Play-based and Creative Approach in Early Childhood Music Education: Hong Kong Teachers’ Self-Efficacy in Teaching Music

The arts have been identified as one the six major learning domains in early childhood education in Hong Kong; music is recognized as an important area of this domain (Curriculum Development Council, 2006). It is well documented that those teaching young children are often non-specialist music teachers (Vannatta-Hall, 2010) and, resultantly, lack confidence in teaching music as compared with leading work in other subject areas. The presenter is a specialist in early childhood music education. She has become acutely aware of this, and therefore developed a music pedagogy course for in-service early childhood music teachers in which a creative and play-based approach was adopted.

This study focused on the research question: What is the impact of a music pedagogy course on in-service teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching music to young children? Bandura’s self-efficacy theory (2006) was used a lens through which to explore the teachers’ views. Findings show a significant increase in teachers’ self-efficacy in adopting creative and play-based music approach. Due to the limited number of relevant study, the findings of this study have significant implications for music teacher educators, universities, and policymakers in Hong Kong and across the world.

藝術是香港幼兒教育的六大範疇之一，而音樂正是藝術範疇中非常重要的一部份；惟多項研究指出，現時大部份教師並非專業的音樂教師，於音樂方面的專業培訓不足，故往往對自己的音樂教學能力缺乏信心。講者作為幼兒音樂教育專家，將會探討音樂教學課程對在職幼兒教師在教授音樂時的自我效能(self-efficacy) 的影響，並分享針對此範疇而設計的遊戲和創意為本的教學法。