A Grounded Theory of Early Preservice Music Teacher Identity Development

Abstract

The purpose of this grounded theory was to discover the process of undergraduate students’ music teacher identity development in the first 2 years of their preservice music education program. Participants in this study were 21 undergraduate students from an introduction to music education course. We collected multiple types of data, including interviews and written artifacts, from a course-based undergraduate research experience that focused on music teacher identity development. Consistent with Charmaz’s approach, data collection and analysis were grounded in a constructivist paradigm. We analyzed participants’ music teacher identity development in a cyclical, three-phase process during the early years of their undergraduate teacher education programs. The three phases involved (a) outer experiences and interactions, (b) inner reflective processes, and (c) actions based on their reflections. The phases were situated within the context of participants’ developing sense of self. Central to this process was the students’ personal development, particularly as individuals in the stage of late adolescence.

Keywords

music teacher identity late adolescence music teacher education grounded theory

Exploring music teacher identity development is important because of its connection to teacher beliefs, persistence, practice, and retention. Teacher identity is influenced by myriad personal and professional characteristics and experiences during primary and secondary socialization (Austin et al., 2012; Beijaard & Meijer, 2017; Haston & Russell, 2012; Kos, 2018; Olsen, 2008). Although scholars have examined music teacher identity development in varied ways with preservice (e.g., Brewer, 2009; Pellegrino, 2019) and in-service teachers (e.g., Pellegrino et al., 2021; Wagoner, 2015), few have explored it with undergraduates beginning in their first year of their degree program.

We developed a grounded theory of early music teacher identity development with a group of first-year students in an introductory course in music education. The students participated in a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) focused on music teacher identity development. A “pedagogy of identity learning” that includes explicit identity development activities is a necessary component of teacher preparation programs but is rarely included due primarily to curricular constraints (Beijaard & Meijer, 2017, p. 184; Pellegrino, 2019). Implementing this CURE focused on identity learning presented an opportunity to explore early preservice music teacher identity development.

Preservice Music Teacher Identity Development

Researchers have examined music teachers’ primary and secondary socialization and identity development using various methodologies, theoretical frameworks, and lenses (Isbell, 2015; Pellegrino, 2019). Primary socialization is generally considered the time period from preschool through high school, and secondary socialization begins when individuals enter the workforce or higher education. Austin et al. (2012) described secondary socialization as “the collective impact of people and experiences most connected to the individual or context” (p. 81). Teacher preparation programs are replete with secondary socialization opportunities, thus playing a “distinct and crucial role in the development of positive music teacher identities” (Ballantyne et al., 2012, p. 222) and contributing significantly to occupational identity development (Goldie, 2013; Isbell, 2008). Key opportunities for socialization and developing teacher beliefs are responsibility for instructional planning, implementation of lesson plans, and reflection in class and on authentic context learning activities (Kos, 2018), knowledge, and skills (Austin et al., 2012; Draves, 2014; Haston & Russell, 2012; Johnson, 2014; Russell, 2012). Also critical for identity development are meaningful interactions with peers, faculty, and other mentors (e.g., cooperating teachers, K–12 music teachers; Austin et al., 2012; Ballantyne et al., 2012; Dabback, 2018). These experiences and interactions build preservice music teachers’ agency (Tucker, 2020; Tucker & Powell, 2021) and efficacy (Wagoner, 2015), both of which seem to be influences on and indicators of a developing identity.

The examination of musician and teacher roles as either conflicting or complementary in the development of one’s music teacher identity has been a consistent thread in scholarship and discussion. Scholars have critiqued music teacher preparation programs for creating tension through an unbalanced curricular emphasis on either content-centered knowledge (Bouij, 1998) or pedagogical knowledge (Bernard, 2005). Disciplinary hierarchy within schools of music also plays an instigating role when professors and peers value performance over other areas (Austin et al., 2012). Pellegrino et al. (2021) found that being a musician was so integral to preservice music teachers that they revised Olsen’s (2008) model to include “musical experiences” as a component of music teacher identity development.

Bouij (1998) and Brewer (2009) developed models specifically about music teacher identity development that connected the musician and teacher identities: salient role identities in music education and model of integrated role identity in music teaching, respectively. Bouij interviewed Swedish music teachers about the professional identity that they were striving for. This grounded theory resulted in a model of four salient role identities (all-round musician, performer, pupil-centered teacher, and content-centered teacher). The four identities are placed on axes representing a continuum of musical comprehensiveness and musician-teacher professional roles. Bouij’s model accounts for shifting and multiple identities, and individuals’ identities may move along the continua depending on what kind of teacher they wish to be or the context in which their work takes place.

In a qualitative study of five student teachers, Brewer (2009) developed the model of integrated role identity in music teaching. The model shows how preservice music teachers’ conceptions of effective music teaching integrate to create their role identity. Brewer posited that beliefs about effective teaching in others and in oneself combine to create an integrated music teacher role identity. Using the model, one can examine the personal, teaching, and musical skills and knowledge of self and others, which form one’s integrated identity as a music teacher.

There is no known research or model specifically about early music teacher identity development, particularly those students who have not engaged in field experiences or authentic context learning activities that seem to significantly influence one’s music teacher identity (Goldie, 2013; Isbell, 2008). Most research participants represented in the literature are upper-level undergraduates and student teachers who have or are currently engaged in field experiences and in-service teachers. Furthermore, no one has looked at music teacher identity development within the context of an identity learning experience such as the CURE we implemented. Pellegrino (2019) stated that “researchers should be empowered to search for new theoretical frameworks that will extend our understandings” (p. 286) of music teacher identity development. Rather than searching for a new framework, we developed a grounded theory of early music teacher identity development that might inform practices in music teacher preparation both in early and later stages to help “PMTs [Preservice Music Teachers] build a strong foundation about why they are becoming teachers and what kind of teacher they want to become” (Pellegrino, 2019, p. 286). Draves’s (2019) description of music teacher identity as “a holistic, sociocultural product and a process linking the personal and professional” (p. 43) informed our work.

