Preservice music teachers in New South Wales: How prepared do they feel for secondary music teaching in a changing world?

Abstract

The ideas and philosophies of preservice secondary music teachers (PSMTs) are formalized in their tertiary education years. In these years, PSMTs must reconcile the expectations, beliefs, and values espoused by their lecturers, tutors, and other significant people from their past. PSMTs have accumulated various musical experiences through prior interactions with their primary and secondary school teachers and private tutors, which nurture and shape the kind of teachers they anticipate becoming. This research focuses on a group of six PSMTs who face a very different future, teaching in the COVID-19 world of digital delivery amid a time of curriculum change in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Thirty-minute Zoom interviews with the six participants took place over the two semesters of 2020, beginning before the COVID-19 outbreak in Australia and investigating how prepared PSMTs felt they were for classroom teaching. Their most positive responses regarding online learning provided evidence that their music lecturers had built PSMTs’ understanding of the curriculum, which increased their confidence in their musical ability during practicum. The findings in this article provide an informed NSW perspective about PSMTs’ tertiary education, adding to research about classroom music pedagogy. Finally, the opinions of PSMTs on their current learning and future careers are of importance and interest for both tertiary education institutions and curriculum designers.