Abstract:

In music education, the use of classroom videos to foster the professional development of in-service teachers is a relatively novel approach. The present study was carried out within an ongoing development project −led by the Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts (STAR) and the National Institute of Education (NIE)− aimed to create video-based learning resources targeted at music teachers from Singapore schools. Among other resources, the team is developing a repository of short video clips (3-5 minutes, approx.) of real classroom situations. The clips illustrate exemplary ways in which the Singapore music syllabus can be taught and/or how different pedagogical moves can be enacted in the classroom. It is expected that these video-based learning resources will support music teachers’ learning and application of new instructional strategies.

The goal of this study was to investigate how music teachers reasoned when searching for video clips in our video repository. In particular, we compared teachers’ reasoning according to two variables: music education specialization (specialist vs. non-specialist teachers) and educational level (primary vs. secondary teachers). We conducted individual interviews with 21 music teachers (12 specialists, 9 non-specialists; 13 primary, 8 secondary). During the interviews, participants were shown a video repository (temporarily in the form of a EXCEL sheet) that contained 118 video clips, each presented in a different row. In the columns, each video clip was described according to the following parameters: title, short description of the content/context of the clip, grade level of the students featured, syllabus content covered, pedagogical processes observed, music-specific pedagogy adopted by the teacher, type of grouping, and type classroom setting. We first asked teachers to enter keywords to search for video clips that were interesting or relevant to them. Once two or three video clips were shortlisted, teachers were asked to read through the various columns to select the most interesting or relevant clip. Finally, we asked several questions to explore the reasoning behind teachers’ final choices.

Video description was found to be the most important parameter for all teachers across the board, regardless of their profile, whereas other descriptors such as video duration, type of grouping, and music-specific pedagogies were rarely considered. Moreover, our data indicate that syllabus content and grade level seem to be key parameters for primary teachers, while secondary teachers tend to pay more attention to title and pedagogical processes. With regard to specialization level, we found that grade level and type of classroom setting are important parameters for non-music specialists, whereas music specialists prioritize pedagogical processes. We conclude that, while searching for video clips in a repository, music teachers’ reasoning may differ according to their level of music education specialization and the educational level in which they teach. The main implication of this study is that the very same video might need to be presented differently to teachers with different profiles, which would allow maximizing the scope and impact of each specific video clip.

Keywords:

Music Education, Teacher Learning, Video-Mediated Learning, Repository, Search.