{"title":"Breaking the sound of silence: Professional learning in an early career music teacher conversation group","authors":"Alden H. Snell, Suzanne L. Burton","doi":"10.1177/1321103x241236367","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Professional development, typically initiated by administrators to improve student achievement outcomes, is often irrelevant to the needs of early career music teachers. As music teacher educators, we were concerned about issues of importance to early career music teachers as they entered the music teaching profession. We explored conversation as a conduit of reflection and professional learning by convening a conversation group of five early career music teachers who gathered over six, one-hour-long meetings. Guiding their discussions were topics they identified in questionnaires administered before and during the study. Data included audio-visual recordings of the meetings, questionnaires, and researcher memos. Four themes emerged from our analysis of their conversations: (a) educating administrators and mentors, (b) knowing their place, (c) overcoming a lack of resources, and (d) giving students lifelong musical skills. We interpreted these findings through the lens of Snow’s principles of symbolic interactionism. The conversation group facilitated the music teachers’ move from the initial shock of sedimented school culture to a position of agency. The freedom of conversation around chosen topics of professional and personal importance provided the early career music teachers with choice, self-direction, collective support, and agency—key components of professional learning.","PeriodicalId":45954,"journal":{"name":"Research Studies in Music Education","volume":"87 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Research Studies in Music Education","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103x241236367","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"MUSIC","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Professional development, typically initiated by administrators to improve student achievement outcomes, is often irrelevant to the needs of early career music teachers. As music teacher educators, we were concerned about issues of importance to early career music teachers as they entered the music teaching profession. We explored conversation as a conduit of reflection and professional learning by convening a conversation group of five early career music teachers who gathered over six, one-hour-long meetings. Guiding their discussions were topics they identified in questionnaires administered before and during the study. Data included audio-visual recordings of the meetings, questionnaires, and researcher memos. Four themes emerged from our analysis of their conversations: (a) educating administrators and mentors, (b) knowing their place, (c) overcoming a lack of resources, and (d) giving students lifelong musical skills. We interpreted these findings through the lens of Snow’s principles of symbolic interactionism. The conversation group facilitated the music teachers’ move from the initial shock of sedimented school culture to a position of agency. The freedom of conversation around chosen topics of professional and personal importance provided the early career music teachers with choice, self-direction, collective support, and agency—key components of professional learning.
期刊介绍:
Research Studies in Music Education is an internationally peer-reviewed journal that promotes the dissemination and discussion of high quality research in music and music education. The journal encourages the interrogation and development of a range of research methodologies and their application to diverse topics in music education theory and practice. The journal covers a wide range of topics across all areas of music education, and a separate "Perspectives in Music Education Research" section provides a forum for researchers to discuss topics of special interest and to debate key issues in the profession.