Connecting the Social and the Musical: A Longitudinal Study of Swedish Preservice Music Teachers’ Social Positionings

Abstract

In this article, we explore identity construction in specialist music teacher education. In this longitudinal study, we followed 11 preservice music teachers through their education for five years, 2016 to 2021, in a music teacher training program directed toward upper secondary schools in Sweden. For decades, music education researchers have identified tension between the music teacher and musician identities. This tension is today challenged by critical thinking concerning the rapid societal and cultural changes of late modern society and by the need to take social responsibility for music education in a broader context. The data for this report comprise 11 journal entries (designated “personal reflections” and written by each participant in their first year) and five focus group interviews, produced in three steps over five years. Throughout the data production, “past,” “present,” and “future” served as keywords. Content analysis focused on identity constructions was conducted using the concepts of social positioning and music identity. The findings show how the students gradually shifted their social positioning from being cultural bearers in local society to being music specialists, aiming to teach skilled and motivated young people. However, this gradual change was not linear but was multilayered, complex, and contradictory.

Researchers investigating music teacher education have for many years suggested that there is a general tension concerning constructions of professional identity, that is, the tension between an identity as a music teacher and an identity as a musician (Ballantyne et al., 2012; Beijaard et al., 2004; Bouij, 1998; Isbell, 2008). We also know from previous research that music teacher education institutions reproduce values, beliefs, and practices (Väkevä et al., 2017). In light of this extensive research, in this article, we aim to enhance and update our understanding of the complex processes involved in developing the music teacher’s identity. In times of societal challenges, it is important to discuss and outline a contemporary and sustainable music teacher education that recognizes students’ view of themselves as prospective music teachers. In the Nordic countries, as elsewhere, change in music teacher education has been discussed in order to provide a strong foundation for fundamental democratic values of society (Christophersen et al., 2023).

In line with this current discussion, this article explores identity constructions in Swedish specialist music teacher education. In Sweden, a music teacher degree can be earned at universities, teacher colleges, and music academies. Instrumental and theoretical skills and teaching practice are included in the specialist music teacher programs. In addition, knowledge in general education is mandatory for all students wishing to attain a teaching degree in Sweden. Our theoretical point of departure is that individuals are constituted via discursive practices that serve as resources with which individuals negotiate new social positions. The following question is posed: How do specialist preservice music teachers in Sweden position themselves as future music teachers over a period of 5 years?

A completed longitudinal case study (Merriam, 1998) exploring music teacher students’ identity constructions in a broad sense underpins the analysis. In this study, we, as researchers, have been following preservice music teachers throughout their education, for 5 years, from their second to last (10th) semesters. The data, 11 journal entries formed as personal reflection notes and written by the individual students in Year 1 (addressed to themselves at the end of Year 5) and five focus group interviews in later years, were produced between 2016 and 2021 in a music teacher training program directed toward upper secondary schools in Sweden.

Previous Research

Identity might be a difficult concept to grasp and define, but most scholars agree that music teacher identity is influenced by various personal and contextual factors and is shaped by social interactions (Hargreaves et al., 2002). Based on an overview of research in the field in recent decades, it is clear and uncontested in almost every study that preservice music teachers tend to view themselves as either musicians or teachers and usually first as musicians and second as music teachers (Isbell, 2008; Pellegrino, 2009; Roberts 2007; Woodford, 2002). This dichotomy is often articulated as a conflict that must be resolved (Bernard, 2007; Dawe, 2007). Some scholars advocate paying more attention to the development of the profession as comprising educators (Ballantyne et al., 2012). Others advocate strengthening the musician identity, arguing that musical knowledge and skills build credibility in the classroom (Bernard, 2005; Pellegrino, 2015). Still other researchers advocate an intermediate position (Bouij, 1998), saying that the musician–teacher dichotomy limits our understanding of music teacher identity. Accordingly, Pellegrino (2009) argued that music-making outside and inside the classroom helps form an identity that could be described as that of a music-making music teacher. Striving for balance between the two identities has also been proposed (Dolloff, 2007; Regelski, 2007; Roberts, 1991). Powell and Parker (2017) cited examples of how different ways of balancing or finding an intermediate way could be handled in music teacher education. Constant dialogues and critical reflections on the teacher identity in general are here presented as important.

These two identities, the teacher and the musician, are also viewed as two complementary subidentities, both suggested to be useful in the music classroom. In line with this, Houvinen and Frostenson Lööv (2021) argued for the importance of building music teacher students’ ability to incorporate multiple professional music teacher identities because identities are strongly situated and context dependent. Houvinen and Frostenson Lööv emphasized a flexible music teacher identity, incorporating the potential to move between various subject positions through multi-instrumentalism, a kind of musical versatility and polymusicality incorporating multiple musical traditions or genres: “In particular, multi-instrumentalism provides possible avenues for inclusive models of evolving, creative musicianship that may be fruitfully combined by being a teacher” (Houvinen & Frostenson Lööv, 2021, p. 398). The connection between preservice music teachers’ identity and specific musical preferences recurs in previous research. Kenny’s (2017) study of preservice teachers’ first engagement with music education shows that working with creative, collaborative group music-making experiences in teacher training might challenge the students’ preconceived ideas of teaching music. By experiencing musical elements in different ways, using different instruments, songs, dance, actions, and so on, the students reshaped their views of what music education could or should be. Correspondingly, a study based on comparison of preservice music teachers’ identities in Singapore and the United States (Randles & Tan, 2019) demonstrated that students in both countries based their music teacher identity on musical skills. However, whereas music students in Singapore based their teacher identity on creativity and popular music, U.S. students related their identity to the traditional instrumental, choral, and orchestral courses offered in teacher education.

