Music and Its Impact on the Contemporary Education

The English Literature Journal
Vol. 1, No. 5 (2014): 110-114
Article
Open Access
ISSN: 2348-3288
Music and Its Impact on the Contemporary Education
Assefa Semaw Fentaye*
Wolediya College of teachers’ education, Aesthetics and physical education Department, Pobox- 201 Wolediya, Ethiopia
*Corresponding author: Assefa Semaw Fentaye; e-mail: [email protected]
Received: 27 July 2014
Accepted: 09 August 2014
Online: 01 September 2014
ABSTRACT
The development of music knowledge is reflecting in, among other things, the development of modern didactics.
Current pedagogy and Music education, as a fast developing discipline of general pedagogy, is a topic of a number of
studies. Applying the modern multi cultural Music aid at various stages and in various types of education is
considered as an indispensable element of modern didactics, due to new opportunities the modern Music offer. An
interactive musical staff board is an example of such a modern teaching aid applied at present in music education.
Keywords: Music education, didactics, multi cultural music, teaching method
INTRODUCTION
Music education is a concept connected with the spread
of mind development in didactics. It has been subject of
numerous dissertations in Ethiopia and abroad.
According to a definition, Music education is:
“developing the skill of conscious, critical and selective
use of social communication through Music, including
the education to become a mass Music audience” In
practice, Music education can be also understood as an
interdisciplinary subject whose aim is to familiarize
the receiver with the applications of modern education
in broadly conceived education. Within the next few
years both the methods of teaching this subject and its
content are going to change on the basis of a new
curriculum, which has yet to be developed
Controversies appear even at the level of the definition
and naming the musical notes, alternatively referred to
as education by the Music, Music in education or
education for the Music. I do not intend to discuss the
terminological problems in this paper, since what
matters most is the familiarity with the subject content
and its implementation. Analyzing the possible
interpretations of the different names, on the other
hand, does not seem to lead to any fruitful conclusions.
The most interesting aspect of developing a curriculum
for Music education is the function and aim of the
subject, as well as methods of teaching and it is on
those issues that I expect feedback from the reader of
the present paper. Of education should be carried out
not only by schools, but also by other social
institutions, such as the family, the state, the church or
other organizations. As evident, the problem is very
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broad, so it is necessary to concentrate on its selected
aspects in the present paper.
Teaching methodology in the school in various
forms and at various levels of education, from
kindergarten to university.
It has to be noted that education programmers and
curricula, although developed by outstanding
specialists, may become outdated before they actually
reach the classroom. The publishing of textbooks may
take even years, so that teachers are often rightly
concerned about the validity and currency of the
textbook content. Sometimes, in the pursuit of their
individual interests, students get updated about the
latest scientific and musical findings by surfing the
technology. On the one hand, it is a positive
phenomenon; on the other hand, it makes educators
think how to keep teaching curricula updated. This, in
turn, implies further questions: how to pass on the
knowledge by means of modern and more attractive
teaching aids through music? Tomasz Prauzner. (2010)
In the light of the financial situation of the school
system in Ethiopia, it is not easy to find an answer to
either of the questions. Fortunately, due to the
unbelievable pace of the music development, what is
currently the most modern and expensive will soon
become cheaper and more available when new
solutions appear. The dynamic character of the changes
provides an opportunity for schools, most of which are
equipped with music labs, multi cultural music teaching
and access to the world. It has to be kept in mind that
some five or ten years ago the situation was different
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and few schools could pride themselves on having a
modern music lab.
As the time passes, the requirements that educational
services have to meet evolve. Social changes following
the economic ones created the demand for up-to-date
educated staff.
2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The main researcher theme was
1. Analyze the use of music for modern education
2. How music implements at our country
3. Evaluate the formulation of music lab at
deferent college education
4. Promote music education for teaching children
3. Delimitation of the Study
There are different music teachers in different levels
like in the teachers college and TVET colleges. To
manage the study appropriately, this research was on
selected elementary school teachers in Wolediya town.
The problem may be the problem of many school
Teachers, but it was difficult to manage all schools in
the study for the researchers. So this research focused
on few selected schools in the city administration. All
the selected schools were selected by using random
sampling method.
