Anna Ehrlin

Preschool teachers' skills in teaching music: two steps forward one step back

This study investigates through observations and interviews what importance further education has for preschool teachers’ practice in two music-profiled preschool and their way of conceptualising it. A distinction between music as a method for teaching, on the one hand, and as a content of knowledge, on the other, is used in the analysis. The result shows that the teachers act confidently in dealing with music; both in spontaneous and planned activities, and that they show competence in teaching music to the children. In contradiction, when the teachers are interviewed about their work, they say that they have never been able to sing or play. They talk about music as a method for learning language, but they realise it in practice as the content of learning. This contradiction and its implications are discussed and it is argued that further education needs to take care of the fact that teachers need to develop a professional language.

Music in preschool class: A quantitative study of factors that determine the extent of music in daily work in Swedish preschool classes:

The aim of this article is to highlight what opportunities a six year old in preschool class in Sweden might have for participating in and being inspired by music. We ask the following question: What factors determine how music teaching is conceived and carried out in preschool class? The present study is quantitative in character, and data were collected by means of a survey sent out to all teachers working with preschool classes in a Swedish city. We have brought a hermeneutic approach to bear on our comprehensive interpretations. Our conclusion, and the answer to the research question, is that the fundamental view of music education determines to what extent music teaching occurs, and how it is carried out, in preschool class.

Music pedagogy as an aid to integration? El Sistema-inspired music activity in two Swedish preschools

ABSTRACT The study focuses on how preschool and musical school teachers experience working with El Sistema-inspired activity at two municipal preschools in a multicultural district in a medium-sized Swedish town. What, according to the educators,is the most significant aspect of working with El Sistema-inspired activities? The theoretical point of departure is the theory on communities of practice, a distinction between integration and assimilation and perspectives on intercultural education. The study is based on semi-structured interviews. According to the teachers, the most significant aspect of working with an El Sistema-inspired activity is experiencing joy. The teachers also express that they consider the activities to be tools for integration, allowing children and parents to integrate into Swedish society. Using an intercultural perspective, it appears that the teachers’ reasoning, to a certain extent, promotes assimilation rather than integration, with Swedishness as a prerequisite for a social community.

Swedish preschool leadership : Supportive of music or not?

This study uses observations and interviews to investigate how the leadership at three Swedish preschools in Sweden has impacted the didactic choices made. Two of these preschools use music as a to ...