Team Teaching in Elementary Music Education

Abstract

unit. They have noted that the versatile generalists needed for its successful operation are in short supply and that usually their places have been taken by teachers whose knowledge and skill is largely confined to two or three major subjects. They have observed that supervisory programs and in-service courses have often failed to fill the gaps in their training because of the manifold problems involved. They have maintained that in many instances the outcome has been inadequate coverage of certain subjects within particular classrooms and little continuity in these subjects from year to year. The validity of these observations is nowhere more apparent than in the field of elementary music education. Chronic understaffing with regard to special teachers of music has meant that in many school systems the burden for day-to-day instruction in music has been delegated to the classroom teachers who are often the ones least equipped by nature and by training to handle this responsibility. Elaborate programs of supervision, consultation, and in-service teachertraining have been instituted to solve this problem. These measures have not been entirely successful because school administrators have been unrealistic in