Method

The purpose of this grounded theory was to discover the process of undergraduate students’ music teacher identity development in the first 2 years of their preservice music education program. We chose a constructivist grounded theory approach, which “stresses social contexts, interactions, knowing and learning embedded in social life” (Charmaz, 2014, p. 17) because we were interested in understanding the process of early preservice music teacher identity development. Participants constructed their teacher identities through lived experiences in a social context, including interactions with students and teachers. Their views and reflections on their experiences led us to co-construct meaning because as researchers, “we were part of the world that we studied, the data we collected, and the analysis produced” (Charmaz, 2014, p. 17).

Course Context

Participants in this study were 21 undergraduate students from a first-year introduction to music education course. There were 59 total students enrolled, and the course was co-taught by two music education professors. The class met twice a week for 50 minutes. Students discussed topics such as methodology, sequencing, and assessment and engaged in activities including lesson planning, peer teaching, video observations and reflections, basic musicianship skills, and a CURE. Students explored teacher identity concepts and frameworks as they completed in-class exercises, interviewed current music teachers, and discussed and reflected on their experiences and teacher identity construction. They created visual representations of self as music teacher and the ideal music teacher at the start and end of the semester, used the Bouij (1998) and Olsen (2008) identity frameworks to analyze teacher interview transcripts, and created a multimedia presentation focused on their beliefs about teaching.

Researchers’ Roles

At the onset of data collection, Tami Draves was one of the faculty co-instructors for the course. Heather Graham served as a graduate teaching assistant for the course, and Nicole Ramsey and Drew Brooks were graduate teaching assistants who were unaffiliated with the course. Nicole, Heather, and Drew continued as graduate teaching assistants during the entire research time frame and did have some of the participants enrolled in courses they taught or assisted with. Ongoing interactions between participants and researchers supported the development of respectful, trusting relationships and ensured that researchers were never far removed from participants’ experiences. When scheduling interviews, authors did not interview participants who were currently enrolled in their classes. Drew (unaffiliated with the course) completed the participant recruitment while Heather and Tami (affiliated with the course) left the room. Tami did not discover which students were participating in the study until after the course was complete; collected data were de-identified by the rest of the authors prior to first-wave data analysis.

Participants

Twenty-one students consented to participate and were interviewed in the first wave of data collection. Thirteen participated in the study throughout all four phases of data collection and analysis.¹ Of those 13 participants, some chose to share the following demographic information: Four identified as male, and three identified as female. One participant identified as Mexican, two identified as Hispanic, one identified as Asian/South Korean, one identified as Pacific Islander, four identified as White, and one identified as both Black and White. Only one participant had community college experience prior to attending their current university. Additionally, one participant identified as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, and another participant mentioned that they were a first-generation college student. Participants’ primary instruments included clarinet, viola, euphonium, oboe, tenor saxophone, and voice.

Data Collection and Analysis

A grounded theory approach “consists of systematic, yet flexible guidelines for collecting and analyzing qualitative data to construct theories from the data themselves” (Charmaz, 2014, p. 1). Because data collection and analysis are closely related in grounded theory, we used a constant comparative analysis to inform each step of the research process (Corbin & Strauss, 2015). Throughout analysis, authors completed analytic memos and met biweekly to compare codes, share analytic memos, and discuss the research process. We collected multiple types of data, including interviews, analytic memos, and two work products from the CURE per participant.

We completed interviews in four waves. The first wave of individual, semistructured interviews took place in person in fall 2019 and ranged from 7 to 24 minutes in length. Using a constant comparative analysis approach, all authors completed line-by-line (Charmaz, 2014) and in vivo (Saldaña, 2016) coding of one set of four interviews. During the line-by-line coding, we distinguished between codes that were participants’ words (instead of our own) by adding an “IV” next to the code. We used focused coding to compare codes and created a collaborative codebook to use for the remaining interviews in the first round (Charmaz, 2014). We collectively took 12 pages of analytic memos throughout the coding and analysis process. Emerging categories from the first-wave data informed our interview questions for the second wave and allowed us to further explore, saturate, and generate theoretical understandings in second-wave data collection (Corbin & Strauss, 2015).

After a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we resumed regular meetings and data analysis in fall 2020 and finished the second wave of interviews in spring 2021. During the COVID-19 delay, eight students discontinued participation in the study. The second wave, third wave, and theoretical sampling interviews were semistructured and conducted via Zoom. We selected participants for Waves 2, 3, and 4 of data collection from our original pool of 13 participants. During the second-wave interviews, we purposely selected 11 participants who represented a variety of backgrounds, instruments, and musical experiences (Patton, 2014). Seven participants responded to the request for interviews. Interviews ranged from 20 to 32 minutes each, and we collectively took seven pages of analytic memos. For third-wave interviews, we selected eight participants, including several who had not responded to the second-wave interview requests. Five participants responded, none of whom had participated in the second wave. Third-wave interviews ranged from 15 to 20 minutes in length, and we collectively took six pages of analytic memos.

After the third wave of interviews, we met to sort our emergent codes into categories. Each author then created a visual diagram that represented the relationships among the categories and depicted their understanding of the process of participants’ music teacher identity development. We met again to present our diagrams, using abductive reasoning to “consider all possible theoretical explanations for the observed data . . . until arriving at the most plausible theoretical interpretation” (Charmaz, 2014, p. 200). After constructing a diagram representative of our collective understanding of the theory, we selected five participants to participate in theoretical sampling interviews. At this point, we also examined two work products per participant. At the beginning and end of the CURE, participants were asked to draw a visual representation of their music teacher identity. We examined their pre- and post-CURE visuals to see what aligned with, challenged, refined, or expanded our developing theory.

