What is it about?
In this study, I replicated and extended Madsen and Kelly’s (2002) work to explore how students’ idealizations of their future teacher identities may relate to aspects of their initial decisions to pursue a career as a music teacher. The critical role of exemplary music educators and mastery experiences predominated in the decision to pursue a music teaching career. Participants tended to idealize their future selves as competent, welcoming, and motivating teachers. Ultimately, the decision to become a music teacher was based largely on emotions: feelings of joy, connectedness, and an ethic of care.
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Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash
Why is it important?
To the extent that music education stakeholders know how and why music education majors decide to pursue a teaching career and how they envision their ideal futures, they will be better equipped to create conditions that enable students to view teaching as a viable career path and seriously consider it.
Perspectives
Completing this project was a great pleasure! Many thanks to the students who participated and the instructors who facilitated data collection. I hope this article helps anyone invested in the future of PreK-12 music education envision more effective ways to recruit and retain passionate teachers.
Josef Hanson
University of Memphis
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Recollections of First Wanting to Become a Music Teacher and Projections for the Future: A Replication With Extension, Journal of Music Teacher Education, October 2025, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/10570837251379481.
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