel J. Albert is an assistant professor of music education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (USA). Prior to graduate studies, Albert taught classroom and instrumental music in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. His research interests include pre-service music teacher education curricula, pre-service and in-service music teacher identity, and culture and community in music education.