Music Arts Education: The Role of In-Service Courses for Serving Teachers (original) (raw)

Music in-service courses for serving teachers in both primary and secondary schools are significant elements in the development of appropriate links between theory and practice in the provision of relevant twenty first century music arts education. Pre-service teacher programmes hardly satisfy the needs of trainees to effectively teach music by the time they complete their courses within three years of generalist education. Given other compounding factors like non examination status of music at the end of the primary education course, inadequate funding, limited facilities and funding, and insensitive school authorities, music education for all school going children does not receive the attention it deserves. The focus by schools on choral, percussion and traditional dance competitions is dysfunctional and a negation of the need for inclusive musical arts education as an element of a comprehensive education. Regular in-service courses can make teachers aware of trends and relevant other developments in child development theories, philosophy, and teaching methods that can assist in nurturing best practices which expose learner perceptions, concepts and skills from an early age, This article reports the experiences resulting from field work conducted in Norton where observations were made on primary teachers at music in-service workshops. The study takes a qualitative dimension where researchers used guided interview to learn about participants' experiences in schools as they taught music.