The fourth wave of interviews was for theoretical sampling. We selected five participants to interview by considering those who had contributed quotes or ideas that became major parts of our emerging theory. Once again, we selected participants who represented diverse backgrounds and musical experiences. The five participants selected for this wave received the diagram prior to the interview so that they could review it and prepare comments, questions, or concerns. In the interview, we presented and described our diagram to each participant, solicited feedback and reflections, and provided them with opportunities to explain how their experiences aligned or did not align with the diagram. We reached saturation when these interviews provided no new insights into the theory. Theoretical sampling interviews ranged from 23 to 28 minutes each, and we collectively took six pages of analytic memos. After theoretical sampling interviews were complete, we met to discuss the participants’ feedback, revise our diagram design, and create the theory.

We established trustworthiness through multiple strategies. The variety of data types and sources allowed us to search for confirming and disconfirming evidence (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). We used researcher triangulation to analyze data independently and compare and check findings (Patton, 2014). Participants provided feedback through member checks to ensure findings represented their experiences (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Prolonged engagement meant that we spent adequate time (2 years) collecting data and discussing participants’ music teacher identity development (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). We acknowledge the role that our assumptions and subjectivities played throughout the research processes. As instructors and graduate teaching assistants who worked closely with students throughout their undergraduate experience, our proximity to participants led to subjectivities that presented both assets and challenges. Forming professional relationships with participants led to an increase in trust and understanding, which led to deeper and more open conversations. However, working with participants outside of the research setting led to observations and encounters that were not part of the research process. We sought to hold ourselves accountable by acknowledging our biases and considering how they influenced the construction of the theory and continually engaged in reflexive memoing and collaborative data analysis (Charmaz, 2014).

Findings

We created a diagram (Figure 1) to illustrate the process of participants’ music teacher identity development in the first 2 years of their undergraduate teacher education program. There are three phases that are situated within the context of participants’ developing sense of self: (a) outer experiences and interactions, (b) inner reflective processes, and (c) actions based on their reflections. Outer experiences were social in nature and included teaching and leadership, curricular instruction, and teacher and peer interactions that led to inner experiences as participants reflected, compared, and reexamined their previous beliefs, feelings, and experiences. Inner reflections included various intrapersonal processes such as self-evaluations, comparisons, and reflections about feelings, perceptions, and priorities. Inner reflections became experiences in the next phase as they applied their new understandings by manifesting their teacher identity externally through actions and dispositions. This process was cyclical, with participants moving through each phase multiple times. Their newly manifested identities informed each subsequent pass through the cycle. Participants’ developing personal identities contextualized this continuous process and influenced their perspectives and understandings of their teaching experiences and interactions. In the following sections, we discuss the participants’ developing sense of self and its connection to themes within the three phases of the cycle (outer, inner, and inner to outer) and provide examples of how participants constructed their early music teacher identity development throughout each phase of the cycle.

Figure 1.

Early preservice music teacher identity development process.

Developing Sense of Self

Participants’ early music teacher identity development occurred within the context of their developing personal identities. They described how socialization impacted their personal identities:

What’s mainly resonated with me is the way your background shapes who you are. Even from your elementary education, things start to shape you and the way you are, and in middle school you get those real-life experiences that shape you for your life. Looking back on it, I see how certain things hit me and I ended up where I am today. (Lisa, Interview 1)

Participants noted specific aspects of their personal identities that impacted their music teacher identities, such as Kai, who said “When I came out, that was very scary. That is one of the leading factors in my teacher identity where I want to make it my goal to provide the safest environment I can.” Richard acknowledged that his identity as a White male afforded him privilege. Because he was accustomed to this privilege, he experienced difficulty understanding those from different backgrounds.

Sometimes I come off as a little cold and that could be considered a product of privilege. I’m a straight, White male, so sometimes it’s harder for me to empathize with things. I need to build my teacher personality to better account for other peoples’ experiences that I might fail to see because of my outside person personality. (Interview 2)

Some participants realized that certain teacher identities or constructs did not fit within their personal identity. Amy considered the “social life” she wanted to have and decided that “being a high school or college band director would not allow me to do what I necessarily want to do” (Interview 3). Amy altered her career choice and teacher identity based on her personal identity and desires for her life outside of her career.

Outer: Experience

Participants engaged in the world externally through experiences such as teaching, leadership, curricular instruction, and interactions, including the relationships and affirmations that occurred within those experiences. The social milieu, which was characterized by heightened issues of racial inequity and the COVID-19 pandemic, also shaped participants’ outer experiences.

Systemic racism was a substantial contemporary social issue that several participants noted. Lisa’s comments represented many of the participants’ statements:

Coming to terms with my goals as an educator in the heat of the Black Lives Matter movement and the racial tension and suppression going on in our country, I’ve been wanting to take the knowledge I’ve learned about appropriation and colonialism and realize that my teacher identity . . . has been leaning more towards activism as a teacher and wanting to change the education system and how white supremacy is still upheld within it. . . . I don’t want to be complacent because I know things are not equitable or equal among people. (Interview 3)

Many participants explained that instances of systemic racism and the Black Lives Matter movement helped them recognize the ways in which privilege, disparity, and social inequities surround issues of race. These experiences profoundly impacted participants by inspiring them to view activism as an important component of their developing teacher identity.

Students cited in-school teaching experiences, such as practicums associated with courses and community partnership programs, as helpful in identity development. When asked what experiences were most valuable, one participant answered, “[Teaching] has helped me find my identity more than just sitting down and hearing about how to teach. It helps you find what works and what doesn’t work” (Ann, Interview 3). Devoid of formal practicum teaching opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the participants found informal situations in which they could teach. These informal, out-of-school teaching experiences provided opportunities for them to identify as a teacher: “My roommate was trying to get the flute sound out, especially getting the octaves . . . so I pulled my flute out and we ended up getting it in a minute. . . . It was one of those wholesome moments” (Kai, Interview 2).

Some students, such as Ann, described peer teaching as beneficial: “The feedback that I get from all of the teachers and students in that class just helped me find what works and what doesn’t work . . . and find more of my teacher identity” (Interview 3). Others, such as Amy, described that peer teaching experiences did not provide authentic opportunities to act as a teacher: “[Peer teaching] can only give us so much because we’re teaching other musicians. . . . What most of us are most worried about is if we’re actually doing well or if our peers are just doing well because they’re musicians” (Interview 3). Because her students during that experience could accomplish the task with or without her help, she was not provided with an opportunity to be a teacher. Authentic in- and out-of-school teaching experiences provided meaningful opportunities for teacher identity development.

