Teacher opinion and appraisal of didactic music materials in early Childhood Education

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. This paper presents the most relevant results from a study conducted in the Department of Didactics and School Organization of the University of Santiago de Compostela exploring teachers´perceptions of didactic music materials elaborated for the purpose of facilitating teacher practice in early childhood education. METHOD. The descriptive study was carried out by administering an opinion questionnaire to a sample of 568 early childhood teachers in Galician schools. The elements analysed were the following: teacher training regarding music didactic materials, knowledge and use of materials, selection and elaboration of materials, amount of appropriate materials available and use of music didactic materials in school spaces. The study also included semi-structured interviews to complete the findings. RESULTS. The results highlight theneed to improve pre-service and in-service teacher training in relation to this subject, the fact that the economic interests of publishers and their proposals have an influence on the selection anduse of materials, and that resources are selected intuitively without the aid of evaluation guides.DISCUSSION. The article is relevant for the information provided regarding teacher perception of the materials used in their classroom. The study includes recommendations and potential measures to be taken by the institutions and professionals involved in the process of design, selection and use of materials based on the analysis and evaluation of the teachers that took part in this study.