Preservice music teachers’ identity has also been viewed and explored as emerging through an ongoing process. In one of few relevant studies, Killian et al. (2013) examined preservice teachers’ concerns—before and after student teaching—over 5 years. Their results indicated that both groups had the same concerns regarding applying knowledge, discipline, the professional role, and confidence. The study was not focused on music teachers’ social positionings, but interestingly, the students’ reflections on their teacher/professional role did not vary significantly. Kos (2018) studied preservice music teachers’ early beliefs about music teachers and learning in relation to identity, specifically concerning their initial music education coursework. The results indicated that most students in the study used language showing that they identified as musicians. In addition, some of the identities were considered rather problematic, from the researcher’s perspective, due to their unrealistic views of teaching music at school. In the conclusion, Kos highlighted the importance of having students articulate their beliefs at the beginning of their education because it might be difficult to change those later on. Another study (Beltman et al., 2015), in which beginning preservice music teachers’ drawings of themselves as future music teachers were used as data, showed that they identified themselves as confident prospective music teachers. The researchers concluded that there is a need in the initial courses to identify teaching dilemmas and challenges while maintaining the students’ positive approach. However, researchers have noted that students’ professional identities change and develop before and beyond teacher education (Ballantyne et al., 2012), advocating the need to discuss lifelong perspectives on an emerging music teacher identity (Ling Chua & Welch, 2021).

Several studies, mostly from the Nordic countries, have examined institutional discourses in the context of music teacher education (Borgström Källén, 2021; Georgii-Hemming & Westvall, 2010; Lindgren & Ericsson, 2013; Lindgren et al., 2021). Although these studies do not explicitly treat music students’ teacher identity, the institutional context is important to recall when exploring music teacher students’ identity. One example of this context is admission tests to music teacher education in Sweden, considered as discursive gatekeepers excluding applicants who do not fit the institutional culture (Sandberg Jurström et al., 2022). This is in line with Nordic research discussing issues of the hard-to-challenge traditions governing higher music education institutions (Angelo et al., 2021). The blending of different identities and perceptions in music teacher education and increasing focus on agency (Onsrud et al., 2022) seem to be important when facilitating preservice music teachers’ identity development. Researchers argue that music teacher education should fulfill the goal of producing well-educated music teachers, prepared not only to handle curricular changes but also to understand their societal role and view the social responsibility of music education from a wider perspective (Christophersen et al., 2023). In summary, although researchers have investigated music teacher identity from varied perspectives, more research is needed to understand the social roles that music teachers assume.

Theoretical Framework

Hargreaves et al. (2002) proposed a definition of “musical identity” distinguishing between “identities in music” (IIM) and “music in identities” (MII). IIM concerns those aspects of musical identity that are constructed as established and labeled social positions, such as music teacher, musician, composer, and conductor. MII instead refers to how people relate to music within their overall self-identities. Thus, in MII, music is seen as something that comes along with other equally or more important aspects of life, whereas IIM is seen as having music as a hub around which life circles. Hargreaves et al. argued that IIM is reinforced by musical institutions and education at all levels because it forms a crucial part of the self-concept of professional musicians and music teachers. Furthermore, they stressed that IIM is not necessarily linked to proficiency in music, but it is connected to social influences such as educational contexts.

This twofold definition of musical identity has been useful for research on music identity over past decades. However, as other aspects of musical identity have come to the fore since 2002, the concept has been further developed and broadened (Hargreaves et al., 2017). According to Hargreaves et al. (2017), a developed twofold concept should include music identity as “performative” and “social,” as representing something that we do rather than something that we have. Hallam (2017), using Hargreaves et al. as a starting point, stressed that people construct new musical identities as they make musical progress by regenerating and reconstructing earlier musical selves. Hallam claimed that a range of influences underlies changes in musical identity, influences such as friends, family, and the educational and cultural environments. Change in musical identity can, for instance, occur when someone starts a music education. Hallam argued that “pursuing a career in music is associated with the renegotiation of musical identities” (p. 485). Higher education music programs are thus associated with the renegotiation of musical identities. Furthermore, Hallam argued that music teachers live in a challenging time because music is available to everyone, music is undergoing great technological change, and children and youths have a wider range of musical preferences than in the past. These aspects could probably influence teachers’ musical identities over time.

