Early childhood preservice teachers' beliefs about music, developmentally appropriate practice, and the relationship between music and developmentally appropriate practice

The purpose of the study was to examine early childhood preservice teachers' beliefs about music, developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) and the relationship between music and DAP. A total of sixty-five early childhood preservice teachers participated in this study. The Music Beliefs Questionnaire, the Teacher Beliefs Scale, the teacher information questionnaire, and the music basic questionnaire were used to measure the teachers' beliefs about music and DAP. Follow-up interviews were implemented with three participants demonstrating stronger, incongruent, and weaker relationships between music and DAP.;This study found that preservice teachers have relatively strong beliefs about the importance of music, including the aesthetic, quality-of-life, and social-emotional benefits of music. The participants believed literacy is the most important subject in early childhood, while music was ranked fourth in importance. Teachers' level of confidence in their ability to implement music activities and support musical development varied. Most preservice teachers believed music teachers' role is more important than early childhood teachers' in supporting music development. There was a significant difference in music beliefs depending on teachers' confidence level. Higher levels of confidence indicated stronger beliefs about the importance of music. Depending on teachers' ability to read music notation, a significant difference was found. The teachers who were able to slightly read musical notation demonstrated more positive beliefs about the importance of music than the teachers who were not able to read musical notation.;This study suggests that early childhood preservice teachers possess relatively strong beliefs about the importance of using practices that have been identified as developmentally appropriate. This study also found that it is important to avoid those practices that have been identified as developmentally inappropriate for young children. There was a statistically significant difference between DAP and DIP beliefs based upon academic status. Preservice teachers who were further along in the teacher training program demonstrated stronger DAP beliefs and lower DIP beliefs than preservice teachers who had just begun the teacher training program. A statistically significant relationship between DAP and field experiences was identified. Teachers who experienced more field placements reported stronger beliefs about DAP.;Lastly, this study found a relationship between beliefs about music and DAP. This implies that a preservice teacher who possess positive beliefs about the importance of music demonstrates stronger beliefs about the importance of DAP. Three interviewees reporting various levels (e.g., stronger, incongruent, and weaker) of relationship between music and DAP reported different beliefs. Personal background, confidence level, teacher education, and professional experience influenced teachers' beliefs about music at different levels. The preservice teachers demonstrated diverse features of appropriate practice and inappropriate practice, including definitions, the general principles to implement DAP, and experiences related to DAP. The interview participants generally agreed that music is somewhat related to DAP; however, the teacher who possessed the stronger music beliefs thought that music should be part of DAP. The other teachers reported beliefs that music could be used in limited ways used within DAP.