Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary general music teachers’ classroom management self-efficacy. Targeted participants were novice and experienced elementary general music teachers teaching in urban, suburban, and rural/small town settings who received a survey disseminated through the National Association for Music Education. Survey participant data were analyzed using analysis of variance and analytic induction. Teaching experience had a significant effect on classroom management efficacy, while school setting did not. Themes that emerged from the analysis of responses to open-ended questions included adapting and implementing classroom management strategies, consistency, parental involvement, students’ home environments, and teacher expectations. Implications are also presented that relate to general music teachers’ self-efficacy.
Self-efficacy, the belief in oneself and in one’s ability to achieve a desired result, affects a person’s feelings, thoughts, and actions (Bandura, 1997). Self-efficacy beliefs are derived from competence perceptions rather than actual capabilities, and enlist cognitive, motivational, affective, and decisional processes. Thus, self-efficacy influences behavior in varied domains including business, sports, and education (Bandura, 1997; Bandura & Estes, 1977). Within educational settings, self-efficacy may determine which behaviors are initiated, the amount of effort invested, and the length of time this effort is sustained in light of obstacles. Self-efficacy beliefs also predict future performance (Bandura & Estes, 1977). Because teachers’ self-efficacy might affect their behavior and thus, student behavior (Bandura, 1997), it is reasonable that teachers of all experience levels want to become more efficacious throughout their careers.
Novice teachers typically struggle to manage student behavior and report low classroom management self-efficacy (CMSE) (Meristo & Eisenschmidt, 2014; Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001). By contrast, experienced teachers often report high levels of CMSE (Putman, 2012; Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001). Other factors, including the availability of teaching resources and grade level taught (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2007; Walker & Shea, 1998; Warren, 2002), contribute to both novice and experienced teachers’ CMSE.
Bergee (2002) studied preservice music teachers’ CMSE, indicating that participants who viewed videotapes of cooperating secondary vocal and instrumental teachers’ rehearsals demonstrated efficacy gains equivalent to those who had direct experience applying classroom management principles in rehearsals. In another study, Jackson (2008) examined the influence of experiences and coursework in music education in relation to CMSE. The author investigated novice music educators’ (N = 89) perceived levels of preparation for classroom management as a result of preservice music teacher education experiences, induction programs, and experience with mentor teachers. Participants appeared to feel inadequately prepared to face the challenges of classroom management during the initial years of teaching.
In addition to experience, the school setting (urban, suburban, rural/small town) in which a teacher works might affect their CMSE. Teachers working in suburban school contexts have reported higher levels of CMSE than those in rural/small town settings (Shoulders & Krei, 2015, 2016) or urban settings (Siwatu, 2011). Siwatu (2011) attributed such differences to less culturally and linguistically diverse characteristics of suburban settings.
Within diverse school settings, a teacher’s ability to implement culturally appropriate classroom management strategies can be influenced by ethnocentrism and biases (Weinstein et al., 2004). Some researchers have suggested that to maintain a well-managed classroom, novice and experienced teachers may need to develop and demonstrate an understanding of students’ ethnic and cultural needs (Bales & Saffold, 2011). One such culturally responsive classroom management strategy may be learning to interpret student behavior within a student’s cultural context, which requires building an awareness of students’ cultural backgrounds (Gay, 2000; Townsend, 2000).
Among all teachers, there is evidence that self-efficacy is connected to the classroom environment, the quality and quantity of learning that occurs, the level of teacher expectations that are communicated and met, and the student learning experience (e.g., Putman, 2012; Tok & Tok, 2016). While there are few self-efficacy studies focused on music teachers, contextual factors (e.g., larger class sizes, varied instructional activities, need for collaborative learning) associated with music teaching could be interpreted as making classroom management a more challenging task and efficacy beliefs more critical. Moreover, those teaching specialized subjects such as general music to the entire school population may require particularly high levels of CMSE. General music educators also must contend with the added stimuli of instruments and other sounds as students engage in listening, movement, creation, and group performance, any of which might contribute to a chaotic learning environment.
