All teachers, regardless of where they are in their career, should be valued and deserve relevant, applicable, and inspiring professional development both for the sake of their classrooms and their continued adult learning. To avoid the attitude of “I feel like I got this,” one may suggest that schools providing music content-focused and scaffolded professional development may sustain a feeling of meaningful work for mid-career music teachers. Music teachers at this career stage may be at risk of becoming stagnant in their careers, or perhaps may be overly confident due to the lack of comparison and isolation from other music colleagues.
This study is motivated by two purposes: (a) to investigate how andragogy shapes a group of mid-career music teachers’ professional growth by way of content-focused PD, and (b) to examine reflection practices of a group of mid-career music teachers in terms of identifying the possible benefits and barriers of content-focused PD experiences. To address this purpose, I engaged in interviews with five mid-career music teachers. The findings concluded that mid-career teachers’ content-focused professional development was limited to one or two annual state conferences. Participants deemed these professional development sessions as repetitive and over-generalized. Administration rarely, if ever, provided content-focused professional development in their schools, particularly for music teachers. Teachers felt if they were consulted more about specific needs, their time spent with professional development would be much more effective.
Furthermore, teachers expressed a desire to network with other music colleagues, but encountered barriers with the time and cost associated with content-focused professional development. Finally, these teachers felt that much of what they do with music outside of the classroom could be considered a form of content-focused professional development and believe credit is deserved. Further research is needed in this area to tend to the needs of experienced teachers for their andragogical growth. Administrators who have control over professional development standards might consider these ideas for the sake of retaining excellent teachers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/47895 |
| Date | 03 January 2024 |
| Creators | Neitzert, Beth Marie |
| Contributors | Cote, Heather |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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