Faculty of Education - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 3 of 3
-
ItemAustralian secondary music teachers’ enactments of Kodály-inspired professional learning( 2023-11)Previous research has investigated how music teachers’ practices are often significantly informed by their personal backgrounds, beliefs, and identities, and researchers have called for further inquiry into how professional learning programs can influence and interact with these factors and school contexts to inform practice. The Kodaly approach is a significant phenomenon in music education internationally, though it took root in Hungary almost a century ago. In Australia, Kodaly-inspired professional learning programs such as the Australian Kodaly Certificate continue to be offered regularly around the country. However, little contemporary research documents the characteristics and adaptations of the approach today in the English-speaking world. This research investigates how five Australian secondary music teachers enact Kodaly-inspired professional learning in their diverse settings, employing multiple case study methodology informed by narrative inquiry. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, lesson observations, and document analysis, the study explores how these teachers experience, interpret, and translate the Kodaly approach into their teaching context. The thesis documents, in depth, the characteristic pedagogical and curricular features of the Kodaly approach in Australia and how the approach is espoused by the Australian Kodaly Certificate program of professional learning. The five case study teachers demonstrated subtle variations in their interpretation of the underlying philosophical principles of the approach, dependent on their personal backgrounds and contexts. Their classroom practices reflected consistent use of some of the teaching tools, curriculum, and pedagogical strategies associated with the Kodaly approach following participation in the AKC, but also several extensions, variations, and alterations to the approach in response to personal interests, backgrounds, and context. This thesis builds an understanding of the Kodaly approach today by examining Kodaly-inspired pedagogy in a small sample of contemporary Australian classrooms. It also provides case study examples of music teachers enacting professional learning, highlighting how individuals’ backgrounds, beliefs, identities, and school contexts can inform how they interpret professional learning, subsequently shaping their practice. A refractive model of professional learning that links the work of Bourdieu and Ball is proposed for understanding this process. This research adds to the discourse about classroom music education in Australia by focusing on the reality of teachers’ lives, learning, and practices.
-
ItemContextualising Teaching Grammar Through Talk About Text in the Middle Primary Years: A Collaborative Action Research Project to Build Teacher Literacy Content and Pedagogical Knowledge( 2022)This qualitative, collaborative action research study reports on the contextualised teaching of language (grammar) in the middle primary years. Underpinned by a pragmatic paradigm, the study examined how a two-phase collaborative professional learning program might influence teachers’ knowledge, self-efficacy, and pedagogical decisions for the explicit teaching of grammar in Years 3 or 4 classrooms. Twenty-six middle primary teachers from across Victoria, Australia, participated in a four-part series of online literacy professional learning (PL) sessions across a 4-month period. The PL was designed to build teacher content and pedagogical content knowledge for teaching functionally oriented grammar (Myhill, 2021) through talk about authorial language choices in picture story books. Following the PL, four of the 26 teachers elected to continue with an additional stage of the study, applying their learning from the PL through the delivery of a pedagogic intervention, over approximately 5 weeks, in their own Years 3 or 4 classrooms. Data included observations collected from each online CPL session and semistructured interviews undertaken by the four teacher participants at three different stages. The study’s findings indicate that while a teacher’s individual knowledge about language affects their self-efficacy and pedagogical decisions in literacy teaching, collaborative PL with job-embedded action and reflection can lead to enhanced teacher practice in literacy.
-
ItemExploring Music Teachers’ Experiences and Perceptions of Professional Learning( 2022)Professional learning plays an essential role in promoting student engagement and learning outcomes by actively engaging teachers in extending, strengthening, and updating their professional knowledge and practice during the course of their career. Whilst a significant body of research has examined the effectiveness and impact of professional learning on teaching practices, very little research has considered the specific needs of music teachers. This phenomenological study used a mixed methods approach to explore the experiences of music teachers in classroom, instrumental, and ensemble positions in Victorian primary and secondary schools. Research was carried out using an online Scoping Survey (297 respondents) and a deeper investigation of emerging themes through a second online Main Survey with 50 volunteer participants. Data were analysed around the themes of (1) engagement with professional learning, (2) motivation for choices of professional learning, and (3) perceptions of the elements of effective professional learning for music teachers. The findings highlight the challenges for school-based music teachers in accessing professional learning that enhances their practice and in interpreting whole-school professional learning to their contexts. The findings were evaluated against existing literature and research into the characteristics of effective professional learning, and new knowledge emerged suggesting opportunities to strengthen professional learning tailored to the needs of music teachers. The study proposes a set of seven principles for professional learning in music education to inform school leaders, professional associations, and professional learning providers.