There is a limited amount of literature pertaining to music teacher efficacy. In terms of preservice teachers, Prichard (2017) reported that their CMSE was affected by observation, peer teaching, field experience, and mentoring within an introductory music education course. For an elementary classroom preservice teacher, Burak (2019) found no significant difference, in terms of gender, in self-efficacy of musical ability and in music teaching; however, those participants who had previously played or were currently playing an instrument had higher self-efficacy. For those currently teaching, Wagoner (2015) reported that factors such as musical teaching abilities, setting achievable goals, and persevering through adversity might influence construction of their self-efficacy. De Vries (2013) found that Australian elementary classroom inservice teachers’ self-efficacy for music teaching was affected by musical background, engagement in music making, access to music professional development, access to resources, and music in their preservice teacher preparation programs.
Overall, most researchers have focused on generalist teachers involved in music instruction rather than music specialists, and preservice music teachers rather than inservice teachers. When inservice teachers are studied, elementary general music teachers are arguably underrepresented in that body of research. This information shaped this investigation, the purpose of which was to investigate elementary general music teachers’ CMSE. I addressed the following research questions:
Definitions
For purposes of this investigation, CMSE encompassed teachers’ knowledge, skills, and beliefs in their ability to implement proactive strategies and reactive decisions to maintain an environment conducive to learning (Main & Hammond, 2008). Based on Gold’s (1989, 1996) definition for induction and postinduction teachers, I classified novice teachers as those reporting 1 to 3 years of experience, and experienced teachers as those reporting 4 or more years of experience. Additionally, I used school setting designations (urban, suburban, rural/small town) adopted by the National Center for Educational Statistics (2017).
Method
Participants
The human subjects committee at the host university granted permission to conduct this study. My target population included active members of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) who self-identified as practicing elementary general music teachers.
Data Collection Instrument
To measure elementary general music teachers’ CMSE, I adapted items from the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) as developed by Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001) and subsequently used in other studies (e.g., Klassen et al., 2011; Kleinsasser, 2014). In validating the TSES, Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001) identified three subscales—student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management—that provide separate but related measures of self-efficacy. They also reported a high reliability estimate (Cronbach’s α = .90) for the classroom management subscale.
I was granted permission to slightly modify the TSES for use with music teachers by adapting items to include the expressions “music teacher” and “elementary general music.” The survey instrument itself included 16 items, four of which were used to collect demographic information, and eight CMSE items from the TSES. A typical CMSE item included a prompt such as “How much can you do to control disruptive behavior in the elementary general music classroom?” and a 9-point scale with multiple anchors (1 = nothing, 3 = very little, 5 = some influence, 7 = quite a bit, 9 = a great deal). I developed four additional open-ended items to solicit participants’ perspectives on potential relationships between teaching experience, school setting, and classroom management. Classroom management efficacy items are presented as an online supplemental file (Supplemental Figure 1).
Procedures
The survey instrument was disseminated via Zoho Survey, through NAfME, to elementary general music teachers. To increase the response rate, the initial invitation email was followed by a reminder email. A total of 292 volunteer participants completed the anonymous online survey, which was available for 1 month. Following the close of the survey, I exported data into SPSS for analysis and used descriptive statistics to summarize demographic responses and analyses of variance (ANOVAs) to address the first two research questions. I entered responses to open-ended items into a Word document and used open-coding to consider multiple facets, such as “who, what, when, and where,” behind the participants’ statements (Gibbs, 2007). The next time I read through the responses, I looked for similarities and differences between the lines of text, noting divergent phrases or content (Ryan & Bernard, 2003). After multiple readings of the open-ended responses for common themes (Glesne & Peshkin, 1992) and related patterns (Rubin & Rubin, 2005). I created a summary document to be used in framing themes and presenting analysis results for open-ended items.
In conducting this investigation, I recognized that my personal bias could be a potential threat to validity (Maxwell, 2013). I brought into this study my past experiences as an elementary general music teacher in an urban setting. Therefore, in order to address this potential threat to validity, my analysis consisted of “rich, thick description[s] to convey the findings” (Creswell, 2003, p. 81) in order to “provide enough description to contextualize the study” (Merriam, 2016, p. 229).
