Self-efficacy of future teachers of early and preschool education in the implementation of musical activities in kindergarten

Lidija Nikolić, Ana Bićanić

Faculty of Education, University of Josip Juraj Strossmayer in Osijek

Education for personal and professional development

Abstract

The successful implementation of a high-quality music education program in early childhood depends not only on musical and methodological competencies but to a large extent on the self-efficacy of the early and preschool education teachers in teaching music (Vanatta-Hall, 2010).

This study aims to determine the self-efficacy of students of early and preschool education in implementing musical activities in kindergarten.

A total of 248 undergraduate students of Early and preschool education at the Faculty of Education of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek were surveyed. For this study, the Questionnaire on self-efficacy in implementing musical activities in kindergarten for future early and preschool education teachers was designed. The adapted questionnaire Self-assessment of musical competencies was also used (Nikolić and Ercegovac-Jagnjić, 2024) in the research.

The results show that students of early and preschool education have a developed self-efficacy for musical activities in kindergarten, but not at a satisfactory level. Students have the highest level of self-efficacy in implementing singing, listening to music, and counting-out rhymes, while self-efficacy in implementing other musical activities is lower. Lower self-efficacy was also evident in independently designing all musical activities. Self-efficacy for musical activities in kindergarten was higher in students with prior musical experience. It is noted that self-efficacy increased with a year of study and was positively related to the level of self-assessed musical competencies (r=0.77).

The paper emphasizes the need for qualitative changes in the music education of future early and preschool education teachers and the need for further researching the factors of their self-efficacy in implementing musical activities in kindergarten.

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