Formação de professores de música na Argentina: concepções e modelos de formação docente

Abstract

This research is about musical teacher education in Argentina, aiming to understand the conceptions and the models of this kind schoolteachers preparation. It has four goals: to identify the characteristics of music teacher education in Argentina, based upon curriculum policies, teacher education programs, types of teacher education institutions and curriculum proposals; to identify teacher education models and music teacher education models based upon the specialized literature; to characterize three teacher education institutions with different profiles; and to analyze the conceptions and models of music teacher education in Argentina. The research is based upon studies on teacher education, curriculum policies and curriculum, and, more specially, the paradigms of teacher education (ZEICHNER, 1983), models of music teacher education (MATEIRO, 2010), and the concept of conservatory habitus (PEREIRA, 2013). Gainza (2011; 2013; 2015) and Carabetta (2008; 2014), among others, who have dealt with current issues of music education, especially in Latin America, have also contributed theoretically to this research. Data have been collected through official documents and pedagogical projects, three focus groups with students and 18 interviews with deans, chairs and teachers educators from Conservatorio Superior de Música Manuel de Falla, Universidad Nacional de La Plata and Escuela de Música Popular de Avellaneda. For data analysis, content analysis has been used. The results show that the music teacher education in Argentina takes place in university institutions and, mainly, in non-university institutions, such as the superior conservatories of music. The supply of Profesorados en Música has been concentrated in the province of Buenos Aires, being expressive the amount of profesorados focusing on music education, that is, those who prepare elementary school teachers. The main conceptions identified refer to the teacher as a social agent and the teacher education as reflexive and critical, with active participation and autonomy of the student teachers. Evidence of the conservatory habitus (PEREIRA, 2013) has been found in the teacher education programs analyzed through this research, such as the excessive use of European classical music; the tendency to privilege musical knowledge instead of focusing upon teaching knowledge; conflicts in the teacher-student relationship, due to the master-apprentice hierarchy; and a distance between what is learned in the teacher educational institutions and what the future teacher will find in the labor field. From the three models of music teacher education outlined by Mateiro (2010) and the analysis of the collected data, there has been the coexistence of two models: one that focuses upon the training of musicians (Profesorados in instruments, singing and other specialties) – and another that seeks the balance between pedagogical content and musical content (Profesorados in music education) called, in this research, as the “fourth model” or “music teacher training model”, because it aims at preparing teachers and the musicians in a balanced and integrated way, getting a “music teacher” profile. To contribute to reflections upon teacher education, through expanding music teacher education strategies, especially in Latin American countries, is one of the goals of this research we hope we have been able to achieve.