Limitations
With the survey instrument being distributed to over 5,000 general music teachers and a response rate below 10%, I recognize that the results may not generalize to all elementary general music teachers who are NAfME members and may be biased toward teachers with an interest in or greater efficacy for classroom management. In addition, I acknowledge that the terms urban, suburban, and rural have meanings beyond school setting (Hudley, 2013; Schaffer et al., 2017).
Results
Demographic Data
A total of 292 elementary general music teachers participated in the survey study (5.6% margin of error with a 95% confidence level). A breakdown of survey participants by NAfME regions appears in Table 1. In comparing sample proportions to population proportions, it is evident that participants from the North Central region were overrepresented, while participants from the Southern and Western regions were underrepresented.
Distribution and Response Representation Across NAfME Regions.
Note. N = 5,074 survey recipients; n = 292 survey participants.
Nearly all of the survey participants (n = 291, 99.7%) reported their status as currently licensed/certified or in the process of being licensed/certified as a music educator. The majority of participants (n = 278, 95.2%) reported all or part of their current position included teaching elementary general music. With regard to total teaching time, almost half of survey participants (n = 142, 48.6%) taught elementary general music 100% of the time while a slight majority (n = 150, 51.4%) described various percentages ranging from 10% to 99%. Fewer than one fourth (n = 59, 20.2%) of participants reported having 1 to 3 years of teaching experience, with a clear majority (n = 233, 79.8%) of participants having taught 4 or more years. Responses about school location included urban (n = 46,15.8%), suburban (n = 95, 32.5%), and rural/small town (n = 151, 51.7%) locations.
Classroom Management Self-Efficacy
The effect of teaching experience on CMSE was tested through ANOVA. The one-way ANOVA, F(1, 291) = 5.2, p = .024, d = 0.34, revealed a statistically significant difference and moderate effect size, with experienced music teachers (M = 57.1, SD = 9.5) reporting significantly higher levels of CMSE than novice music teachers (M = 53.9, SD = 9.3). There was no significant effect, F(2, 290) = .716, p = .489, for school context on CMSE. CMSE scores for participants from urban schools (M = 57.6, SD = 8.4) were only nominally higher than those of participants from suburban (M = 56.9, SD = 8.8) or rural/small town (M = 55.9, SD = 10.2) contexts.
Teacher Comments on Classroom Management
Just over three fourths of participants provided responses to one or more of the open-ended items. A majority of participants’ comments implied that teaching experience positively affected their ability to manage the classroom, and this was reflected in three prominent themes: adapting classroom management “tools” to different behaviors in the classroom, implementing new classroom management strategies and techniques, and instituting a consistent classroom management plan.
The first theme, adapting classroom management tools, was expressed through comments such as “The longer I teach, the more I reflect and have more tools and strategies for dealing with classroom management” and “Experience [has] given me tools to use that I did not have when I first started teaching 10 years ago.” Numerous comments highlighted the importance of collaborating with and gathering advice from colleagues to improve classroom management skills or “tools” over time. For the second theme, numerous participants reflected on the importance of continuously implementing new classroom management strategies and techniques. For example, one individual commented, “Over the years, I have acquired a lot of different classroom management methods and strategies” while another observed, “Every year you gain strategies to help manage your classroom.” Professional development activities and additional training in classroom management were viewed as key sources for acquiring new approaches.
The third theme centered around the development of a consistent classroom management plan. An experienced, high efficacy teacher in a suburban setting conveyed, “As I gain more experience, I become better at conveying classroom expectations and being consistent,” and a novice teacher from an urban school stated, “I am in my first year of teaching and I have struggled to create [an] effective and consistent classroom management plan.” Participants reflected on their confidence in classroom management, which appeared to be key to developing a consistent classroom management plan. For example, an experienced teacher from a rural/small town school said, “A young, confident teacher can do just as good a job [as an experienced teacher]. [It is] mostly about confidence. If a teacher is for any reason unsure of him/herself, their management skills will be significantly diminished.” Alternatively, an experienced teacher from an urban school commented on college preparation: “I have been teaching for several years but have always felt weak in classroom management. My college classes never focused on it, which was unfortunate.” It appeared that college preparation was pivotal to some participants feeling capable of managing their music classrooms.
