Teachers researching singing: contexts, conundrums, and contributions

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper considers the value and purpose of music teachers engaging in classroom research. This is placed in the context of current interest in evidence-based practice, the unstable place of music in the English school curriculum, and in particular the teaching of singing. While singing and its pedagogy and place in the music educational order have attracted the attention of researchers for the past 100 years, there is little known about the ways in which teachers seek to better understand and improve their teaching of singing. We examine the research of four teachers in the early stages of their professional development, and identify five ways in which the teacher-as-researcher may be understood: as a scholar; as a critical voice; as a creator of a specific conception of validity; as an agent of change; and as an extended professional.