Enhancing Primary School Student Teachers’ Psychological Ownership in Teaching Music

Abstract

Despite the recent growing research interest in psychological ownership (PO) in various organisations, research on PO in the educational sciences remains scarce. This study attempts to fill this gap in the context of primary school teacher education. In many countries, e.g. Australia, England, Finland, Spain and Wales, primary school teachers as ‘generalists’ are supposed to teach various subjects including music. Although primary school teachers cannot be high-level experts in every subject, they should feel sufficient PO towards these subjects. The impacts of musical experiences in early childhood modify student teachers’ attitudes towards teaching music. This study focused on one intervention carried out in a music course under a Finnish primary school teacher education programme. Focusing on the students’ feelings of PO towards teaching music, the study found that 18 student teachers increased their PO towards teaching music while 19 maintained a low PO level. The strength of PO seemed connected to how the teacher educator organised the music learning environment, including the pedagogics. Additionally, student teachers’ musical background seemed to affect PO to some extent. The implications are useful for developing primary school teachers’ education, especially in music and in other arts and skills subjects. The findings may also be applicable to other primary education subjects.