Evaluación de la pertinencia de la formación de profesores de música de educación media de la provincia de Valparaíso

Resumen

The improvement of teacher training in Chile has been a central issue in public policy for the last two decades. Although the results of teacher training have been investigated, in music education there are important gaps. This work is designed to contribute in these areas. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the relevance of the initial training of secondary school music teachers in Valparaíso, based on the needs they experience when they begin to practice their profession. For this purpose, the current school curriculum is analyzed to identify the main requirements it imposes on the teacher; two initial teacher training programs taught in Valparaíso are then analyzed, one of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV) and the other of the Universidad de Playa Ancha (UPLA); finally, we examine the perceptions of new music teachers, recently graduated from these institutions, about the relevance of the training received and the level of achievement of their educational practices. The article contextualizes music teacher training in Chile on the basis of the existing academic literature, and then explores the PUCV and UPLA training programs. In addition, the topic of the novice teacher is addressed as a necessary framework for understanding the reality of the teachers participating in the study. The methodology proposes a non-experimental, cross-sectional research design, which allows us to enter into the gap between the formative processes experienced by a music education student, and the needs posed by the school environment once he/she starts to teach. Eighteen interviews were conducted with a sample of nine novice teachers from each university. The method used for the analysis is constant comparison of concepts emerging from grounded theory. The information collected is complemented on the one hand by an analysis of the school curriculum from which the main skills required for its contextualized implementation can be extracted; and on the other by an analysis of the components of the two training programs (PUCV and UPLA): graduate profile, curriculum elements, practicum and didactic training, etc. Analysis of the information allows us to identify: 1) a set of requirements imposed on the teacher, derived from the school music curriculum and broken down into theoretical and conceptual disciplinary knowledge, procedural skills, and didactic skills; 2) points of convergence and divergence between the training provided by the two programs and the school curriculum that teachers must manage; 3) positive and negative perceptions of the interviewees of both programs comparing the initial teacher training received and the real needs of professional performance, recognizing strengths and weaknesses in the areas of general training, training in the musical specialty, professional and practical training, assessment of complementary non-curricular training activities, and pedagogical and disciplinary aspects not addressed in initial training; and 4) a perception of the level of achievement of their own educational practices in relation to the training received, in the areas of preparation for teaching, creation of environments conducive to learning, implementation of teaching, and the performance of professional responsibilities in the context of the early stages of incorporation into professional life, in which they were still engaged. Considering all the information gathered, the conclusions allow us to recognize solid, relevant areas, especially in the disciplinary field; while on the other hand, specific areas appear with an approach that also falls within the disciplinary field, but more especially in the pedagogical and didactic fields. Finally, some recommendations are offered that have emerged from the documentary and empirical information gathered in the process, as well as from the literature reviewed.