For all correspondence concerning this paper contact

Dr Deirdre Russell-Bowie,

University of Western Sydney,

Locked Bag 1797, Penrith DC, NSW 1797

Phone: (02) 9772 6298

Fax: (02) 9772 6738

Gifford (1993) and Mills (1989) cited in Richards (1999) indicate that student teachers with positive music experiences and who are musically literate enter teacher training institutions with ‘a higher degree of confidence in their ability to teach music than do their colleagues. Research by Sanders and Browne (1998) indicates that satisfying musical experiences likely enhance music self confidence and that students’ enjoyment from making music is the strongest predictor of self-concept scores. Richards (1999) and Jenneret (1996) provide further examples of research which indicates students with little formal music background lack confidence in their own musical abilities and teaching skills.

However, many families, and indeed schools, are not providing children with this nurturing musical background. Our schools are reaping the results of many, many years of inadequate music education in most primary schools as children who have come through this system are now back in schools as teachers or are training to be teachers. Because of the lack of supportive family background and adequate training in music teachers are anxious about, and lack confidence in teaching each of these subjects and therefore often end up omitting the subjects from their program (Russell-Bowie, 1993). The seriousness of the situation has been reflected repeatedly in numerous reports into Arts Education over the past 35 years. Repeating findings in previous reports, the report of the Senate Environment, Recreation, Communications and the Arts References Committee (1995) reiterated that ‘Generalist primary classroom teachers, because of their own poor arts experience at school, and because of inadequate teacher training, lack confidence to teach the arts. As a result... there is a strong impulse to marginalise the arts in their teaching’. This situation has certainly called, in vain, for the serious attention of policy makers, curriculum designers, and teacher educators to providing our children with exemplary music education, to develop their confidence and lessen their anxieties about music.

The aim of the larger Creative Arts: Students’ Attitudes (CASA) study was to survey a sample of Teacher Education students to investigate their attitudes towards the Creative Arts. However the smaller study on which this paper is based used only the questions from the survey which related to music and omitted those which related to dance, drama and visual arts.

There seem to be no valid and reliable instruments around to test student teachers’ attitudes to music and music education. This has limited the progress in understanding this area. As a result, this instrument has been developed. Specifically this study examines the following questions:

The respondents were from each of the four years of the Bachelor of Education course, with 42% from Year 1, 23% from Year 2, 21% from Year 3 and 13% from the fourth year of the degree. 68% of the respondents were aged 18 – 21, 13% were 22 – 25 years old and 19% were aged 26 and over.

Of the respondents, 80% had entered the course with a Tertiary Entry Requirement (TER) score and for 20% the TER was not applicable, as they had entered under different criteria. Making up the 80% were 14% who had scored less than 50 on their TER, 59% who had scored between 51 and 80 on their TER and 7% who had received over 80 in their TER.

Students were asked to write their postcode on the survey and these postcodes were then allocated into very low, low, medium, high and very high socioeconomic status (SES) using data received from the 1996 Census from the Australian Bureau of Statistics in relation to income and postcode. Of the students responding to this question, 28% lived in very low or low SES areas, 68% lived in medium SES areas, 4% lived in high or very high income areas.

The survey instrument was developed specifically for this study, but was based on a similar survey the author had used in 1991 to ascertain the attitudes of teachers to music and music education in New South Wales public schools (Russell-Bowie, 1993). Similar questions were asked in both surveys, however the instrument for this current study was focussed on student teachers and covered all four strands of the Creative Arts (music, dance, drama and visual arts).

Apart from the demographic questions, each of the other questions had one stem with four endings, and each of the endings related either to music, visual arts, dance or drama. Responses were given by circling a number, eg. to indicate one answer in the demographic questions, or one number on a Likart scale from 1 – 5, with 1 = Strongly Disagree and 5 = Strongly Agree. This study reports on those items related specifically to music.