4. RESEARCH METHOD
The present study was meant to examine the state of
music educator attitudes and perceptions in Wolediya
elementary schools. The ideas from existing teachers
were utilized to make recommendations concerning
teacher preparation, training, and support. Specifically,
a goal of this study was to determine how teacher
expectations of town students were shaped by social
factors such as demographics, student-teacher
differences, teacher training, and teacher support. The
research presently conducted was being part of a larger
study to create generalizable data to assist colleges and
school districts in their teacher training and support
programs. The purpose of this study was to examine
music teacher perceptions of issues and problems that
exist in town schools.
5. Sampling Techniques and Sample Size
Participants of this research was selected by using
purposive sampling since selecting teachers should be
music teachers since the researchers purpose was to
identify the perception of music teachers. Sample size
of the research was thirty music teachers’ and sixty
selected school principals.
6. Participants of the study
To create a broad picture of the state of town music
education teachers perception, data were collected
from Wolediya elementary schools (N = 16) serving
grades 1-8 that fit Wolediya city designation (Wolediya
elementary Schools, 2005) were questioned for
different information collected from public records. A
list of current elementary music teachers (n = 30) who
serve Wolediya elementary schools was garnered from
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the Wolediya city school district’s communications and
public relations office. Clearly thirty music teachers and
16 school principals were participant of this study.
All teachers were contacted face-to-face by observation
and interview and were asked organized questioner
7. Data Collection Instruments
In order to assess music teacher perceptions and
attitudes, the Researcher (2012/13) questionnaire was
adapted for use with music teachers from created by
Love and Kruger (2005) for a study of subject area
teachers. The study completed by Love and Kruger was
a modified version of an earlier questioner by LadsonBillings (1994) that was also used with general
educators. Love and Kruger’s original questioner had a
calculated Cron Bach’s alpha measure of .75 for all
items (Love and Kruger, 2005); however, when
calculated according to various beliefs, the measures
had slightly higher reliability. For items that reflected
culturally relevant beliefs, the standardized alpha was
.85 (Love and Kruger, 2005). In an effort to maintain
high reliability, the items modified for the researcher
questioner were from the section of the original
questioner relating to culturally relevant beliefs. The
questionnaire questions regarding teachers’ attitudes
toward teaching town students, perceptions of studentteacher differences, expectations of town students, and
the levels of training and support they have received.
The teacher questioner included nine questions to help
determine the teachers ‘personal socioeconomic
background and demographic characteristics. These
questions allowed for two to four responses in a
multiple-choice format; two of the questions required
open-ended responses. Two open-ended items
questioned participants regarding their educational
background. Sixteen items of varied response types
(two open-ended, two multiple-choice, and twelve
Likert-scale items) were intended to measure school
district teacher training and support.
8. Data Analysis Techniques
Depending on the nature of the data collected from the
participants were analyze using both qualitatively and
quantitatively
9. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS OF THE STUDY
In order to determine town elementary music teachers’
attitudes and perceptions concerning teaching music in
town schools, elementary schools (N = 16) from
Wolediya town and music teachers (n =30) from the
researcher Questioner of Town Music Education
(researcher, 2012/13). The results of the questioner
were detailed in this chapter to answer the following
research question.
1.
2.
What is the status of town elementary music education
in terms of demographics, student teacher differences,
teacher training, and teacher support?
What were the relationships among town elementary
school demographics, student-teacher differences,
teacher training, and teacher support, teacher
expectations of town students, and teacher attitudes
about town music teaching?
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3.
4.
What combination of town elementary school
demographics, student teacher differences, teacher
training, and teacher support best predicts teacher
attitudes about town elementary music teaching and
teacher expectations of town elementary music
students?
How do teacher expectations of town elementary
students and teacher attitudes about town elementary
music teaching differ as a function of town elementary
school demographics, student-teacher differences,
teacher training, and teacher support?
9.1. Research Question One
To answer the first part of research question one, What
is the status of town elementary music education in
terms of demographics, student teacher differences,
teacher training, and teacher support?, descriptive
analyses were performed on student and teacher
demographic data that was gathered from Wolediya
elementary Schools(2012/13) and from the researcher
(2012/13) observation. Table 3 illustrates the
demographic status of all Wolediya elementary schools
in Wolediya town, as well as the demographic status of
the 16 schools where the participating teachers were
employed.
10.
