Kelly A. Parkes

Navigating the Lonely Sea: Peer Mentoring and Collaboration among Aspiring Women Scholars.

A group of pre‐tenured female faculty members is shown to advance from professionally isolated individuals to a collaborative group of writers through the peer mentoring process. The autoethnographically based approach to the analysis of self‐narratives exploring this transformation revealed experiential, emotional and developmental commonalities that guided the womens navigation of the tenure track at a large public research university via understanding of self, others and the environment. In contrast, the womens prior experiences with the traditional dyadic approach to mentoring resulted in feelings of isolation, professional self‐doubt and questioning of purpose. The researchers suggest that peer mentoring among female faculty in a higher education context offers an effective mentoring approach toward supporting women in forging scholarly identity.

The Motivation of Undergraduate Music Students: The Impact of Identification and Talent Beliefs on Choosing a Career in Music Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the reasons why undergraduate music students choose a career in teaching classroom music and how these reasons are related to their beliefs about their identification with teaching classroom music, identification with music performance, teaching talent, and performance talent. Participants included 143 students enrolled in music performance and music education programs at seven large U.S. universities who completed an online questionnaire. One major reason that students chose a career in teaching music was that teaching music had become part of their identity, a part that was separate from their music performance identity. In many cases, the motivation for developing this identity was their belief that becoming a classroom music teacher would allow them to help students by acting as a role model. The findings suggest that further research related to career choice in music education should include the psychological construct of identification with teaching classroom music.

Is the edTPA the Right Choice for Evaluating Teacher Readiness

The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze the edTPA, a performance assessment created by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) and administered by Pearson, Inc., to assess the professional readiness of student teachers. We challenge claims made in support of using this assessment, specifically within the context of arts teacher preparation programs, and we address areas of immediate critical concern to make alternative recommendations.

Motivational Constructs Influencing Undergraduate Students' Choices to become Classroom Music Teachers or Music Performers.

The primary purpose of this study was to examine whether any of the six motivational constructs in the expectancy-value model of motivation (i.e., expectancy, ability perceptions, intrinsic interest value, attainment value, social utility value, and cost) would predict whether students intended to have a career teaching classroom music or performing music. Participants included 270 undergraduate students enrolled in music programs at seven major U.S. universities who completed an online questionnaire. Using stepwise multiple regression, the authors documented that attainment value, intrinsic interest value, and expectancy predicted 74% of the variance in whether students intended to choose a career teaching music. They found that expectancy, attainment value, ability perceptions, and intrinsic interest value explained 65% of the variance in whether students intended to choose a career in music performance. Because of the importance of attainment value in predicting students’ intentions to teach and the importance of expectancies in predicting their intentions to have a performance career, these two constructs would be obvious choices for teachers and advisors to target if they want to encourage students to pursue these careers.

Students’ Motivations for Considering a Career in Music Performance

The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons why undergraduate music majors pursue a career in music performance. The authors surveyed music majors at seven institutions and asked them about the main reasons as to why they were considering a career in music performance. Participant responses yielded qualitative data that the authors coded, through a grounded theory approach, into the following four themes: enjoyment, ability, usefulness, and identity. That is, students reported that they enjoyed playing music, they had the ability to succeed, they believed that music performance was useful, and they viewed themselves as musicians. The authors examine these results through the lens of three psychological constructs (i.e., affect, expectancy, and value). To better understand the implications for best practice in music career education, the authors compare the results of the present study with the results of prior studies investigating the reasons why music majors choose a career in music education.

Applied music studio teachers in higher education: Exploring the impact of identification and talent on career satisfaction

The purpose of this study was to explore how highly trained performing musicians, currently working in higher education conservatoires or universities, understand, categorize, and reflect on their identification as a studio music teacher. Using an online survey involving participants (N = 173) across nine western countries, respondents identified how they saw themselves, as performer, teacher, or both. Quantitative items illustrated their beliefs in regard to talent (self-concept) and identification with two domains (teaching and performing), as well as levels of satisfaction in both roles. Results showed that participants held two identities as both teachers and performers, that they felt slightly more talented at teaching, and that they were more satisfied with performing than with teaching. Using regression, the authors documented that identification with being a teacher predicted 41% of the variance in whether studio teachers were satisfied with being a teacher. Performing talent predicted 26% of their satisfaction with being a performer. The findings are significant to music educators because they demonstrate the complexities associated with the interplay between identification with teaching and with performing. Institutional leaders who recruit and employ advanced musicians to teach in the studio should explore this interplay or balance and, where appropriate, put in place mechanisms to support individuals as they navigate through these domains.

Motivations impacting upon music instrument teachers’ decisions to teach and perform in higher education

The purpose of this study was to explore why highly trained musicians choose to teach in higher education. An international population from nine countries of music instrument teachers was sampled via online survey, to determine their reasons for teaching in higher education. Motivational constructs from the expectancy-value framework were used, and data were analysed statistically and qualitatively for themes. Findings show that participants held significantly higher expectancy beliefs about teaching than performing, and significantly higher intrinsic interest value beliefs about performing than about teaching. All six constructs were positively correlated with cost for music performing and teaching predicting the most variance.

Assessing Music Students’ Motivation Using the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation Inventory:

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of using a motivation inventory with music students in upper-elementary, middle, and high school. We used the middle/high school version of the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation Inventory to survey 93 students in the 5th to 12th grades in one school. Our analysis revealed the inventory produced reliable and valid scores on the five MUSIC scales (MUSIC is an acronym for empowerment, usefulness, success, interest, and caring). Findings provide empirical evidence to support the validity of the five-factor structure of the MUSIC Model of Motivation for music students. Thus, the inventory may be used by music teachers as a reliable means to assess students’ motivation-related perceptions. We provide several strategies that music teachers can consider in designing instruction to be consistent with each component of the MUSIC model, as well as possible implications.

Assessment and Critical Feedback in the Master-Apprentice Relationship: Rethinking Approaches to the Learning of a Music Instrument

In higher music education institutions around the world, one-to-one teaching dominates the way in which students learn a music instrument. With the expert performer-teacher as centre of the learning process or master, students as apprentices are typically subjected to intensive weekly direction and feedback, frequently culminating in performance exams assessed by expert musicians. This form of learning features a mode of assessment which is predominantly one way, that is, the transmission of expectations and value judgments from master to apprentice, even if criteria are applied and aligned to learning outcomes during performance exams. This chapter examines the one-to-one lesson as a vehicle for enabling students to develop critical assessment and feedback skills, after which it seeks to theorise the need to reconsider the knowledge transfer, assessment and critical feedback systems of the one-to-one lesson. It also proposes a new conceptual model for the learning of a music instrument at the higher education level.