Just over three fourths of participants responded to the second set of open-ended questions related to school setting and classroom management. Participants differed in their perspectives on school setting and its potential influence on classroom management, which pinpointed three main themes: parental involvement, high teacher expectations, and students’ home environments. The first theme centered on parental involvement, as expressed by a high efficacy novice teacher: “I think our rural location has some benefits in that we may have more children who have parents, guardians, adults who support us and are able to participate in the student’s education,” while another observed, “If the parents are supportive of teachers and staff, it does not matter where the school is located so much as how parents respond to reports of their child’s behavior.” A pattern emerged in terms of expectations related to differences in the type of school community, as one commented, “The culture of the community has been different in each of my experiences, so the parental support of the teacher’s program and classroom management style has also varied.” Clearly, participants acknowledged that the expectations of the community can affect the degree of parental involvement and, perhaps, an elementary general music teacher’s classroom management.
The second theme focused on the potential influence of students’ home environments, as a novice teacher in an urban school said: “Our students come from very difficult backgrounds; their home environments have to be taken into account when dealing with their disruptive behavior.” Another participant mentioned, “We have close connections to student families and can work in conjunction with home in setting up behavior expectations and guidelines.” Two patterns emerged on students’ cultural backgrounds and challenging student behaviors. Participants addressed how different cultural upbringings might affect behavior as well as potential connections between challenging behavior and home environment.
The third theme centered around high teacher expectations, as one novice teacher stated, “In the rural setting that I am in, students have higher expectations on behavior in the classroom than those in an urban setting.” Patterns emerged concerning involvement of administration, school culture, and schoolwide behavioral initiatives. As a high efficacy, experienced teacher in a suburban school commented, “It really boils down more to the administration and their attitude/approach to discipline than location of my school.” In contrast, an experienced teacher from an urban school commented, “Location does not affect classroom behavior. I am at two diverse schools each week . . . we have a thorough PBIS [positive behavioral interventions and supports] system in place at one of them that really works.” Beyond the school’s setting, participants noted the amount and type of support from administration and classroom management practices stemming from schoolwide behavior initiatives positively affect classroom management and, thus, school culture.
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary general music teachers’ CMSE. According to the results, teaching experience had a significant effect on CMSE while school setting did not. It appeared that external factors such as parental involvement and students’ home environments influenced student behavior in the elementary general music classroom. Other factors, notably teachers’ expectations and developed management skills, might affect their CMSE more than school setting. Participants’ open-ended responses suggested that, over time, teachers adapted and implemented management strategies to develop a consistent plan and create a tool kit to improve that management. It would seem that teachers’ CMSE depended on both proactive and reactive classroom management strategies, some connected to students and some to the teachers.
Results showed that experienced teachers reported higher CMSE. Similar to this study, Barnes (2010) concluded that experienced music teachers reported higher self-efficacy than novice teachers. Comparably, Putman (2012) found that experienced elementary educators had higher classroom management efficacy than novice educators. Results might be explained by teachers’ use of trial and error to resolve classroom management issues and by an assimilation into teaching culture where they may tend to manage more effectively over time. There might be a need for concerted discussions between novice and experienced music educators to share what they have learned throughout the process of navigating years of classroom experiences.
It is also likely that practicing general music teachers mirrored other teachers’ management styles, acquiring certain beliefs and skills about classroom management by observing other content area teachers’ successes, perhaps leading to more confidence in their classroom management in relationship to years of teaching experience. Both novice and experienced teachers might benefit from sharing and collaborating on classroom management processes, and thus become more confident in their own abilities to manage a music classroom. For those music educators who do not have opportunities to participate in mentorship or peer learning scenarios, a workshop or a professional classroom management course may provide novice and experienced teachers with guidance and expertise, perhaps increasing their CMSE.
