engleski

Music teacher between his/her own introspection and pupils' reflection

In a post-modern society, the role of the teacher outgrows the role of a mere educator and is subordinated to the demands of an overall holistic development and progress of pupils. The teacher becomes an initiator and a leader of activities (Fullan, 2002, Torre and Ricchiardi, 2007), as well as an associate and a creative intermediary in pupils' education. His/her expertise, criticism, fairness and professionalism become important characteristics for intellectual, emotional and social development of the child (Pellerey, 2006, Kiper and Mischke, 2008). Since teachers' work is based on the skill of an effective teaching organization and a quality relationship with pupils (Murphy and Alexander, 2002), daily introspection and reflection are considered essential for the improvement of their own work and for their self-improvement. A reflective teacher, according to Nunan (1996), thinks about himself/herself and pupils, he/she is an attentive listener and reflects on what he/she has heard. He/She proposes activities and contents, innovates teaching, discusses and helps in finding appropriate solutions. Consequently, a reflective music teacher thinks about the qualities and values of the music he/she offers to pupils, about the songs he/she performs, about music competence of pupils and their wishes and needs, and he/she finds an optimal way of professional and methodical organization of music teaching. The present study aims to explore and discuss how pupils perceive their music teachers in primary schools, with regard to their teaching performance, educational style and marking methods, and to compare the data with music teachers' opinion about the same. This is an empirical study with a qualitative approach. The study comprised 148 fifth and eighth-grade pupils of four Croatian primary schools and 30 music teachers. The study was conducted during 2011, by surveying pupils and teachers. On questionnaires they encircled numbers from 1 to 5 on a Likert scale, in relation to the questions. Descriptive statistics and 2 test were used for data processing. The study results indicate statistically significant differences at the 5% level in the perception of teachers by fifth and eighth-grade pupils. The differences relate to attractiveness of teachers' lectures, classroom environment, marking and understanding pupils' problems. The study results regarding teachers' opinion about the same show that more than 80% of teachers think their lectures are interesting, classroom environment pleasant, and marking fair. A smaller percentage of teachers think they understand pupils' needs. This research reflects also the existing state of affairs. Pupils' opinions often do not correspond with teachers' thinking. Therefore, the question of reflection remains a primary challenge in the improvement of educational practice: the teacher who is evaluated in the context of his/her work and the results he/she achieves, and who listens to pupils' needs and wishes, will have an impact on the quality of the teaching process, which will be reflected in an increased activity and cooperation of pupils.

music teacher; introspection; reflection

nije evidentirano