Music teacher identity: Reassessing perceptions during a global pandemic

Abstract

From 2020 to 2022, a global pandemic caused schools to pivot from primarily in-person instruction to all-virtual or hybrid instruction, creating a shift in contextual learning environments that made it necessary for experienced music teachers to become more adaptable and flexible within their already established expertise or leave the profession. Those teachers who stayed in the profession during the pandemic had additional stress, which resulted in trauma. This article reassessed the perceptions of experienced stringed instrument teachers from a previous study (N = 3) through the lens of their music teacher identity expertise. Reassessing changes in experienced music teachers’ teaching identity expertise during the pandemic could help preservice teachers enhance their creativity, resilience, and flexibility to face future environmental shifts of any proportion. Experienced music teachers’ outcomes could result in more meaningful and relevant curricula as well as a framework for implementing professional self-care to heal from the trauma of this global pandemic and prevent burnout and attrition.