Participants acknowledged that prolonged teaching experience was linked to CMSE. Specifically, it appeared that elementary general music teachers’ CMSE improved with experience as they adapted and gained new classroom management tools, which gave them the ability to experiment with different strategies and techniques. In support of these findings, Walker and Shea (1998) recommended that teachers incorporate an array of techniques when addressing classroom management to improve efficacy, as no single strategy was effective with every child or in every situation. Perhaps elementary general music teachers could acquire the ability to develop a more refined and consistent approach to classroom management through multiple professional development experiences that address proactive and reactive management strategies, techniques, and skills.
Results indicated that school context (urban, suburban, rural/small town) was not significantly associated with elementary general music educators’ CMSE. Similarly, Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2007) reported that school setting was unrelated to teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, though one might assume that the challenges present in urban teaching environments, as opposed to those in suburban or rural/small town situations, could affect self-efficacy differently. For some participants, there was a direct connection between CMSE and school setting, while others suggested it was independent of school setting. In other words, issues occurred regardless of school setting. To best prepare those entering the field, future music educators may benefit from a wide array of field experiences, prior to their first year of teaching, in order to gain valuable exposure to many different school settings and school cultures.
Participants revealed that regardless of school setting, factors exerting the most substantial impact on classroom management included parental support, students’ home environments, and teacher’s expectations. In support of these findings, Warren (2002) reported that aspects outside of the classroom and beyond the direct control of teachers affected students’ behavior and, thus, teachers’ classroom management. In another study, Meristo and Eisenschmidt (2014) reported school environment positively influenced teachers’ self-efficacy, while Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2007) pointed to availability of teaching resources as a more plausible explanation for differences in teachers’ self-efficacy.
Additionally, support, or lack thereof, from parents/guardians and community members seemed to affect teachers’ CMSE. This might be due to community expectations for certain behaviors that could also be present in the home, often differing from behavior that is expected within an elementary school. Perhaps current music educators might find benefit from the opportunity to express their specific needs, in terms of support, to those caring for and supporting students outside of the school environment.
In a future study, to increase the response rate, the survey could be distributed using a different online platform, such as Qualtrics, including a survey progress bar to assist participants with the survey process. It might also be beneficial to provide the targeted population with a longer window of time for completion, given the demands of teaching. Though further investigations might confirm or contradict these findings, it is important to recognize the participants’ acknowledgment of various factors that potentially have an impact on and influence their CMSE.
Conclusion
CMSE would appear integral to teaching and learning in the elementary music classroom. To avoid chaos, improve student focus, and enhance learning, it is critical that music teachers gain the kinds of experiences needed to become efficacious managers of student behavior and cultivators of constructive classroom climates. Music teacher educators might consider scaffolding preservice music teacher learning specific to classroom management, by first presenting case studies or hypothetical behavioral incidents and asking students to discuss how they might handle the situation. They might even engage undergraduate students in role playing (e.g., one individual playing the role of a parent whose child has been disciplined and another playing the role of the teacher asking for a conference). Video recordings and field observations of master teachers also could be used to build a repertoire of strategies and policies that have proven effective in managing disruptions or chronic bad behavior among elementary general music students. Finally, it is important for teachers in training to work with elementary students in a variety of school contexts, so that they develop a broad understanding of how classroom management is approached by different teachers and gain valuable experience in implementing management strategies while in the teacher role.
Given more opportunities to gain knowledge and skills in classroom management, preservice music teachers might enter their future classrooms with greater confidence. To better prepare future music educators to have increased CMSE, professional development including preventive classroom management strategies, culturally responsive classroom management, and mentoring for novice teachers might better facilitate an increased sense of confidence for classroom management in elementary general music classrooms.
Supplemental Material
sj-docx-1-jmt-10.1177_1057083720980465 – Supplemental material for Novice and Experienced Elementary General Music Teachers’ Classroom Management Self-Efficacy
Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-jmt-10.1177_1057083720980465 for Novice and Experienced Elementary General Music Teachers’ Classroom Management Self-Efficacy by Jennifer L. Potter in Journal of Music Teacher Education
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Supplemental Material
Supplemental material for this article is available online.
References
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