SUMMARY,
CONCLUSIONS
AND
RECOMENDATIONS
10.1. Summary
The purpose of this study was to compile and examine
music teacher perceptions of issues and problems in
Wolediya elementary schools in an effort to determine
correlations among the various aspects of town music
education. Specifically, variables were analyzed to
determine whether town teachers’ attitudes and
expectations were affected by various demographic
variables, their pre-professional and in-service
training, and the levels of professional support that
they received. Wolediya town were identified and
questioned for demographic information. Teachers (n =
30) from these schools completed the researchers
(2012/13) questioner, which was designed to gain
demographic information about the participants,
analyze their attitudes toward and expectations of
town elementary music students, and gain insight into
their perceptions concerning rewards and issues
specific to town music teaching. Demographic items for
the questioner were devised based on the demographic
data available for Wolediya elementary schools. Likertscale questions were adapted from a previous study by
Love & Kruger (2006) to measure teacher attitudes
toward cultural diversity and the town teaching
practice and expectations of town students. Items that
received a Cronbach’s alpha for reliability of .85 were
adapted for use in this study. After the completion of
the questioner, reliability of the present study was
calculated at 0.612 for Attitudes items and 0.643 for
Expectations items. The lowered reliability could be
explained by the small participant sample size (n = 30),
and reliability could be improved by increasing the
sample size in future replications of the study.
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The researchers questioner was distributed and
administered to teachers the researcher acquired a list
of Wolediya town elementary music teachers from the
city public relations office, and give an invitation to 30
teachers’ questioner. Teachers were accept an initial
invitation and a reminder questions after one week,
and were given three two to complete the questioner.
The response rate was 100% (n = 30).The responses to
the questioner were compiled and analyzed through
quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques.
Descriptive analysis, correlation, multiple regressions,
and multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) statistical
techniques were used to analyze the information.
10.2. Conclusions
The demographic state of town music education in
Wolediya wasn’t varied, but several main
characteristics emerged. All Wolediya elementary
schools had student populations that consisted of
99.91% or more of similar groups. Zero point one nine
percent of the schools had teachers populations that
were Oromo. Very high percentages of students
received traditional or reduced learning knowledge.
The teacher participants that responded to the study
were almost all were Amahara males from two-parent,
sub town, and middle or lower class backgrounds. Less
than half of the teacher’s parents held less than
diploma or lower. When the student and teacher
populations were examined for differences, 0.19%of
the teachers mismatched ethnicities with their
students; one of these matches was Oromo teacher
with Amahara students. For the variable of childhood
SES. About thirty percent of the teachers matched
childhood environments with their students. The
teachers were asked their opinions regarding rewards
from, concerns about, and suggestions for improving
town elementary music education. The teachers felt
that extra-musical rewards, such as providing role
models for students or providing a safe and successful
environment for students, were important in town
settings. Teachers also indicated
a high value of
cultural diversity, and many related statements that
demonstrated dedication to the field and passion for
teaching town elementary music students. The main
issues listed by the participants as barriers to town
students’ music education were lack of materials and
funds, scheduling/over scheduling issues, classroom
behavior management concerns, and nationally tested
subject tutoring reducing student contact time. Most of
the teachers suggested extended practical experience
in town schools and more training in classroom
management techniques as possible solutions for some
of the issues they perceived to be present in the town
schools. When the variables of demographic
characteristics,
student/teacher
matches
and
mismatches, teacher training, support, attitudes, and
expectations were analyzed using Pearson correlations,
many of the demographic variables were found to be
correlated. Other than demographic correlations, the
only other significant result was that Support and
Percentage of Students Receiving traditional and
reduced knowledge were negatively correlated. When a
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higher percentage of students received traditional or
reduced knowledge, professional support was lower.
Support was found to be correlated with attitudes, and
as support was stronger attitudes became more
positive.
Match/mismatch was also correlated with attitudes.
The only variable that directly correlated with
Expectations
was
Attitudes,
implying
that
teacher/student ethnicity mismatch/match, support,
and percentage of students receiving traditional or
reduced knowledge may have an indirect effect on
Expectations. When the variables were analyzed using
simultaneous multiple regression, Support was the
only significant individual predictor for attitudes. None
of the variables were found to be predictors for
Expectations, but when Attitudes was included as an
independent variable it was found to be a strong
predictor for Expectations.
