Trying on Teaching

Theoretical Framework and Related Literature

Authentic context learning (ACL)—activities presented in an environment that resembles professional practice—may contribute to the overall psychological and pedagogical development of preservice music teachers (Paul, 1998; Paul et al., 2001). The important role of mentors (in contextualizing experiences, promoting reflection, and guiding enculturation) has been established, and significant relationships have emerged between the quantity of ACL experience and teaching effectiveness. Despite the many benefits attributed to ACL, little is known about the specific psychological or sociological mechanisms by which music education majors begin to think and act like teachers.

To better understand when, how, and why individuals choose to teach, researchers often draw on a range of sociopsychological theories related to career motivation and commitment, occupational identity, and teaching efficacy. Sinclair (2008) observes that determining “motivations to teach” can inform recruitment and retention efforts by explaining why certain individuals are more attracted to teaching, demonstrate greater persistence in completing teacher education programs and greater longevity once working within the field, and engage more fully in the teaching and learning enterprise. In addition, early teaching experiences (“reality checks”) often cause preservice teachers to reevaluate their motivation and commitment, which has important implications for teaching career entry and retention (Sinclair, 2008). Schmidt, Zdzinski, and Ballard (2006) examined music career motivation in a broad sense but did not directly assess motivation for music teaching.

Research concerning music teachers’ professional commitment is rare and has most commonly surfaced as studies of music teacher attrition and retention (Madsen & Hancock, 2002; Russell, 2008), teacher burnout (Hamann, Daugherty, & Mills, 1987), and job stress (Scheib, 2003). Allen (2003) investigated the career commitment of undergraduate music education and performance majors across 3 years of collegiate study using a vocational identity scale. The music education majors’ vocational identity increased across time, suggesting that participants became more committed to teaching. Allen speculates that this may have been because of increased field experiences in the participants’ junior year. Although researchers have found that preparatory experiences are significant predictors of teacher commitment (Carpenter & Byde, 1986), more research is needed to determine factors that may influence novice music teachers’ professional commitment.

Research on music teacher identity development may inform methods for recruiting and preparing music teachers (Woodford, 2002). Bouij (1998) and Roberts (1991) found tensions within the social milieu of Swedish and Canadian institutions and suggest that music teacher identity development may be obstructed by a desire to establish a strong performer identity. In a nationwide survey of preservice music teachers in the United States, Isbell (2008) determined that “musician” and “teacher” represent relatively distinct dimensions of occupational identity. Isbell also found that teaching and leadership experiences had a stronger influence on identity development than people.

Teacher efficacy—the degree to which a teacher believes that she or he is able to bring about desired behaviors and outcomes for all students—is strongly connected to teacher enthusiasm, commitment, persistence, and instructional effectiveness (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001). Bergee (2002) focused specifically on preservice music teachers’ classroom management efficacy. In comparing two methods of instruction, he found that participants who viewed videotapes of cooperating teachers’ rehearsals demonstrated efficacy gains equivalent to those who had direct experience applying classroom management principles in rehearsals. Efficacy gains experienced by the direct experience group, however, appeared to be more long-lasting. Barnes (1998) assessed changes in teacher efficacy for preservice string music education students who participated in a two-semester community-based lab experience. Participants’ efficacy beliefs were significantly correlated with self-evaluations of teaching effectiveness as well as experienced teachers’ ratings of participants’ teaching effectiveness. This research suggests that preservice teaching experiences may be used to enhance both teacher efficacy beliefs and teaching effectiveness.

Study Need and Purpose

The need to investigate effective methods for recruiting and training highly qualified teachers has been clearly defined by the music teacher education research community as a high priority issue. Although there is evidence that precollegiate recruitment programs may be used to successfully recruit outstanding high school students to the teaching field, no researchers have directly explored linkages between such experiences, beliefs about teaching, and teaching effectiveness among precollegiate students in music teaching and learning contexts.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of Trying on Teaching—assuming the role and responsibilities of a music teacher as part of a community-based middle school outreach band program—on high school students’ teaching motivation and commitment, identity as teachers, teaching efficacy, and teaching effectiveness. We addressed three specific research questions: Will there be significant pretest to posttest changes in participants’ reports of motivation, commitment, identity, and efficacy? Will there be significant changes in participants’ teaching effectiveness ratings across time? Are participants’ reports of motivation, commitment, identity, and efficacy significantly related to each other as well as to objective measures of teaching effectiveness?