Key leadership experiences contributed to participants’ development. These included drum major, peer leader in community service activities, section leader, tutor, and manager at their part-time jobs. Eve said, “I recently just joined the NAfME state board and am Vice President, and I think that’s definitely helped me build connections with other educators within [state]” (Interview 2). Eve explained that her leadership positions helped her feel like she was part of the teaching community, promoting a sense of belonging and social identity.

Outer: Interact

While experiences and interactions were both interpersonal, we categorized phenomena where teaching, leadership, and learning were the primary outcome as “experiences” and phenomena where the relationships formed were the primary outcome as “interactions.” Avery summarized the importance of these relationship-driven interactions: “When building a music teacher identity, you interact with your students and your colleagues and the school environment influences you. So, the different rings of your environment impact you in the middle” (Interview 1). Meaningful interactions with students, teachers, and peers substantially influenced participants’ burgeoning identities. While reflecting after the teacher interview activity as part of the CURE, participants discussed relationships with former teachers, including past K–12 teachers and current music education professors. Eve shared: “Something personal for me is creating relationships. I was very close with my band directors” (Interview 2). Participants also noted the importance of their peers: “There are some phenomenal students and future educators here . . . an untapped, valuable resource that a lot of people don’t see” (Amy, Interview 3). Some participants even described former teachers’ identity tensions, such as Richard, who stated, “My orchestra director at home . . . I always felt like she was a performer who was stuck teaching, and that’s not what I wanted” (Interview 1).

Affirmation fueled participants’ identity development and came in two forms: verbal and as a result of feeling like a successful teacher. When asked what motivated their desire to be a teacher, participants responded with examples of these two types of affirmation: “[After teaching], if I don’t receive feedback or if I’m not told what I didn’t do correctly, I feel unmotivated because I don’t know what happened or how I can adjust. I love feedback. . . . It’s helpful and motivating. (Lisa, theoretical sampling interview). It was affirming for participants to receive feedback and see student growth as a result of their teaching. Affirmation is the external indication of acceptance into a social group—in this case, music teachers. Unconstructive feedback negatively impacted identity development:

[My high school teacher] let me teach those who were just starting out. She would have to cut in to correct what I was doing. I felt like she was criticizing me more than she should have been, so I stopped teaching after that and I didn’t know what I wanted to do once I finished high school. (Sophie, Interview 1)

When participants received constructive feedback or verbal affirmation or had a successful teaching experience with a student, the resulting efficacy allowed them to view themselves as a music teacher.

Inner: Reflect

Participants’ outer experiences and interactions led to inner reflections. These included reflecting on past teachers, comparing themselves to peers, self-evaluating, reflecting on feelings of success, prioritizing their goals as teachers, and allowing their perception of the teaching profession to evolve. Reflections occurred both formally and informally, in and out of class, and on their own or with their peers. Lisa noted that sometimes these reflections happened without conscious effort:

I am reflecting consistently, but in my brain I don’t categorize it as reflecting. It’s more like, “This happened today. I didn’t learn well from this method. I don’t want to use this method in the future because I’ve noticed a lot of students are confused.” I guess that really is reflection. (Theoretical sampling interview)

While reflecting on their past teachers, participants contemplated things they wanted to emulate and things they actively wanted to avoid adopting as part of their teacher identities:

It’s a mix of seeing what I don’t want to be like and what I do want to be like. I’ve had teachers where I haven’t appreciated the way they ran class because I didn’t feel successful as a student. On the flip side, I’ve had teachers that made me feel successful. (Laurence, Interview 3)

Participants’ desires to piece together aspects of different teachers to create their identity was consistent among participants as they reflected fairly equally on their K–12 and college professors.

In addition to reflecting on their past teachers, participants reflected on their peers. These tended to be comparative, for example, where Cassie compared her preparedness and confidence in her teaching ability with her peers’:

I’m glad I’m growing in the direction that I’m growing. . . . One of my friends is student teaching right now, and last semester she said, “There’s no way I’m going to be able to do this in a year. I don’t feel prepared. I don’t feel ready.” Even as a sophomore, I already don’t feel that way. So, I’m glad that I’m in a place where I have a year and a half before I’m regularly in front of students, but I’m confident in myself. (Interview 2)

Many participants discussed watching their peers teach in classes and other peer teaching and assessing their capability at the same point in the program. “It was a lot of imposter syndrome because I saw all these people who were really good, so I was like, ‘Do I deserve to be here? I don’t think I deserve to be here’” (Kai, Interview 1). Mason and Lisa clarified that the comparison was not always negative. “I compare myself to peers, but not in a competitive way necessarily” (Lisa, theoretical sampling interview). “Whenever I feel stuck, it’s like these people went through the same thing” (Mason, Interview 1). Seeing peers experiencing similar struggles and successes was comforting and sometimes inspirational.

Throughout our conversations, participants evaluated their teaching in several contexts, including peer teaching, private lessons, leadership positions in their high school ensembles, and teaching in a community partnership program. Ann shared, “Watching the videos back from my peer teaching episodes, I’m like, ‘Oh, I could’ve done that a lot better.’ You can tell when I’m nervous, so I can definitely work on that” (Interview 3). Self-evaluation also helped participants recognize their strengths as a teacher. Eve described this process as “realizing [both] my strengths and things I need to improve on” (Interview 2). Through self-evaluation, participants actively constructed their music teacher identity as they reflected on whether or not their actions were in alignment with the type of music teacher they wanted to be.

