Investigating trainee music teachers' beliefs on musical abilities and learning: a quantitative study

This paper reports a study investigating trainee teachers' beliefs about music abilities and learning. The study employed two questionnaires: the Music abilities beliefs questionnaire (MABQ) and the Music learning beliefs questionnaire (MLBQ) which were specially designed to reveal the beliefs of trainee teachers of primary and secondary schools (middle and high school). Internal consistency and factor structure of the two questionnaires were investigated through the application of Cronbach alphas and factor analysis techniques. For the MABQ, four factors were extracted, which were interpreted as study abilities, performance technical skills, discriminative abilities and interpretation. For the MLBQ, five factors were extracted, which were interpreted as personality, cognitive characteristics, musical factors, family and social factors, and physiological and body factors. Each factor from both questionnaires was subjected to ANOVA taking into consideration the influence of three concurrent variables, such as age, gender and grade taught (primary/secondary). Results revealed significant differences between primary and secondary trainee teachers in the way they consider music ability and learning. The results are discussed in relation to their potential impact on teacher education and implications for future research.