Students were asked to complete the survey during a mass lecture for each particular year of the Bachelor of Education course. Ethics clearance had been obtained from the University Ethics Committee and students gave their informed consent by completing the survey. They were told the reason for the survey (to assist Creative Arts lecturers in tailoring course and subjects to suit the needs and interests of the students) and were given a practice example to ensure they understood how to complete each question. Students took between 10 and 20 minutes to complete the survey and surveys were collected as students completed them.

The raw data from the surveys were then entered into an SPSS file and analysed using factor analysis, reliability testing and correlations. Statistical procedures were selected in light of the questions to be tested. A set of a priori scales had been developed then exploratory principal component analysis with Varimax rotation was used to validate the scales, and Cronbach alphas were computed to check reliability of the scales. Correlation coefficients were used to test the differences between the scales and the individual variables. Frequencies of students’ responses to these scales were also computed.

Using exploratory principal component analysis with Varimax rotation the following survey items were grouped together to form scales in relation to attitudes to music and music education: (See Table 1)

Factor 1: Background in music (Alpha = .8710) Factor loading

Q18 I can play a musical instrument well .85

Q23a I had music lessons outside of school .81

Q19 I clearly understand music theory .81

Q36a I have a good background in music .78

Q20 A family member plays a musical instrument well .64

Factor 2: Self-concept of own confidence in teaching Music (Alpha = .8628)

Q34a I prefer to teach the music segment in a team teaching lesson .83

Q33a I feel confident teaching music lessons .83

Q48a I feel positive about teaching music lessons .83

Q57aer I feel confident in teaching all music activities .68

Q37a I have taught successful music lessons .57

Factor 3: Anxiety in relation to music and music education (Alpha = .7848)

Q71a I feel anxious to teach music .79

Q73a I feel anxious being assessed in music .63

Q74a I feel anxious demonstrating singing a song to children .63

The criterion for selection of scale items was set at 0.5 and using this criterion, there were no cross-loadings on Factors 1 and 2, however in Factor 3, one item cross-loaded on another Factor, but was included with Factor 3 scales as it had greater face validity.

In the sample for this study, there was a diversity of attitudes in relation to student background, confidence and anxiety in music education. Results of frequencies indicated that 40% of the respondents disagreed and 35% agreed that they had anxieties in relation to music and music education. In relation to confidence, 34% indicated they were not confident in teaching music and 29% indicated that they felt confident in this area, while 70% indicated that they did not have a good background in music and 15% felt that they had a good musical background. The remainder indicated that they were unsure in each of these scales. There were no significant differences between male and female students in relation to their background in music, their confidence or their anxiety in relation to music education.

These scales were then correlated with each other and with the following variables:

• Socioeconomic area (SES) (Very low/low, medium, high/very high)

• Year of degree (first, second, third, and fourth year)

• Tertiary Entrance Requirement (TER) (1 – 50, 51 – 70, 71 – 100)

Results indicated a significant positive correlation between background in music and confidence in music (r = .46, p = .000) and significant negative correlations between background in music and anxiety in music (r = -.35, p = .000) and between confidence in music and anxiety in music (r = -.44, p = .000).

In relation to the independent demographic variables, there was a significant low negative correlation between age and background in music, (r = -.17, p = .002), in year level and anxiety in music (r = -.28, p = .000) and between TER and background in music. (r = -.15, p = .008). Significant low positive correlations were indicated between confidence in music and year level (r = .17, p = .004). Socioeconomic status had no significant correlations with student anxiety, confidence or background in music.

A reliable set of scales relating to anxiety in music, confidence in music and background in music was derived from the CASA data using exploratory principal component analysis with Varimax rotation, and underwent reliability tests with Cronbach’s alphas all indicating a reliability of 0.7 and above. The scales related to:

2. Differences in frequencies of students’ responses to scales

There were clear differences in frequencies between students' responses to the questions relating to anxiety, confidence and their background in the arts. Results indicated that a third of students responded that they were not confident in relation to teaching music and just under a third indicated that they were confident in teaching music. Just over a third of the students disagreed that they felt anxious in relation to music education and a third agreed that they felt anxious in this area. In relation to students’ background in music, 70% indicated that they did not have a good background in music whereas only 15% indicated that they had a sound musical background. This has increased since the author’s previous study where 60% of students entering the course indicated that they had a good music education background. There were no significant differences between male and female students in relation to their background in music, their confidence or their anxiety in relation to music education.

