Music Education Achievement as a Predictor for Creative Music Teaching by Student Teachers

The purpose of the study was to determine significant predictors for creative music teaching by student teachers among selected variables, i.e. music education achievement, formal musical experience, informal musical experience, teaching experience, and gender. Participants were 19 first-year music education students (6 males, 13 females) attending a university in Sydney, Australia. Their music education achievement data were obtained from their final grades for a music education course, which emphasized creativity in developing skills and knowledge for primary music teaching methods. Questionnaires for formal and informal musical experiences and teaching experience were administered to the student teachers. Creativity in their music teaching was assessed through three expert judges evaluations of creativity using three criteria based on a review of literature : 1) original teaching approaches (e.g. using analogies to explain concepts, making learning interesting and fun, using visual imagery for sounds), 2) music skills, and 3) teaching skills. The results showed that the student teachers' music education achievement was the single predictor for creative music teaching among the selected variables. The result suggests that student teachers can be trained to teach music creatively. The finding has an important implication for music teacher educators who train pre-service teachers.