Tímarit um menntarannsóknir - 01.01.2009, Blaðsíða 83

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Tímarit um menntarannsóknir, 6. árgangur 2009
successful elementary school music teachers
towards their work. It focused on evolving
role identity and professional identities in
relation to general education, music education,
occupational well-being and other significant
factors. The main research questions were:
What factors influence the well-being •
and professional stamina of a
successful music teacher?
What factors influence the •
construction of the professional
identity of a music teacher?
What characterises the music •
teacher’s attitudes and ideas towards
his profession?
The study was based on interviews which
took place in the autumn of 2005 with nine
practising elementary school music teachers
who had between 4 and 31 years of teaching
experience. They were educated in two
schools: the University of Education in Iceland
(Kennaraháskóli Íslands) and the Music
Conservatory in Reykjavík (Tónlistarskólinn
í Reykjavík).
Results indicated that the support of school
principals was particularly important to the
teachers’ working environment and to their
sense of well-being. In spite of differences
in approach and practice in their teaching, all
the participants emphasised creative student
participation. They were all well educated
in their field, i.e. music and pedagogy, and
considered themselves first and foremost
specialist teachers in music. They actively
participated in moulding the overall culture
of their respective schools and in some ways
saw themselves as “artistic directors” of their
schools. The teachers in the study had strong
professional identities which, in most cases,
were based on solid musical education and
knowledge. They all believed in the importance
of their teaching and had developed a clear
philosophical focus towards their job. This
formed the foundation for their strength and
self-reliance, which they uses to gain support
from parents and other significant others. They
were content with the flexibility of the national
music curriculum, even though a contradiction
in their attitudes toward the curriculum was
observed.
One of the main results of the study was that
solid grounding in both music and pedagogy/
teaching methods was a prerequisite for the
music teacher’s clear vision of his role in
the school environment. On that basis, they
constructed their professional identity as
musicians and teachers. The unification of
musician and teacher was in some ways the
key to being a successful music teacher.
It seems important in the music teacher
training program to combine education in
music and in pedagogy. The two universities
that now educate music teachers in Iceland,
the Iceland Academy of the Arts and the
University of Education, appear to reflect
respectively each of the two different kinds
of musician/teacher identity. On the one hand
the Academy emphasises the ‘musician’ and
musical development, whilst the University
of Education places a significant emphasis
on pedagogical issues and the making of
‘teachers’. With the prolongation of teacher
training in Iceland from three years (B.Ed.) to
five years (M.Ed. or M.A.) a golden opportunity
is presented to accommodate for possible
shortcomings in the respective schools, without
either of them having to sacrifice their current
emphasis on the B.Ed. level.
Heimildaskrá
Andri Ísaksson. (1983, október). Að
mennta afl og önd. Erindi flutt á
ráðstefnu Menntamálaráðuneytisins og
Skólaþróunardeildar, Reykjavík.
Bladh, S. (2002). Musiklærere–I utbildning
och yrke. En longitudinell studie av
musiklärere i Svergie. Gautaborg:
Institut för musikvetenskap, Göteborgs
Universität.
Hlutverkavitund og starfsumhverfi farsælla tónmenntakennara