Participants also reflected on perceptions of success that motivated their continued growth and development, such as seeing their students’ progress and receiving a mentor’s positive feedback on their teaching. Ann described the former: “Seeing the progress [students] make in [the partnership] . . . it’s really rewarding because I helped her do that” (Interview 3). While Ann’s successful teaching experience motivated the development of her teacher identity, Mason described an unsuccessful teaching experience that motivated him to continue improving:

If I don’t feel happy in the moment, I think I was a bad teacher. . . . I’m motivated to say, “Okay, I know what to do or what not to do. I know what I can do better,” instead of saying, “Well, it didn’t work. I guess I suck” and stop. (Theoretical sampling interview)

Participants entered their teacher education programs with preconceived notions about teaching from a student perspective. As they matriculated through their programs and reflected on their experiences from the teacher’s perspective, their understanding of and beliefs about the profession changed. Amy realized that what she perceived as her high school band director’s job involved more work and time than what she saw or understood as a student. As she learned more about what the job entailed, she began to question whether or not it aligned with her personal needs and goals: “I came in with a set idea of what I thought I wanted to do and what I wanted to teach . . . and as I’ve progressed through the program, I have opened up to more opportunities” (Interview 3). Richard shifted away from a performance-oriented understanding of the profession toward one focused on facilitating student learning and growth:

Last time we talked, I was fresh in the music school. I was playing challenging and new things, so I was excited to share cool music with students whenever I got into the workforce. I think that’s changed a little bit since then because I’ve taken more classes and I understand education a little bit better. Right now, I’m in a class that’s making me think more about music education not being about the repertoire, so that’s the biggest change I’ve had since last time we talked. (Interview 2)

As participants reflected on their experiences in the early years of their teacher education programs, they realized that their initial perceptions about music teaching had evolved.

Using their current and previous experiences, participants identified their goals and informed their decisions about what matters most when teaching music:

I think of teacher identity as a couple of things: your goals as a teacher, what you want to do, and the reasons that you became a teacher. I think it can affect how you build and structure your lesson plans depending on what your goals are. So, your teacher identity could change the way that you structure lessons. (Richard, Interview 2)

Prioritizing goals impacted the specific teacher identity that they were developing. Many participants expressed that their highest priority was establishing positive relationships with their students:

I want to be the teacher with the safe space, the one that has a snack and a quarter in case someone forgot breakfast. . . . I know that students’ lives extend beyond school . . . that is one thing that I feel like a lot of teachers fail to see. (Kai, Interview 2)

Participants often created a “hierarchy” of goals and aspirations, some of which included creativity in the music classroom, student-centered teaching, trophies and constant success, and the difficulty of music performed.

If you’re going to be teaching concepts more, and that’s what you’re going to focus on as, like, your hierarchy . . . are you going to care more about personal relationships with your students? Them learning the music? Then there’s different schools who, like, they want to play grade six music, and that’s what they’re focused on. But then there’s other bands, where they care more about personal relationships. . . . So, I guess that’s an example of what I mean by the hierarchy—building your foundation of what you think is most important. (Eve, Interview 2)

Not all of these priorities were described as positive. Kai mentioned:

The concept of teacher identity, I believe, is defined not only by how you teach your class, but also what drives you to teach your class that way. If the improvement of the students is your main drive in your teaching . . . in a safe, warm environment, then, like, that’s your teacher identity. . . . Also, I know that there are other people whose drive revolves around trophies, or reminiscing on the past. And I feel like sometimes that is very telling of a teacher. (Interview 2)

Whether initiated by themselves, their peers, or as part of a class, participants’ reflections on their past experiences and interactions were paramount in their developing understanding of their teacher identities.

Inner to Outer: Manifest

Participants’ inner reflections manifested outwardly as they applied the conclusions of those reflections to their subsequent teaching and interactions. Some of these outer changes were intentional, and others occurred naturally. Participants demonstrated increased ownership of their teacher identities, changed their instructional and curricular decisions, and developed dispositions that they felt were conducive to successful teaching. These dispositions included various habits and qualities of their mind, behavior, and character.

Participants’ ownership of their identity as a music teacher was often the first way that their reflections manifested outwardly. Interactions with K–12 students through practicum, observations, and other teaching opportunities led to a better understanding of the interpersonal aspect of teaching:

[The elementary students at my practicum school] come from various backgrounds where they have to worry about finances, so I think coming into that setting and realizing where they’re coming from helped me build better relationships. So, I can build off of that. I really felt like a real teacher when I was there, instead of just thinking of myself as just a tutor. (Eve, Interview 2)

Reflecting on each new teaching experience helped them view themselves as teachers. Actual teaching, as opposed to talking about teaching, helped them realize their potential and gain confidence:

I think being able to teach just the percussion section, a smaller group of kids, was helpful in figuring out what they responded well to and what worked and what I was willing to do as a teacher and what I wasn’t willing to do as a teacher. (Amy, Interview 3)

Sara described how she made her curriculum more responsive to students’ desires for their music learning: “I’ve been able to incorporate things that maybe I wouldn’t have done my first semester of teaching private students. I’m catering more to what they want to do like improvisation and folk tunes” (Interview 3). We also noticed a shift in participants’ pronouns used to describe teachers throughout the course of the study. In early interviews, the students tended to use “they” when talking about teachers, while they tended more toward “I” and “we” in the later interviews.

As they reflected, participants constructed their understanding of how one’s dispositions impact their teaching. They often pieced together different dispositions from current or previous teacher models that they found to be conducive to their learning as a student: “All of my professors are so different, and that’s why I like it so much here. I get to take all of their teacher ways and incorporate it into my own” (Ann, Interview 3). Music education methods classes also provided space for experiences, feedback, and conversations about appropriate and effective dispositions in varying settings. When asked how her music teacher identity was developing, Ann stated that acquiring her chosen dispositions enabled her to identify as a teacher:

Through my education classes, I feel like I’ve grown more as a teacher. I know how to talk more professionally to students. . . . I had to shift my language a lot for talking to younger children in elementary school. I have to remember to simplify things. Just finding a different set of vocabulary, not using big words, explaining myself, and giving very clear directions. (Ann, Interview 3)

These manifestations described by our participants resulted in new applications in their interpersonal relationships in the classroom, increased confidence, differing pedagogical techniques, curricular change, and rhetoric change.

