Pre-Service Teachers' Rationale for Why Peers' Music Teaching is Creative

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find out reasons behind pre-service teachers' perceptions of creative music teaching. This is a follow-up study of our previous investigation of those perceptions. Participants were 45 pre-service teachers attending universities in Sydney. They were in two groups: 1) Group A - 19 first year, Bachelor of Music and Music Education students (Mean age = 21), and 2) Group B - 26 fourth year, Bachelor of Education students (Mean age = 26). The pre-service teachers delivered 10-minutes lessons, and their peers commented on 1) what creative aspects were in the teaching, and 2) why they thought so, using the Creativity Response Sheet (CRS). This paper reports on responses to the "why" question. The responses were analysed by coding and making rank orders with frequencies of responses. Categories and subcategories (Sub/Categories) were identified, into which the pre-service teachers' responses were grouped. Results showed: 1) greatest attention was paid to Teaching Skills and, to a lesser degree, to Originality aspects in the teaching Process; and 2) the pre-service teachers were able to think of likely outcomes of teaching, i.e., Product. These results indicate that the pre-service teachers' personal reflections are informed by teaching and learning theories and specific music and teaching experiences: e.g., Active learning, Motivation, Varied approaches to concept. Implications for music teacher education are that there should be more awareness of creative music teaching strategies and more opportunities for pre-service teachers to develop reflection on their emerging practice.