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Pre-service teachers' efficacy in teaching music.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

This study investigated pre-service teachers' self-efficacy in teaching children music. One hundred ninety-six candidates in early childhood and elementary education program from an urban public university participated in the survey. Results indicated that, pre-service teachers have positive attitudes towards teaching music to children. However, they did not have knowledge of musical concepts and they showed low self-efficacy in teaching music. Based on the results, suggestions were made on how teacher educators should help pre-service teachers to develop their musical content and pedagogical knowledge.

Introduction

Early childhood and elementary classroom teachers are known as generalists. They are not specialized in a certain subject but are prepared to teach all the subject areas in an integrated curriculum, including music. However, it has been found that classroom teachers are considerably less comfortable than music specialists in teaching music (Byo, 2000). According to the report of the National Center for Education Statistics, 72% of the nation's public elementary schools have music specialists to teach music (Carey, Kleiner, Porch, & Farris, 2002). One can assume that as a majority of schools have music specialists, classroom teachers may not feel that they should be responsible for music education. Their sense of responsibility for teaching music can often influences the efficacy of curricular implementation (Saunders, 1992).

We contend that leaving music education up to the music specialists and weekly music classes is a disservice to students. Teacher education program should provide music education to pre-service teachers who will confront diverse educational setting; who will need to integrate different subject in a curriculum; and who will respond to children's different learning styles and needs (Kim, 2004). Therefore, pre-service teacher education programs in early childhood and elementary education should find a way to help those who are not necessarily musicians improve their self-efficacy in teaching music.

The term 'self-efficacy' was identified as a part of social-cognitive theory by Albert Bandura (1997). Bandura's definition of self-efficacy involves two components; a) the individual's belief or self-perception of his/her competence and b) outcome expectancy toward specific results. When individuals believe that they are capable of executing behaviors successfully, they are more likely to engage in certain behaviors and perform with assurance while they avoid situations they believe exceed their capabilities (Omrod, 2004). Teacher efficacy has a strong influence on teachers' classroom practices from teaching in the classrooms to interacting with students (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001; Dembo & Gibson, 1985). Teachers with high self-efficacy are more likely to overcome challenges in teaching (Goddard, 2002); to motivate students to set difficult goals (Goddard & Goddard, 2001); and to help students with different abilities and interests (Betts & Frost, 2000). They also tend to use instructional materials more effectively in their teaching and...

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