At a time in their lives that was rife with personal and professional change, these preservice teachers prioritized piecing together the conclusions drawn through reflection on their experiences and interactions in a way that guided their choices as teachers. They recognized that these choices then impacted their students’ success. Kai described this synthesis as building a “roadmap to success”:

A lot of what contributes to my developing teacher identity is just life in general. Life is the greatest teacher. . . . Your experiences, your mistakes, your successes, they compile all together into this one single moment. Everything just funnels. . . . Slowly but surely, you start learning how to navigate the labyrinth that is a child’s mind. It’s like the development of a roadmap to success. (Interview 2)

Kai explained that as he reflected on his various challenges and experiences, he was able to take what he learned and turn it into a plan that, if followed, would lead him toward success as a teacher. Similarly, Eve’s professor encouraged her to draw from her experiences because they might prove useful in preparing her to be a successful teacher: “She told us to soak in everything. . . . Every bit of information. Because it’s going to be very useful when you’re a teacher, so that’s what I want to do before I graduate” (Eve, Interview 2). Participants’ ownership of their identity as a teacher along with the construction of their teaching persona, dispositions, and building a “roadmap to success” led to outward manifestation of the conclusions of their inner reflections.

The shift in the third phase from inner to outer events resulted in the cycle beginning anew. Participants passed through this cycle of outer and inner phases many times throughout the duration of the study, with each pass informing the next. When we asked Eli how his music teacher identity was developing, he explained that the process was an ongoing and fluid cycle:

It’s going to take a lot more effort to get to the finish line, and I know that the finish line never really ends. Once I get the degree, there’s still always something I can develop. But it feels nice to be making such good headway, to be able to push the boundaries of my capabilities. It’s empowering to do that, hard to do, but I’m happy and energized moving forward. (Interview 2)

Ann acknowledged the lifelong process of developing a music teacher identity: “That definitely will change a lot over time. I think my teacher identity has changed a lot since I was a kid and wanted to be a teacher and now” (Interview 2). Participants recognized that their music teacher identity development would continue throughout their careers.

Discussion

Early preservice music teacher identity development was a combination of inner and outer experiences situated within a developing sense of themselves as individuals. Reflection and affirmation were central to these inner and outer experiences, respectively. Peers, students, teachers, and curriculum were parts of the process, as indicated previously by many scholars (Austin et al., 2012; Beijaard & Meijer, 2017; Haston & Russell, 2012; Kos, 2018; Olsen, 2008). Participants described an autonomous process of reflecting regularly on their development as music teachers and considered their personal progress and affirming experiences simultaneously with what, who, and how they wanted to be as music teachers.

Reflection was the key inner process for participants and included self-reflection and reflection on action (Schön, 1992). Beijaard and Meijer (2017) stated that “the kind of teacher one wishes to become, including the ways to learn this, comes first of all from inside” (p. 185), and participants’ inner work of analyzing themselves and others in multiple contexts supports this. Through self-reflection, individuals deepen their understanding of themselves, their values, and their reasons for how they think and feel. When analyzing the actions of self and others, they are particularly seeking ways to improve (Schön, 1992). Participants’ reflective processes were highly personal, ongoing, and individually instigated rather than an outcome or expectation of formal coursework. They thought regularly about how their past and present educators taught and how to, as Ann described, “take all of their teacher ways and incorporate” them into their burgeoning identities. Experiences outside of formal instruction, such as teaching individual lessons and informally helping a roommate, provided autonomy for exploring and understanding their teaching and their developing identity. Self-reflection and reflection on action were catalysts for building a personalized theory of their music teacher identity (Moon, 1999; Schön, 1992).

Affirming experiences and interactions were paramount to the manifestation of music teacher identity, consistent with previous findings (Austin et al., 2012; Ballantyne et al., 2012; Dabback, 2018). Being affirmed included positive experiences and constructive feedback and critique. Teachers and peers affirmed participants; affirmation also resulted from witnessing student success in which they played a part as a teacher. These interactions validated or supported the existence of their music teacher identity (Austin et al., 2012). Feedback as a critical component of music teacher identity development, including constructive critique, has not been highlighted by previous scholars; however, this was a key piece of participants’ experiences.

Participants filtered their music teacher identity development through the lens of their personal development as individuals in late adolescence. Natale-Abramo (2014) found that personal identity markers such as race, class, and sexuality contributed to music teacher identity construction, but discussions of music teacher identity as it develops within the context of late adolescence has not yet been explored. We looked, therefore, to developmental theories of late adolescence/early adulthood (ages 18–24), which is characterized by gradual increases in autonomy, particularly psychologically (State Adolescent Health Resources Center, n.d.). Individuals solidify their identities and gain clarity on their values, thereby expanding their abstract thinking skills as they grapple with ideas that are complex, symbolic, and not directly tied to a concrete experience (State Adolescent Health Resources Center, n.d.). For example, as Eve strove to understand their students’ diverse financial backgrounds, they engaged in empathic reflection and imagined how their new insights might change their intentions, interactions, and relationships. This is an example of an increasing ability to think abstractly and shows how this personal development process framed their professional identity development. Amy described their changing views about what they valued regarding the balance between their work and social lives. Participants could imagine their futures as teachers, such as Richard picturing themself as the “goofy and fun” teacher, and their rhetoric shifted from “they” to “I/we” when discussing teaching and teachers.

Of particular note is the social milieu of this study: the COVID-19 pandemic and heightened racial tensions around the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. Participants identified these issues, unprompted, when discussing aspects of their experiences and identity development. A practical impact of the pandemic included the need for participants to become agentic and find informal teaching experiences on their own while the racial issues prompted deeper thought and examination of their values. Bronfenbrenner (1979) posited the influence of these macrosystem and chronosystem events, which Avery also alluded to when they said that “the different rings of your environment impact you in the middle.” That these events occurred during a time of substantial personal development for participants is even more noteworthy and likely influenced findings. It underscores Olsen’s (2008) argument that teacher identity is made up of a “holistic circular mix” (p. 25) of experiences and interactions. Music teacher identity does not develop in a vacuum, nor is it resistant to social influences.

