An Examination of Social Intelligence Development in Preservice Music Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if preservice music educators specifically develop social intelligence during their student teaching. Sixty-six undergraduate senior music education students were administered the Interpersonal Perception Task–15 immediately prior to and directly after the completion of their 15-week student teaching placements. Additionally, participants were asked to list the top three skills they felt they had developed and/or improved on the most during their student teaching. Results of a Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test indicated no significant differences between the pre– and post–student teaching Interpersonal Perception Task–15 scores. From a total of 198 comments, 53% of skills developed and/or improved on the most during the student teaching were nonsocial skills and 47% were social skills. Additionally, 48.5% of the responses included Teaching Skills, 33.3% involved Personal Skills, and 18.2% were Musical Skills. Further breakdown of comments revealed the most frequently listed skills were “Classroom management/Discipline,” “Lesson planning/Preparation,” “Pacing,” “Communication,” and “Ear training/Listening skills,” in that order.