Method

Psychological Measures

Participants completed pretest and posttest measures of teaching motivation, teaching commitment, teacher identity, and teaching efficacy. A researcher adaptation of the Sinclair (2008) Motivation to Teach Scale assessed participants’ intrinsic (e.g., love of music, teaching, and children) and social (e.g., influence of others) motivations for teaching. Items for the motivation to teach subscales were preceded by the stem “I am interested in becoming a music teacher because . . .” and rated according to strength of agreement on a 6-point scale. Sense of commitment to teaching was measured with a summed composite of responses to four items adapted from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), which is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (U.S. Department of Education, 2007). SASS items address participants’ career projections (i.e., “Do you intend to major in music education in college? Complete a degree in music education? Become an elementary or secondary music teacher? How long do you plan to be an elementary or secondary music teacher?).

Items from Isbell’s (2008) Occupational Identity Scale were used to measure participants’ sense of identity as teachers. Teacher identity items (rated on a 6-point scale, strongly disagree to strongly agree) reflect typical occupational roles of music teachers and assess participants’ views of themselves (i.e., I see myself as . . .) as well as how they believe others viewed them (i.e., Most other people see me as . . .). A researcher adaptation of Tschannen-Moran and Hoy’s (2001) Teacher’s Sense of Efficacy Scale addressed instructional strategy efficacy and classroom management efficacy. A few items also were drawn from a teaching efficacy measure developed by Chan, Lau, Nie, Lim, and Hogan (2008). Questions from the original scales (e.g., To what extent can you provide explanations or examples when students are confused? How much can you do to control disruptive behavior in the classroom?) were reworded as statements (e.g., I can provide explanations or examples when students are confused; I can control disruptive behavior in the classroom), and participants responded to items using a 6-point scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree).

Sample items, reliabilities, and number of items for each subscale are presented in Table 1. All subscales provided adequate to extremely reliable measurement of psychological variables (reliability coefficients ranged from .77 to .95 with a median coefficient of .88).

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Table 1.

Reliability Estimates (Cronbach’s α) for Psychological Measures

		Reliability
Scale and Sample Item	Items	Pre	Post
Intrinsic Motivation: “I have a desire to teach other people about music”	35	.87	.94
Social Motivation: “My school counselor has encouraged me to consider a career in teaching”	12	.77	.80
Teaching Commitment: “Will you become an elementary or secondary school music teacher?”	4	.87	.88
Instructional Strategy Efficacy: “I can provide explanations or examples when students are confused”	11	.92	.92
Classroom Management Efficacy: “I can establish routines to keep activities running smoothly”	10	.90	.86
Teacher Identity: “I see myself as a music teacher”	12	.88	.95

Results

As an initial analysis procedure, the two cohorts were compared on all background and pretest measures. There were no significant differences, so data were aggregated for all subsequent analyses. Descriptive results for psychological variables measured at both the beginning and end of the 12-week teacher recruitment program are presented in Table 2. Overall, participants reported a high degree of intrinsic motivation for music teaching, were moderately to strongly committed to a career in music teaching, embraced a teacher identity, and felt reasonably efficacious as music teachers. There were statistically significant increases in social motivation for teaching (p = .02), classroom management efficacy (p = .04), and teacher identity (p = .03), and those effects were of moderate magnitude (reflecting an increase of roughly one third to one half a standard deviation). Teaching strategy efficacy also improved but not to a significant degree (p = .11). Participant reports of intrinsic motivation and teaching commitment were very consistent over time.

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Table 2.

Means, Standard Deviations, and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Results for Psychological Variables

	Pretest	Posttest	z	p
Intrinsic Motivation	4.54 (0.46)	4.57 (0.62)	−0.79	.43
Social Motivation	3.26 (0.77)	3.52 (0.77)	−2.25	.02
Teaching Commitment	14.81 (4.07)	15 (4.57)	−0.41	.68
Strategy Efficacy	4.33 (0.77)	4.56 (0.73)	−1.59	.11
Management Efficacy	4.38 (0.74)	4.65 (0.52)	−2.08	.04
Teacher Identity	50.48 (8.39)	54 (12.10)	−2.18	.03

Note: Means for Motivation and Efficacy subscales reflect the original scale metric (6-point Likert-type scale) to facilitate comparisons across subscales. The possible score range for Teaching Commitment is 4 to 21. The possible score range for Teacher Identity is 12 to 72.

Correlational analyses (Spearman’s rho) were used to explore relationships among psychological variables at the end of the study. Subscales representing intrinsic and social facets of teaching motivation were weakly correlated (rs = .18), whereas subscales representing teaching strategy and classroom management efficacy were moderately correlated (rs = .60). A clear pattern of significantly positive correlations emerged for teacher identity in relation to intrinsic motivation for teaching (rs = .60), teaching career commitment (rs = .63), and teaching strategy efficacy (rs = .51). In contrast, social motivation for music teaching was weakly and often negatively correlated with the other psychological variables (see Table 3).

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Table 3.