The significant negative correlation between students’ TER score and their background in music is interesting in the light of current research on achievement in school and musical background. This clearly indicates that students who have had a good background in music education do significantly better in their school results (Flohr, Miller and deBeus, 2000; Demorest and Morrison, 2000; Hodges, 2000; Riley, 1999; Bush, 2001). These results, which indicate that students with a better background in music education have a lower TER score, seem to work against this current research. However, most of the above research is American and uses the model of students being involved regularly in band and/or choir during their Primary/High School education as the benchmark for students having had a good musical background. In NSW the emphasis is often less on band and choir involvement and more on general music education. Moreover, this CASA survey asks students for their perceptions of their musical background, which may differ from the questions asked in the above studies. However, perhaps further investigations are needed in this area using the CASA and other Australian data.

There are also no significant correlations between the socioeconomic area in which students live and their confidence, anxiety or background in relation to music and music education. What is significant are the results that indicate significant correlations between the year level and students’ anxiety and confidence in music. As students progress from year 1 to year 4 of the Bachelor of Education course, their anxiety about teaching music or being assessed in music decreases and their confidence in teaching music lessons increases. It would seem that as they have more personal experiences in, and gain more knowledge about, music education as part of their university course, and as they are given more opportunities to actually teach music in the school situation, they grow in confidence in their ability and become less anxious about music education.

The significant correlations between students’ background in music and their self-concept of their confidence and anxiety suggests the important need for parental and school involvement in the musical development of children. Very young children exhibit a natural interest in movement and music and such interest can either be nurtured or ignored by the parents or other caregivers and can have far reaching effects on the growing child's confidence in relation to music. Parents are important in shaping the child's attitude to music and therefore should be strongly encouraged to be involved in such activities with their children. Through their influence children may learn an instrument, or have music lessons outside of school or may see music being modelled in the home setting. Parents are also key stakeholders in the education of their children and can lobby for music specialists in their local primary school to ensure their children gain a satisfactory music background by the time they enter High School. All of these are clearly important in building children’s self-concept and confidence in relation to music. The present study shows that student teachers who have had this nurturing environment towards music from their families and schools tended to be more confident and less anxious about teaching music in the classroom.

The results of the present investigation with potential teachers also have important implications for teacher education. Student teachers enter their training institution with attitudes to music that they have developed over their lifetime. Most of them arrive having had little formal music education in school and often have negative attitudes and low self-esteem in relation to their ability to teach these subjects (Russell-Bowie, 1997). This will surely affect their confidence in teaching creative arts in the classroom. It is crucial that teacher educators realise this nexus and attempt to break down the negative attitudes and low self-esteem by providing students with positive and successful learning experiences in each of the arts domains. Successful experiences may help break down the barriers and develop confidence and expertise in teaching the various creative arts subjects in the classroom.

Such intervention, even for adults, can be very productive in changing anxiety levels and self-concept in relation to the arts. Positive learning experiences in music have been found to be a significant factor in breaking down barriers, changing students’ attitudes, lessening their anxiety, giving them confidence and new teaching ideas, and developing their self-esteem in relation to teaching each of the subjects in their classroom (Russell-Bowie, 1997). Obviously it is better that children receive encouragement and positive modelling from an early age both in the family and the school situation, but this often does not occur, especially when children come from homes of a non-English-speaking background or of low socioeconomic status, particularly those from rural areas (Russell-Bowie, 1993).

This study can be further developed to examine the initial questions in relation to each of the other arts areas (visual arts, dance and drama) and to seek to identify interactions between students’ responses to the demographic variables and to the different art areas. Comparisons can then be made with students’ confidence, anxiety and background in relation to music as compared with the other arts areas. This may give arts educators further information to assist with their presentation of relevant and carefully planned arts experiences in undergraduate teacher training institutions.