10.3. Implications
The results of the study suggest that professional
support is related to teacher attitudes, and that high
levels of support will result in more positive teacher
attitudes toward cultural diversity and town education.
While results must be interpreted with caution due to
the small sample size and the 0.6 level reliability of the
measure, the following guarded generalizations can be
made based on study results.
1. Support was negatively correlated to percentage of
students receiving traditional/reduced knowledge,
implying that teachers at schools with non supported
students received less professional support. Because
the students in the lowest income areas often need
more support from their teachers, the highest levels of
professional support should be provided to teachers in
schools with high levels of students from the lowest
SES. Support could be provided in the forms of strong
administrator support of teacher discipline, providing
teachers with more control over their schedules and
teaching loads, more district opportunities for inservice training,
more access to special education
professionals, and outreach efforts to garner support
for teachers’ programs from parents and the broader
educational community.
2. Support was a predictor of teacher Attitudes.
Teachers who perceived lower professional support
had more negative attitudes concerning town music
teaching. The most significant and common supportrelated complaints from the teachers had to do with
over scheduling, lack of resources, and lack of
classroom management support. The issue of over
scheduling could be remedied by administrators
including music teachers in school scheduling or hiring
an additional music teacher to ease large class loads.
Concerning resources could compile a list of necessary,
curricular materials for teaching elementary music,
which could be used by town elementary teachers as
justification for instrument and music purchases.
Classroom management support could be improved by
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school districts providing training for effective
classroom management, and by administrators being
trained to create effective and consistent discipline
plans for their schools.
3. Whether teacher/student ethnicity matched was
related to teacher Attitudes. In general, if the teacher’s
ethnicity matched that of the majority of their students,
they had more positive attitudes toward town teaching.
While it would not be possible to ensure hiring
teachers who are ethnic matches to the student
population, awareness this aspect of teacher attitude
forming allows it to be addressed in training programs
and teacher education literature.
4. Attitudes and Expectations were highly correlated.
Although the individual variables didn’t directly
correlate with Expectations, the factors of support,
student SES, and student/teacher ethnicity matches
have an indirect effect on expectations due to their
correlation with Attitudes.
10.3. Recommendations
This study presented a snapshot of the status of
Wolediya town elementary music education teachers in
Wolediya Town elementary school and described
interactions
of
teacher/student
demographic
differences with the outcomes of town elementary
music teacher attitudes about music teaching and
expectations of their students. There are several
aspects of this study that could be improved for future
replications.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
A larger sample size should be used to produce higher
reliability and better generalizability. Larger samples
could be procured by contacting teachers from school
districts in towns with giving similar subject
characteristics in different zones, such as Fenoteselam,
Enjebara, Gonder(both south and north) and Wello.
In order to improve response rate, participants should
be given more time to complete the questioner. Also,
to allow for the possible lack of transport in some of
the far schools, questioners could also be administered
by different mechanisms non contact of the
researchers.
Several of the responses to teacher demographic
questions were not directly used in the data analysis.
These items should be deleted in future replications.
However, some of the director’s free-responses were
difficult to classify due to the general nature of several
of the responses. For clarity and better accuracy, a list
of occupations should be provided for the directors to
choose from.
Items that were deleted from the analysis based on
reliability should be eliminated from future
replications. This would shorten the questioner and
encourage higher participation rates.
There was no correlation of the variables with teacher
expectations, but there was correlation between three
of the variables and teacher attitudes. Teacher
attitudes were strongly correlated with expectations,
leading to the inference that the variables could
indirectly influence expectations as well; however, this
effect should be studied further in future replications.
Most of the teachers who participated in the study
weren’t highly educated but experienced. However, a
goal of the study was to also gain perspectives from
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teachers who have less experience and high training,
and may possibly need more support and training to
help them flourish in town environments. In future
replications, teachers with fewer than five years of
experience should be identified and more actively
recruited to participate in the study. This study
provided a quick look of the status of town music
education in town school district. Teacher attitudes
and expectations shape how they interact with their
students, and teachers should be provided with
support and training to help them teach music
effectively in town environments. Differences between
teacher and student can have an impact on the levels
of support that teachers receive, and every effort
should be made to increase support to teachers who
work in schools in the nation's environments.
Replication of this study would help clarify the results
and provides concrete areas to address in town music
and general education training programs.
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