Teachers’ Perspectives about Implementing ICT in Music Education

Abstract

This research was incited by the release of the Prep to Year 10 (P-10) Australian Curriculum which included the significant feature of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) both as an independent subject and as a subsection of each subject within the Australian Curriculum. This research focuses on the implementation of ICT in music education, which is one of the five subject areas within the Arts Curriculum. The purpose of this research was to investigate the lived experiences and perspectives of classroom music teachers throughout Queensland and to gain an insight into the organisational practices that positively and negatively influence the implementation of ICT in music education. Classroom music teachers were deliberately chosen to participate in this research due to their exclusive knowledge belonging to the specialist subject area of music education. The timing of this research occurred one year after the scheduled implementation of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts – music subject. This delay allowed a year for classroom music teachers to experience the curriculum and establish ideas and resources they require to deliver the curriculum. This mixed methods research was conducted using explanatory sequential mixed methods, which were used to gather music teachers’ perspectives regarding issues such as, but not limited to: availability of ICT resources, ICT support, teacher confidence, current teaching practices and the provision of professional development. Following the analysis of the quantitative survey data, a number of qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted to further investigate the identified themes, to provide a deeper understanding of the practical issues and ensure triangulation. The data revealed that classroom music teachers perceived their attempts to implement ICT in music education programs were significantly inhibited due to the lack of accessibility to adequate ICT resources, ICT funding and ICT support. These issues forced classroom music teachers to favour resources based on availability, reliability and familiarity which limited pedagogical methodologies to whole class learning activities, contrary to the development of ICT proficiencies stated in curriculum documents. Although classroom music teachers were held responsible and accountable for the delivery of the Australian Curriculum, they were subject to organisational practices and decision making by School Leadership within local schools. Local context decision making was found to significantly contribute to the inadequate supply of resources necessary to support the implementation of ICT in music education and directly determined an inequitable delivery of music education throughout Queensland.