The impact of teacher biography in the secondary

classroom

Chris DalladayThe Cass School of Education and Communities

The University of East London

TEAN annual conferenceAston University, Birmingham

Thursday 14 May 2015

The cycle of music education

Welch, 2012: 389

Teacher biography and the development of teacher role

“First experiences of family, school and teacher are interpreted and are assigned meanings. The collective meanings of family, teacher or school experiences are modified, augmented and generalized to become family role models, positive or negative teacher role models or a personal philosophy of education. In turn, the constructs of the role models and philosophies are transformed into ideas for working in the classroom. From the idealized strategies, relationships and environments, the individual enacts classroom practices. These behaviours may be modified by the context of the situation.”

Knowles, 1992: 142-3

Teacher biography and the development of teacher role

“On one side there may exist feelings of loyalty towards their own musicianship which… offers them a real sense of personal identity. Pulling in the opposite direction, there may hover a belief, instilled by their initial course in teaching, that in order to communicate with ‘ordinary’ children they need to approach music from a more realistic, day-to-day, and person-orientated stance. This may well involve letting go of some cherished beliefs and deeply seated attitudes.”

Kemp, 1996: 229

Key Research Question:

Is there any relationship between

what is taught in class music and a music teacher’s

biography?

Theoretical Framework

Research Methods

and findings

1:Exploration with teachers and trainees of the competencies for developing musicians and

the contexts in which musicians develop

(n=12)

2:Devising a ‘set of musical

competencies and learning contexts for participants to

prioritise/rank for importance.(n=39)

3:Further exploration of views on musicianship, music education and personal philosophies on

the place of music though quantitative survey

(n=64)

4:Further in-depth exploration

of ‘practice’ through observations of teaching using unique observation

‘tool’(n=11)

5:Core participants

interviews/narrative inquiry to explore the relationship

between life history/musical development and practice in

the classroom(n=10)

Research Methods

Teacher experience and the needs of education and the pupils

• Music teachers tend to have a western classical music background; disjunct of teacher-pupil experience, knowledge and interest

• Increasingly narrow focus and specialisation

• Some teachers challenged / unable to model or guide in some of aspects of the music curriculum

• Little opportunity for SK devt. in ITE & CPD; is one year sufficient for ITE?

Instrument/vocal lessons: 76% attained grade 8

GCSE / OL music: 89%

AL music: 91%

‘pure’ music degree: 76%

Value instrument/voice performance as the most important musical competency: 78%

A selection of key data: musical competencies (3)

Mean OSS taken from the ‘relative mean’ (the average over all the lessons observed, where ‘null’ OSS counts as 0).

Teacher experience and the needs of education and the pupils (2)

• Mis-match of SK / experience is evident across the curriculum

• Implications:

o Length of ITE

o Establishment / re-establishment of SK enhancement and booster courses

o ‘Creative’ planning of ITE

o Subject development based CPD

o ‘Creativity’ in deployment of staff

“most trainees will end up teaching outside their main degree specialism, at least in Key Stage 3, and it is not uncommon to find trainees teaching (say) physics who have themselves studied no physics beyond the age of 16. Yet effective and inspiring teaching requires the teacher to understand the subject matter in greater depth than the level they are teaching at…”

Holman, The Wellcome Trust, 2011

A selection of key data: biography and practice (1)

Q Do you think that your selective education has influenced the way you teach or want to teach?

A Yes, for the majority, but no…. My education has certainly made me the musician I am and most of the beliefs I have. Having said that, I do think that a lot of learning through community and not just being spoon-fed by the teacher is actually the best way to learn. And, as a person, I’m not just about the music, I’m music and drama and I don’t think I got that from my schooling; that was just me, and then now my career. Yeh, I was absolutely spoiled in my schooling, without a doubt. But the, I have to be honest, ‘cos I’m now wondering if you’re thinking was I given that through my parents being able to afford it….

A selection of key data: biography and practice (2)

A selection of key data: biography and practice (3)

T11 strong performing background; supports students to focus on aspects of performance & technique

T10 experience of African drumming may be the driving force behind his selection of drumming activities in his observed lesson

S1 grounding in contemporary popular genres led a lesson based on the ‘Musical Futures’ approach

S6 degree in ‘world musics’ teaching lessons based on West African music

T1 admitted lesser skill in composing; lesson with insufficient guidance on the composing process

S7 constrained having to teach and model keyboard skills; principle woodwind performer

S4 felt unconfident in use of tech; worked on developing this skill and produced a ‘model’ of the ICT-based task for her students.

A selection of key data: biography and practice (4)

In response to the question: do you consider yourself to be a musician or a teacher first?

