Students’ motivation to study music: The Finnish context

Abstract

This article reports the Finnish component of an international mapping exercise concentrating on students’ motivation to study music as compared to other school subjects. The study was based on expectancy-value theoretical framework, and the data was collected using a questionnaire. The questions focused on students’ competence beliefs, values and perceptions of task difficulty. A sample of 1654 students (grades 5—12) was taken from the Finnish elementary (lower and higher levels) and upper secondary schools. The questionnaire was sent to all Finnish schools, with the principals acting as gatekeepers. The data was generated at schools from all over Finland, and it may be considered representative. The results show that Finnish children like music education, although they do not consider it among the most valuable school subjects. Those students who learned music also outside school seemed to be more interested in all schools subjects than were other students.