Although past scholars and participants have discussed performer and teacher identities or roles as points of tension in preservice music teacher preparation (e.g., Bouij, 1998), participants did not mention this at any time during the study. We would have expected it to be discussed by at least one participant if it were a key issue. This may be because we did not explicitly ask about it or perhaps that the culture of their music school led to a more holistic development of identity (Austin et al., 2012). It may also be that they had not been in their undergraduate program long enough for tension to build. Isbell (2015) indicated that existing research was unclear on how undergraduates integrate, or not, their performer and teacher identities as they progress in their preparation programs, and this study provides no further insight.

Suggestions for Practice and Research

We undertook this work to develop a grounded theory of early preservice music teacher identity development, and our roles as researchers and instructors may have presented limitations to the study. Pausing data collection and analysis due to the pandemic was also a limitation, although it provided an opportunity for us to explore identity development over a longer period. The social context of the pandemic had a substantial impact on teacher preparation programs and students’ experiences within them. Findings of the grounded theory also aligned in many ways with previous research, suggesting that this emergent theory could serve to launch future studies.

Based on the diagram, reflection and affirmation should be cornerstones of identity work in early preservice music teacher preparation. These participants relied more heavily on reflection than has been indicated by previous scholars or models, which may have been an outcome of the CURE activities. Incorporating identity work, perhaps through projects similar to the CURE, that centers on reflection and results in affirming experiences from the beginning of coursework may help students take ownership, become agentic, and make sense of themselves as educators (Beijaard & Meijer, 2017; Moon, 1999; Schön, 1992). Even beginning classes with simple questions such as “When did you feel like a teacher in the last week?” or “What interesting teaching and learning interaction have you had recently?” would provide an opportunity for inner work and reflection and make it a meaningful and continuous practice.

A consistent focus on reflection across the undergraduate program would be more transformational than a project in a single class. A reflective identity portfolio that preservice teachers keep throughout their preparation program and that music teacher educators engage with formatively might help manifest their teacher selves in deeply meaningful ways, particularly if it includes self-reflection and reflection on action (Schön, 1992) and is tied to their personal development and social contexts. These portfolios should be spaces of exploration and dialogue only, rather than artifacts showcasing their development to potential employers, so that preservice teachers feel less concern about self-representation, especially during a time of substantial personal development (Hallman, 2007). Creating space for reflection on how current events and other aspects of their ecosystems are shaping preservice teachers’ beliefs, values, and dispositions and how those relate to their unfolding teacher identity is also necessary.

Carefully curated experiences designed for affirmation should become a part of music teacher education programs. Immersing preservice teachers in authentic context learning activities from the very beginning of teacher preparation is strongly encouraged to provide affirming experiences, feedback, and opportunities to reflect and to build motivation for teaching (Parker et al., 2017). Robinson (2014) found that self-affirmation writing exercises with preservice teachers promoted persistence and “optimism in light of their vulnerability” (p. 34) as they learned to teach. Self-affirmation writing may help preservice music teachers in their decision-making, problem solving, and value setting as they reflect on their personal and professional lives (Robinson, 2014).

Autonomy, which naturally increases in late adolescence, is a critical aspect of teacher identity development that helps preservice teachers develop agency (Beijaard & Meijer, 2017; State Adolescent Health Resources Center, n.d.). The autonomy forced onto participants as a result of COVID-19 restrictions, during which they sought out any teaching experiences they could, seemed to contribute to their development. Music teacher educators should encourage pursuit of teaching experiences in which students have autonomy outside of preservice programs. Much like in-school and out-of-school music-making, music teacher educators must explicitly connect those experiences, encourage reflection, and help preservice teachers build their personal and professional agency.

The centrality of students’ personal development, particularly as individuals in a stage of late adolescence, was a striking finding. We have not found any scholarship examining late adolescence and music teacher identity development; however, its emergence in this study suggests that we need more attention to how this natural developmental stage intersects and interacts with traditional preservice music teachers’ identity development. Scholarship in this area might take multiple directions, such as examining participants’ understandings of their personal development and identities and their relationship to music teacher identity development, similar to previous scholars (Natale-Abramo, 2014; Pellegrino et al., 2021); identifying specific areas of late stage adolescence, such as growth in abstract thinking, and exploring it within the context of music teacher identity development; and using frameworks such as ecological systems theory to examine macrosystem and chronosystem events on music teacher identity development during late stage adolescence (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). We echo the suggestion by Natale-Abramo (2014) to continue interrogating “more of the sociopolitical factors that shape the construction of teacher identity” (p. 66), particularly as related to late adolescent development.

Beijaard and Meijer (2017) asserted that we need to acknowledge the personal aspects of becoming a teacher. Participants were in a key developmental stage that influenced aspects of their personal and professional identities. Self-reflection was a powerful way that they made sense of their identities through imagination and recognition of themselves as teachers. Informal music teaching experiences provided autonomy for trying out teaching and promoting reflection on action (Schön, 1992) and seemed as meaningful as formal experiences. To support music teacher identity development in early preservice music teachers, music teacher educators must embrace their students’ developmental stage as late adolescents, promote reflection on their beliefs and values as well as actions, engage them in affirming experiences and interactions, and encourage their autonomy.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iDs

Nicole K. Ramsey

Tami J. Draves

Notes

Author Biographies

Nicole K. Ramsey is assistant professor and director of music education at Drake University. Her research interests include professional development for preservice and in-service music educators, with emphases on leadership and the intersection of personal and occupational identity.

Heather Babb Graham is elementary music and modern band educator in Greensboro, North Carolina. Her research interests include popular musicians’ experiences in school music settings, music teacher identity development, and social justice in music education.

Tami J. Draves is professor of music education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her research interests include preservice and in-service music teacher preparation and support, with particular emphases on identity and individuals from populations that are marginalized in music.

