Examining Preservice Music Teachers’ Perceptions of Initial Peer- and Field- Teaching Experiences

The purpose of this study was to examine phenomenologically a peer-teaching and a field-teaching experience as perceived by six participants. The research questions guiding this study were (a) How was an initial peer-teaching experience in a laboratory setting perceived by the participants? (b) How was an initial field-teaching experience perceived by the participants? (c) How did the participants’ perceptions of each experience compare? Findings suggested that the preservice teachers valued the peer-teaching experience for the opportunity it afforded them to concentrate on the technical aspects of teaching, and the main drawback of peer-teaching was the lack of authentic context. The field-teaching experience was valued by the participants for the opportunity it afforded them to be immersed in an authentic context. The most difficult challenges of the field-teaching experience for the participants were the lack of ability to predict the achievement level of the public school students, the misinterpretation of the their verbal instructions by the public school students, and the lack of ability to assess the impact of their teaching. Additionally, the observation process was valuable to the participants to the extent that it provided context.