A1 musician (active musician in the community)

A2 both (now beginning to take on more musical activities)

A3 shifting balance from musician to teacher (“teaching is like a performance”)

A4 teacher (“the longer I teach, the more difficult it is to be a musician”)

A5 both (teacher in the week; musician at weekends)

A6 musician (“this is part of my identity”)

“It can be argued that in many areas of the curriculum, teachers see themselves as teachers (rather than scientists, historians, mathematicians) (Roberts, 1991) – that being a teacher is a central part of their identity. However, this is not always, or even frequently, the case in music where a significant number see themselves primarily as musicians and that their identity as a musician is a core part of their lives (Saunders, 2008; Kemp, 1996).”

Dalladay, 2014

Biography and practice in training teachers: activity theory

Much of this model might equally apply to any subject area

A model of the human activity systemRelating to the development of aSecondary music teacher (after Welch,2011; Engeström, 2001)

Implications

• Teachers are enabled to teach to their strengths;• ITE programmes to support trainees to reflect on

personal biography and how far this informs practice and views;

• ITE / CPD programmes designed to allow teachers/trainees to spend time developing areas of their own subject knowledge;

• Subject knowledge enhancement and booster courses to be developed in all subject areas;

• School SMTs to consider how far staff in any department complement each other;

• Schools to consider that not all subjects work in the same way and, therefore, to develop sufficient flexibility within school structures and routines.

References

Bannan, N. (2002) ‘Developing vocal skills in the secondary classroom’, in Spruce, G. (ed.) Aspects of teaching secondary music: perspectives on practice. London: Routledge Falmer

Broffenbrenner, U. (1979) The ecology of human development: experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Havard University Press

Dalladay, C. (2014) The biography of music teachers, their understanding of musicality and the implications for secondary music education. Unpublished PhDThesis: The University of East London

DeNora, T. (2000) Music in everyday life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Durrant, C. & Laurence, K. (2010) ‘The initial and ongoing education of music teachers’, in Hallam, S. & Creech, A. (eds.) Music education in the 21st century in the United Kingdom. London: Institute of Education, University of London

Engeström, Y. (2001) ‘Expansive learning at work: toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization’. Journal of Education at Work, 14(1), 133-56

Hargreaves, D. (1986) The developmental psychology of music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Harrison, S.D. (2008) Music teacher attributes, identity and experiences. Saarbrucken: VDM Verlag Dr Muller

Harrison, C. & McCullough, L. (eds.) (2011) Musical pathways. Solihull: National Association of Music Educators (NAME)

Holman, J. (2011) Subject knowledge and pedagogy in science teacher training. London: The Wellcome Trust

Kemp, A. (1996) The musical temperament. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Kidd, W. & Teagle, A. (2012) Culture and identity (2nd ed.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

Knowles, J.G. (1992) ‘Models for understanding pre-service and beginning teachers’ biographies: illustrations from case studies’, in Goodson, I.F. (ed.) Studying teachers’ lives. London: Routledge

Mills, J. (2005) Music in the school. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) (2012) Music in schools: wider still, and wider; quality and inequality in music education 2008-11. London: Ofsted http://www.ofsted.gov.uk

Roberts, B. (1991) ‘Music teacher education as identity construction’. International Journal of Music Education, 18, 30-39

Sargeant, C., Foot, E., Houghton, E. & O’Donell, S. (2013) INCA Comparative Tables: International Review of Curriculum and Assessment Frameworks Internet Archive. London: Department for Education / NFER. http://www.nfer.ac.uk/what-we-do/information-and-reviews/Inca/INCAcomparativetablesMarch2012.pdf (Retreived: 27/06/2014)

Saunders, J. (2008) the music classroom: pupils’ experience and engagement during adolescence. Unpublished PhD Thesis: Institute of Education, University of London

Stowasser, H.M. (1996) ‘Creative students need creative teachers’, 100 Years of Music: Centennial Conference of the Faculty of Music, The University of Melbourne, 1895-1995, pp.545-555; Centre for Studies in Australian Music

References (2)

Thornton, L.C. & Burgee, M.J. (2008) ‘Career choice influences among music education students at major schools of music’. Bulletin for the Council of Research in Music Education, 177: 7-18

Welch, G. (2001) The misunderstanding of music: inaugural lecture. London: Institute of Education, University of London

Welch, G. (2011) ‘Culture and gender in a cathedral music context’, in Barratt, M. (ed.) A cultural psychology of music education. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Welch, G. (2012) ‘Musical creativity, biography, genre and learning’, in Hargreaves, D.J., Miell, D.E. & Macdonald, R.A.R. (eds.) Musical imaginations: multidisciplinary perspectives on creativity, performance and perception. Oxford: Oxford University Press