Drew Brooks is assistant director of bands at Northwest Guilford High School. His research interests include social identity development through the music education experience, with a specific focus toward secondary and tertiary instrumental music contexts.

References

Austin

J. R.

Isbell

D. S.

Russell

J. A.

(2012). A multi-institution exploration of secondary socialization and occupational identity among undergraduate music majors. Psychology of Music, 40(1), 66–83. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735610381886

Ballantyne

Kerchner

J. L.

Aróstegui

J. L.

(2012). Developing music teacher identities: An international multi-site study. International Journal of Music Education, 30(3), 211–226. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761411433720

Beijaard

Meijer

P. C.

(2017). Developing the personal and professional in making a teacher identity. In Clandinin

Husu

(Eds.), The SAGE handbook of research on teacher education (pp. 177–192). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526402042.n10

Bernard

(2005). Making music, making selves. A call for reframing music teacher education. Action, Criticism, & Theory for Music Education, 4(3), 2–36.

Bouij

(1998). Swedish music teachers in training and professional life. International Journal of Music Education, 32, 24–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/025576149803200103

Brewer

W. D.

(2009). Conceptions of effective teaching and role-identity development among preservice music educators (Publication No. AAT 3361859) [Doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database.

Bronfenbrenner

(1979). The ecology of human development. Harvard University Press.

Charmaz

(2014). Constructing grounded theory (2nd ed.). Sage.

Corbin

J. M.

Strauss

A. L.

(2015). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (4th ed.). Sage.

10.

Dabback

(2018). A longitudinal perspective of early career music teachers: Contexts, interactions, and possible selves. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 27(2), 52–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/1057083717727268

11.

Draves

T. J.

(2014). Under construction: Undergraduates’ perceptions of their music teacher role-identities. Research Studies in Music Education, 36(2), 199–214. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X14547982

12.

Draves

T. J.

(2019). Teaching ambition realized: Paul’s beginning music teacher identity. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 29(1), 41–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/1057083719844211

13.

Goldie

S. B.

(2013). Music teacher identity development: The role of long-term, authentic teaching experience in the integration of multiple dimensions of identity (Publication No. 3729157) (Doctoral dissertation, University of Florida). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.

14.

Hallman

H. L.

(2007). Negotiating teacher identity: Exploring the use of electronic teaching portfolios with preservice English teachers. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(6), 474–485. https://doi.org/10.1598/JAAL.50.6.5

15.

Haston

Russell

J. A.

(2012). Turning into teachers: Influences of authentic context learning experiences on occupational identity development of preservice music teachers. Journal of Research in Music Education, 59(4), 369–392. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429411414716

16.

Isbell

D. S.

(2008). Musicians and teachers: The socialization and occupational identity of preservice music teachers. Journal of Research in Music Education, 56, 162–178. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429408322853

17.

Isbell

D. S.

(2015). The socialization of music teachers: A review of the literature. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 34(1), 5–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/8755123314547912

18.

Johnson

(2014). “Conducting is everywhere!” A case study of the development of pre-service music teacher occupational identity in a beginning conducting course. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 2(3), 118–128. https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v2i3.422

19.

Kos

R. P.

(2018). Becoming music teachers: Preservice music teachers’ early beliefs about music teaching and learning. Music Education Research, 20(5), 560–572. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2018.1484436

20.

Merriam

S. B.

Tisdell

E. J.

(2016). Qualitative design: A guide to design and implementation (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.

21.

Moon

J. A.

(1999). Reflection in learning and professional development: Theory and practice. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203822296

22.

Natale-Abramo

(2014). The construction of instrumental music teacher identity. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 202, 51–69. https://doi.org/10.5406/bulcouresmusedu.202.0051

23.

Olsen

(2008). How reasons for entry into the profession illuminate teacher identity development. Teacher Education Quarterly, 35(3), 23–40. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23478979

24.

Parker

E. C.

Bond

V. L.

Powell

S. R.

(2017). A grounded theory of preservice music educators’ lesson planning processes within field experience methods courses. Journal of Research in Music Education, 65(3), 287–308. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429417730035

25.

Patton

M. Q.

(2014). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (4th ed.). Sage.

26.

Pellegrino

(2019). Music teacher identity development. In Conway

C. M.

Pellegrino

Stanley

A. M.

West

(Eds.), The Oxford handbook of preservice music teacher education in the united states (pp. 268–293). Oxford. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190671402.013.13

27.

Pellegrino

Johnson

Wagoner

C. L.

Powell

S. R.

(2021). Music teacher resilience: Identity transitions during the early years of teaching. In Jenlink’s

P. M.

(Ed.), Understanding teacher identity: The complexities of professional identity as teacher (pp. 163–186). Rowman & Littlefield.

28.

Robinson

(2014). A case study of self-affirmations in teacher education. Journal of Invitational Theory and Practice, 20, 27–36. https://doi.org/10.26522/jitp.v20i.3734

29.

Russell

J. A.

(2012). The occupational identity of in-service secondary music educators: Formative interpersonal interactions and activities. Journal of Research in Music Education, 60(2), 145–165. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429412445208

30.

Saldaña

(2016). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (3rd ed). Sage.

31.

Schön

D. A.

(1992). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315237473

32.

State Adolescent Health Resources Center. (n.d.). Understanding adolescence: Seeing through a developmental lens. https://sahrc.umn.edu/sites/sahrc.umn.edu/files/2021-01/late_adol_stage-eng.pdf

33.

Tucker

O. G.

(2020). Supporting the development of agency in music teacher education. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 29(3), 24–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/1057083719885868

34.

Tucker

O. G.

Powell

S. R.

(2021). Values, agency, and identity in a music teacher education program. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 31(1), 23–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/10570837211030520

35.

Wagoner

C. L.

(2015). Measuring music teacher identity: Self-efficacy and commitment among music teachers. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, 205, 27–49. https://doi.org/10.5406/bulcouresmusedu.205.0027