Storytelling is an exciting and powerful way of approaching education research that has the potential to explore the professional lives of educators in a meaningful way. Over time, I have gained inspiration from both hearing the professional stories of others and telling professional stories to others in many scenarios – for example, sharing stories with colleagues during informal reflective moments, and discussing various stories of the school classroom with student teachers. Through storytelling, attention is captured, fragments appear relatable, and human elements (experience, feeling, emotions, complexities) are prioritised (Caine et al., 2022; Clandinin, 2023; Smith & Hendricks, 2020).

In this blog post, I share the findings of a small-scale study that explored the professional lives of primary and secondary school music educators in England through the means of storytelling (Mariguddi, forthcoming). Eight participants took part in semi-structured online interviews. Participants were at various career stages, ranging from early career teachers to those who had very recently retired. A two-pronged approach was adopted for data analysis: narrative analysis (co-constructed stories, drawing upon the work of Silverman (2014) and Ollershaw and Creswell (2002); and thematic analysis (to generate key themes across the data, using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six steps).

‘Through storytelling, attention is captured, fragments appear relatable, and human elements (experience, feeling, emotions, complexities) are prioritised.’

I was struck by the generosity of the participants, in the giving of their time and the raw, often personal insight they shared with me about their professional lives. Analysing data required careful, sensitive navigation, with ethical considerations at the forefront of my mind. As an outcome of the research, eight individual stories were co-produced, detailing how various experiences have shaped the educators’ professional values and their hopes for the future of the discipline area.

Although each story was different and reflected individual identities, experiences and career stages, some commonalities arose that represent important matters in music education:

Opportunity

• The importance of having the opportunity to participate in a community of musicians/practitioners, both as a music learner and as a teacher.
• Having the opportunity to receive instrumental lessons that are affordable and sustainable.

Inclusivity and accessibility

• The personal impact that is often felt when music education is not inclusive or accessible, leading to feelings of exclusion and emotional distress.
• Student awareness of not being able to afford the cost of instrumental lessons, and a damaging discourse of ‘only those who can afford, can’.

Quality

• Pushing back against formal, traditional approaches to music education and the notion of Western classical traditions being valorised above others – which do not always constitute quality in music education.
• Student teacher education and subsequent teacher support was problematic, impeded by a lack of time, lack of financial investment, lack of teacher confidence (primary generalists), and mixed expectations of higher education institutions.

External control

• Music education was often not prioritised in national policy, and that had a backwash effect on how the subject was lacking value in some schools.
• Some educators had encountered redundancies and experienced conflict with management when trying to maintain the uniqueness of the subject area.

Although these themes might already sound familiar to some, issues and challenges remain unaddressed, implying that further action is required. Yet there were also reasons to celebrate: to celebrate the opportunities that the educators had provided for others and the thriving musical communities they had created within their settings; to celebrate the commitment that the educators demonstrated in striving to make music education more inclusive and accessible, and their challenging of perceived injustices throughout their professional lives.

Some were more hopeful than others for the future of music education, but increased value for the subject area, increased financial investment and enhanced career development opportunities were called for. There is a lot to be learned from the stories of others. In this case, key messages for music education were conveyed, but they remain intertwined with the messy complexities of humanity.

References

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Caine, V., Clandinin, D. J., & Lessard, S. (2022). Narrative inquiry: Philosophical roots. Bloomsbury Academic.

Clandinin, D. J. (2023). Engaging in narrative inquiry (2nd edn). Routledge.

Mariguddi, A. (forthcoming). The professional journeys of music teachers. In C. Philpott & G. Spruce (Eds.). Debates in music teaching (2nd edn). Routledge.

Ollershaw, J. A., & Creswell, J. W. (2002). Narrative research: A comparison of two restorying data analysis approaches. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(3), 329–347. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778004008003008

Silverman, D. (2014). Interpreting qualitative data (5th edn). SAGE.

Smith, T. D., & Hendricks, K. S. (2020). Narratives and reflections in music education. Springer.