End-of-Study Correlations (Spearman’s ρ) for Psychological Variables

	IM	SM	CC	SE	ME	TI
Intrinsic Motivation (IM)	1.00
Social Motivation (SM)	.18	1.00
Career Commitment (CC)	.51**	−.14	1.00
Strategy Efficacy (SE)	.49**	−.09	.38*	1.00
Management Efficacy (ME)	.39*	−.16	.16	.60***	1.00
Teacher Identity (TI)	.60***	.03	.63***	.51**	.24	1.00

*

p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

For the total sample of participants, there was no significant change in teaching effectiveness ratings over time (pretest mean = 42.69, posttest mean = 41.73; z = 0.55, p = .58). An examination of individual cases, however, showed that 10 participants did demonstrate improved teaching effectiveness, and 8 of those were among the lowest-rated teachers at the beginning of the program. Students who entered the program as less effective teachers (i.e., pretest effectiveness ratings at or below the median; mean change = 3.23) demonstrated significantly greater gains (z = 2.25, p = .02) than students who entered the program as more effective teachers (pretest effectiveness ratings above the median; mean change = −5.55).

Posttest teaching effectiveness ratings were correlated with posttest scores for the six psychological variables. All correlations were negative, with the majority being nonsignificant and of weak-to-modest magnitude (−.05 to −.32). There were, however, significant negative correlations between posttest teaching effectiveness ratings and teaching career commitment (rs = −.56) as well as teacher identity (rs = −.45). Participants judged as being the most effective teachers as the program came to a close tended to be less committed to a career in music teaching and identified less with being a teacher.

Discussion

The primary aim of this study was to explore the effects of Trying on Teaching on high school students’ teaching motivation and commitment, identity as teachers, teaching efficacy, and teaching effectiveness. Given the multiwave, multicohort nature of the study design, and the multifaceted approach we used to collect data on teaching dispositions and skill, our findings provide an important window into the workings of a formalized precollegiate recruitment program, and a preliminary understanding of various factors that may influence one’s decision to teach. Significant gains in social motivation, teaching identity, and classroom management efficacy were found, and results for other psychological variables were stable or reflected modest but nonsignificant, gains. These findings, which parallel those of Paul and his colleagues (Paul, 1998; Paul et al., 2001), suggest that music teacher recruitment programs emphasizing ACL and mentoring may yield important psychological benefits for participants.

Participants were primarily motivated to teach for intrinsic reasons. This intrinsic motivation orientation is consistent with previous research on preservice music teachers (Schmidt et al., 2006). Social motivation for teaching, although less salient than intrinsic motivation, increased significantly over time, perhaps because of the influence of debriefing sessions held after each rehearsal as well as the Saturday seminars that most participants attended. Group discussion and social interaction were key elements of both experiences. Unfortunately, social motivation was weakly and/or negatively correlated with all other psychological measures. This suggests that high school students requiring or emphasizing encouragement from others as a source of motivation may lack intrinsic motivation and confidence as teachers and identify less with becoming a teacher.

Participants felt moderately efficacious as teachers, and in agreement with teaching experience effects on efficacy reported previously by Barnes (1998) and Bergee (2002), we found a significant positive change in classroom management efficacy over time. Strategy efficacy also improved but not at a significant level. High school students were nominated for program participation at least partially on the basis of qualifications, so most likely entered the program with some prior teaching or leadership experience and a certain degree of confidence in their abilities as section leaders or drum majors. We believe, however, that the program structure and sequence—which afforded students opportunities to observe collegiate mentors in action and gradually increased responsibility for applying instructional strategies and managing behavior—may have contributed to specific gains in efficacy for teaching music to middle school students.

Music teacher identity became significantly stronger through the course of the study. Teacher identity growth may be attributed to the practical teaching experience with which high school participants were provided, as well as the extensive reinforcement of teacher roles and responsibilities that occurred as they interacted both formally and informally with collegiate mentors. Even when not in the teacher role per se, participants were encouraged to engage in behaviors that would be characteristic of music teachers (e.g., using their instruments to guide and model concepts while playing alongside middle school students within ensemble rehearsals) and were publicly identified as music teachers (e.g., referred to as “Mr.” or “Ms.” within sectionals, and recognized as important program contributors at the culminating concert). By the end of the study, several psychological variables seemed to coalesce around teacher identity. Participants who more clearly identified with being a teacher tended to report stronger intrinsic motivation for teaching, were more committed to a career in teaching, and felt more efficacious about their ability to employ effective instructional strategies. Efforts to strengthen teacher identity may represent a critical intervention point for precollegiate recruitment and preservice teacher education programs (Woodford, 2002).

