Laurence, Katherine;
(2024)
A narrative study of veteran classroom music teachers’ professional learning.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
This study examines the professional learning of veteran school music teachers, based in English secondary schools, over the course of their careers. The research engaged three experienced music teachers in a narrative storytelling process over the course of an academic year. The analyses were co-constructed as part of an iterative meaning-making process between researcher and participant. Music teacher professional learning was examined in the participants’ career stories, contextualised against the historic backdrop of their education landscape. The narrative storytelling process stimulated and provoked critical reflection both in terms of their reflection in the past and from their current perspectives. Insights were gained into the three veteran music teachers’ acts of storytelling to communicate and make sense of moments and events in their careers, including the way that literary devices and metaphor potentially amplified, subjugated or obscured meaning. The research uncovers how common narratives from the wider music teaching community, such as professional isolation and subject distinctiveness, are rehearsed by music teachers, potentially to retreat from more difficult areas of their work. The data offer insights into the serendipitous and unplanned nature of professional learning, specifically the way in which non-formal sites of learning might be conceptualised as an alternative space for music specialist teachers to stimulate and address areas of their practice. The research also explores the informal relationships music teachers develop with others and the positive impact these can have in improving areas of their professional learning that they otherwise find difficult to resolve.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | A narrative study of veteran classroom music teachers’ professional learning |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2024. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Culture, Communication and Media |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10201543 |
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