(1. Okayama University, Japan; 2. Tottori College, Japan)

Abstract: The concept of “pedagogical content knowledge” (PCK) was introduced by L. S. Shulman. He specified 7 categories of professional knowledge required for teaching, and defined PCK as the “special amalgam of content and pedagogy that is uniquely the province of teachers, their own special form of professional understanding” (1987, p. 8) among them. Though some researchers have argued the existence of PCK, others have supported the notion that PCK is too general of a term and each of the 7 types of knowledge are integral. Furthermore, these frameworks have been used, expanded and challenged by a number of authors in the fields of mathematics, science, social studies, music, among others. Within music education, several researchers have investigated how PCK affects the transfer of instruction and preparation for teaching in a classroom setting. Ogawa and Murakami also examined the professional knowledge and skills of talented teachers, and proposed a transformative model in which PCK, SCK (Specialized Content Knowledge) and SSP (Selecting Strategies in Practice) were shown. The purpose of this study is to verify our model of organized professional music teaching knowledge. In study 1, 13 experienced music teachers in elementary schools were asked about their music knowledge, understanding and skills. In order to collect the data, a 26 item, 5-point Likert-type questionnaire was conducted. As a result of factor analysis (principal axis factoring with varimax rotation), PCK, SCK and SSP emerged as 3 factors. The majority of the teachers reported SCK (Mean = 4.4) and SSP (Mean = 4.5) were related to the core of professional music teaching strategies. In study 2, the responses of 42 university students in a pre-service teacher training course were gathered and compared before and after their teaching practice using the same survey form as Study 1 (adding “Are you able to”). There were significant differences between the before and after teaching practice via the Wilcoxon signed rank test (p < .05). All the students recognized the effectiveness obtained by the opportunities of practice. Some evaluated themselves more highly (73.4%) compared to before their practice, while others revealed an unsatisfactory level of detecting their lack of musical knowledge and skills (13.7%). The results of this study support our theoretical transformative model in which the 3 domains combine, and music experience in teaching practice is extremely beneficial for the development of pre-service teachers’ musical knowledge and skills. Music educators should help students organize their training period in order to guide the development of student competence.

Key words: pedagogical content knowledge, specialized content knowledge, selecting strategies in practice, music teacher education