There was no significant change in teaching effectiveness ratings across the two evaluative phases (Weeks 1 to 3 and 8 to 10). Inconsistent mentoring and absences because of illness or scheduling conflicts may have curtailed some high school participants’ growth in teaching effectiveness. As the nature of instructional objectives changed over time (i.e., more emphasis on learning the repertoire in earlier sectionals/rehearsals, more emphasis on polishing and preparing for performance in later sectionals/rehearsals), evidence of progress in certain instructional areas also may have been obscured. Research instrumentation issues related to room setups, camera positioning, mentor behavior, and calibration of indicators appropriate for novice music teachers clearly made reliable measurement of teaching effectiveness a challenge.

Despite these concerns, we did determine that growth in teaching effectiveness was evident for individuals who came into the program with weaker affect and skills, whereas those who entered as more capable teachers tended to exhibit less effectiveness over time. This suggests that prior teaching or leadership experiences, even if somewhat informal or sporadic, may position students for limited growth in a formalized teacher recruitment program unless teaching responsibilities and activities are differentiated on the basis of prior teaching experience and expertise. Students who entered the program with stronger teaching skills, for example, may have benefitted more from being asked to conduct warm-ups or rehearse small segments of repertoire within rehearsals, rather than running sectionals for the entire 12 weeks.

We were surprised to find no clear pattern of relationships between psychological variables and teaching effectiveness. One counterintuitive finding that did emerge indicates that some of the participants who demonstrated the most effective teaching at the end of the program were among those least committed to pursuing a career in music teaching. A comparable disconnect was reported by Schmidt et al. (2006), who showed that music education majors with stronger SAT scores were less inclined to commit to public school teaching as a long-term career goal. We suspect that our outcome may be because of the career dispositions certain participants brought with them to the program. Two seniors, for example, expressed very low career commitment because of already having chosen an alternative college major or career path, but they were among the most effective sectional teachers.

Although we did not directly assess why certain individuals were more or less committed to music teaching careers, the notion that more academically/pedagogically capable participants might express less commitment is in line with some prior teacher education research. Henke, Chen, and Geis (2000), for example, found that students with higher college entrance exam scores were less likely than lower academic profile peers to enter the teaching profession, and those who did elect to teach left the profession sooner and at a higher rate. Henke and his coauthors speculated that this might be because of teaching being viewed as a demanding profession with low status and insufficient reward—perceptions that can lead bright or talented idealists to become disheartened.

A primary goal of teacher recruitment programs is to attract the most capable students to teaching, not merely the most interested or motivated. Finding ways to alter high school students’ perceptions about the teaching profession and/or assist them in recognizing the rewards associated with teaching, prior to when career-related decisions are made, is clearly an important consideration for anyone exploring alternative methods of music teacher recruitment. Restricting program participation to high school juniors who have not yet made a choice concerning their college major or career path also might contribute to different outcomes.

Implications for Music Teacher Educators and Researchers

On the basis of our findings, we conclude that trying on teaching is a worthwhile step in helping high school students determine whether music education is a viable career path. A majority of participants from the first cohort were admitted to undergraduate music education degree programs, whereas 60% of participants from the second cohort indicated that they “probably” or “definitely” intended to major in music education in college. Some individuals concluded that they are not well suited for music teaching—an outcome that teacher educators often find difficult to view in positive terms. Yet “reality checks” (Sinclair, 2008) are an inherent part of teaching, and the profession would seem to benefit when individuals are able to carefully assess issues of career viability and fit before making critical career decisions and when such decisions are based on personal experience rather than conjecture.

The applicability of our findings is limited by the small sample size and the similarity of participants’ backgrounds. In future research on precollegiate music teacher recruitment programs similar to Trying on Teaching, efforts should be made to attract high school students from more diverse racial/ethnic and economic backgrounds and to explore how recruitment dynamics may differ for individuals who are contemplating teaching orchestra, choir, or general music. Intrinsic motivation and a teacher identity, for example, may be even more critical for those aiming toward student-centered music teaching positions that involve greater social isolation or less ego involvement.

To promote more robust growth in teaching efficacy and effectiveness, we recommend differentiating high school participants’ responsibilities on the basis of prior experience and/or demonstrated expertise and extending the program over a longer period of time. We also believe that there are benefits to be gained by assigning teaching responsibilities even more systematically (to promote a logical progression of risk and reward), modeling more varied and sophisticated pedagogical strategies (to correct for overreliance on shallow or familiar strategies), and providing mentors with more training and guidance (to ensure a higher quality and consistency of feedback). Finally, because of the extensive demands associated with developing a music teacher recruitment program on a stand-alone basis, researchers may wish to identify and study teacher cadet or internship programs already established within particular states and/or school districts using large-scale survey techniques as well as qualitative case study methods.