Why (not) be a music teacher?

In this article, Mateos-Moreno cites the world-wide music teacher shortage as a data-driven source for this project. This mixed-method study solicited undergraduate music education students at a Swedish university. Pre-service music education students were surveyed about their perceptions of the music education profession. The final question of the survey asked “What looks concerning about your future career in the profession of music teacher?” If that doesn’t open the floodgates, I don’t know what does.

Pre-service teachers cited several concerns about the music teacher profession. The most commonly mentioned were concerns regarding employment conditions and consequences. Examples include workload, work hours, the job market, and the (generally) low salary. The second most frequent category of concerns related to appraisals regarding the subject and the profession. Arts advocacy is not a new burden on music teachers, however the legitimacy of the teaching profession at large certainly is for some. Mateos-Moreno mentions the general decline of respect for teachers and teaching, and pre-service teachers are aware of it. This can generate fear in pre-service teachers, and perhaps turn people off from teaching altogether. Identity shifts from musician to teacher also live in this code, and the feeling of being “less than” when compared to undergraduate students on the performance track. Other codes include concerns about the social environment, class sizes, assessment (student and teacher), low student motivation, school funding, and finally, music teacher education and its applicability to the actual job. Mic drop.

Although these results are only representative of one learning community, I think many music teachers have felt several of these concerns at some point in their careers. The author suggests that music teacher education should shift towards prioritizing strategies for assessment, classroom management, fostering student motivation, student discipline, and parent contact. Furthermore, although it was not a recurring answer from the sample, the author encourages music teacher education programs to recognize and discuss teacher burnout.

The author makes compelling arguments for why music teacher education programs should shift towards different learning goals. However, it’s important that these suggestions are used to actually change the goals of the program rather than adding onto an already exhausting curriculum. Perhaps fewer methods and philosophical classes, and more discussion about real-life situations (with practicing PreK-12 teachers) would help novice music educators feel more prepared for the real-world.