This study analysed the content of 30 in-service primary school music teachers’ lesson plans for mobile music creation during a 5-week professional development course from 2019 to 2022 in Hong Kong. During the course, the teachers were taught by the researcher on how to use the mobile application GarageBand in their instructional design for classroom music teaching. Various mobile learning pedagogies were discussed during the course to facilitate listening, performing and creating in music teaching and learning. As a learning outcome of this course, the teachers were asked to upload their lesson plans to the Knowledge Transfer website to exchange ideas for further discussion and professional sharing with other in-service teachers from their respective schools. The purpose of this study was to provide an analysis of their teaching plans based on previously published research on mobile learning and motivation. This study aimed to a) deepen the understanding of music lessons in mobile music creation, and b) analysing the lesson plans and suggesting how different teaching strategies and approaches can be used in classroom teaching. Based on the results of the study, a pedagogical model is proposed as a reference point for knowledge exchange in the research and practice of music education. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges to education systems around the world, resulting in a ‘new normal’ for school music education in which teaching and learning can no longer rely only on conventional classroom practices. Concerns have also been raised over music teachers’ digital competencies, given the perceived importance of the use of technology within the new educational landscape. This article presents the results of a study that examined the challenges and experiences associated with the digital competencies of music teachers during the pandemic period. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with full-time music teachers (N = 18), all of whom taught music as a subject at mainstream primary or secondary schools in Hong Kong. The findings revealed challenges and upskilling of music teachers during the lockdown period, including the technological constraints imposed by the school and the online environment, how they made use of technology to teach music online, and the different ways they developed their digital competencies. Alongside with the catalyst effect of the pandemic that stimulated their upskilling, curriculum changes in teacher training programmes are necessary to better prepare music teachers for the digital transformation of music education and future challenges under the post-pandemic ‘new normal’ situation. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).

Although studying music at school can be an enriching and enjoyable experience, it is an unpopular choice for many Hong Kong senior secondary students. The purpose of this study was to examine the rationale behind the low enrolment of music as a Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) subject. A questionnaire was conducted among senior secondary school students (N = 121) studying music at the HKDSE level, collecting information about their learning experiences and their perceptions of the curriculum. The results provided evidence supporting the difficulties and struggles faced by the students, including degrees of familiarity with, and confidence about, subject matters of different musical cultures, which subjects were prioritised when it came to studying, and the amount of prior specialist knowledge needed as part of the decision-making process. Tensions were revealed between the driving forces behind curriculum change and the readiness of students to cope with these changes, along with perceptions of music as an elitist subject with low utilitarian value. Socio-cultural interventions, such as making music education more accessible for all, while simultaneously ensuring that stakeholders' voices are heard as part of the decolonisation process, remain fundamental challenges facing the curriculum. Copyright © 2022 Sage Publications.

Against the backdrop of the worldwide spread of COVID-19, this study aims to validate a model for coping with psychological distress and examine the effect of music listening, as a coping strategy, in moderating and lessening the effects of stressors on psychological distress. Based on 198 returned questionnaires from preservice kindergarten teachers, this study suggests students experienced such common mental health issues as stress, anxiety and depression due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Time pressures, general social mistreatment, academic alienation and developmental challenges were significant stressors predicting students' anxiety. Music listening played a prominent moderating role on the relationship between stressors and psychological wellbeing mental health/psychological distress. However, music with lyrics with a positive meaning may lessen the moderating effect of musical elements. This study suggests that music listening has a prominent moderating effect on health/psychological distress, while the implicit or explicit musical meaning of the music perceived by the audience determines its moderating effect. Copyright ©2021 SAGE Publications.

In this study, we investigated the factors affecting the motivation of studio-based instrumental learners in Hong Kong. We interviewed a total of 13 participants who learnt the violin and/or the piano. We analyzed the interview data by selective coding accordingly to the three basic needs in the conceptual framework of Basic Psychology Needs Theory, which is one of the mini-theories from Self-Determination Theory. The thematization of basic needs are (1) autonomy, (2) relatedness, and (3) competency. We found relatedness and competence were more related to our participants. This study contributes to the understanding of studio-based, learning-environment characteristics as well as specific motivation factors attributed to the distinctions between the violin and the piano learning environments in Hong Kong. We also discussed the issues of music learning in school and teacher's style of teaching practice. Copyright ©Sage Publications Ltd.

Responses from 309 randomly sampled Hong Kong primary school music teachers to the shortened version of the Chinese Teacher Stress Questionnaire were subjected to a descriptive percentage analysis, one-way ANOVA and independent t test. Obtained results identify five key stressors: "changing education policy of the government"; "being observed by colleague, student teachers, college tutors, inspectors or parents";"too much subject matter to teach"; "inclusive education"; and "additional administrative work". An explanation is offered identifying stressor responses being underpinned by either global or contextual issues, while others by a combination of both. Unlike other studies that found relations between stressors and respondents' individual characteristics, the results of this study uniquely display no significant statistical evidence to link music teachers' stressor response levels with age, teaching experience, education, specialization or teaching-related workload. The evidence here supports the view that stressors are neutral and reported stressor response levels reflect global or contextual factors which can be intensified by a combination of both.
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