For a deeper understanding of preservice music students’ identity in music, the concept of “social positioning” (Davies & Harré, 1990) serves as a theoretical framework. Musical identity is accordingly understood not only as performative and social (Hargreaves et al., 2017) but also as a discursive practice (Davies & Harré, 1990). According to Davies and Harré (1990), we are all constituted and reconstituted by the diverse discursive practices in which we engage. Consequently, one’s identity is perpetually in flux depending on the social positions made available within these discursive practices. Furthermore, Davies and Harré emphasized that social positioning is not necessarily intentional: “One lives one’s life in terms of one’s ongoingly produced self, whoever might be responsible for its production” (p. 48). The formation of self is thus often constructed as multiple and contradictory social positionings. The focus is on how discursive practices constitute individuals in certain ways while simultaneously working as a resource through which individuals negotiate new social positions.

Method

In alignment with the longitudinal case study (Merriam, 1998) underpinning this article, we followed 11 preservice music teachers through their specialist music teacher education for 5 years, from the students’ second (first semester in music) to last (10th) semesters. The data were produced between 2016 and 2021 in a music teacher training program directed toward upper secondary schools in Sweden. All 29 students who started in 2016 were invited to participate in the study, and 11 of them both accepted the invitation and participated for the entire study period of 5 years. The data production occurred in three steps: (a) 11 personal reflective notes written individually by the students in Year 1, (b) two focus group interviews conducted in Year 3 with the participants divided into two groups, and (c) three focus group interviews conducted at the end of Year 5 in which the first part of each focus group interview focused on the participants’ personal reflections from Year 1 and the second part focused on the participants’ views of their future career. The choice of focus group instead of individual interviews in Years 3 and 5 relates to our theoretical framework, in which discourses and social positionings are produced, reproduced, and manifested in interaction with peers. Throughout the data production, “past,” “present,” and “future” served as keywords. These particular keywords were used to direct attention during data production toward students’ social positionings in their background, present situation, and future career. The keywords helped the students structure their writing when they wrote their personal reflective notes in Year 1, and they were useful for us when moderating the focus group interviews in Years 3 and 5.

As a first step, during the participants’ second semester, each student wrote personal reflective notes individually. The writings were intended to be “letters to themselves,” which the students reread and reflected on 5 years later. The participants were instructed to focus on their musical background (the past), their first year as a student music teacher (the present), and their expectations of the future as a music teacher (the future). In this way these “letters” served as first-year data, produced separately by each of the 11 participants. The letters were approximately two full pages each (font size 11, single spacing). The purpose of having the participants write letters to themselves instead of interviewing them was twofold: first, to solicit their views as free of peer and teacher influence as possible and second, to enable participants, from a 5-year perspective, to reflect on what they thought about their future professional role in Year 1.

Halfway through their education, the second data-production step was conducted, consisting of two focus group interviews with five and six participants, respectively. The themes that the moderators (the two researchers) navigated from were based on the keywords mentioned earlier: the past, present, and future. When the participants had only a few days left in their last (10th) semester, the third step was conducted. In the first part of this twofold step, the students reread their personal reflections (letters to themselves) from Year 1. Shortly after they had read these letters, three focus group interviews were conducted in which the participants jointly reflected on and discussed what they had written in their first year. On this occasion, the students were divided into two groups of four and one group of three. As the second part of the third step, the three focus groups changed their focus, although the group compositions were the same as in the first part, and the students were asked to reflect on the future from their present position. The focus group interviews in both Years 3 and 5 lasted approximately 90 to 120 minutes each and were conducted at the university where the students were studying. The present authors facilitated and moderated on each occasion, and the keywords (i.e., past, present, and future) served as themes for the group discussions. Besides the keywords, identity constructions (Hargreaves et al., 2017) and social positionings (Davies & Harré, 1990) were themes guiding the moderators of the focus group interviews.

The personal reflective notes and the focus groups represent different types of data: The former were individually written by the students, and the latter involved interactions between the participating students. In the analysis, the personal reflections served as a starting point for analyzing the formation of the music teacher identity, consisting of the notions, ideas, and positions that each student brought to music teacher education. The focus groups were considered subsequent stages, in which the students interactively positioned themselves and were positioned by others in discursive practices. Their positions were constructed in relation to their future careers as teachers. Music teacher identities, in both the personal reflective notes and the focus groups, were analyzed as performative and in flux, characterized by contradictions and complex overlaps.

To enhance readability, the quotations have been edited to remove repetition and eliminate vocal sounds like “ah” and “eh.” Occasionally, the word order has been modified to facilitate the translation of colloquial Swedish expressions into English. Certain Swedish phrases and idioms have also been replaced with other ways of conveying the same meaning to enable idiomatic translation from Swedish to English.

Thematic Content Analysis

We have conducted a thematic content analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022) focusing on the concept of social positioning (Davies & Harré, 1990). The analysis was initially designed as a longitudinal one-step process comprising coding, categorizing, and thematizing. However, to meet the study’s objective, we had to expand the number of analytical steps to a three-step analysis, as follows. First, we started, as mentioned, with a longitudinal one-step approach in which we expected linear and separate impacts from Years 1, 3, and 5. Instead, we found complicated patterns that overlapped between the years. Although we identified clear analytical categories, they could not be assigned to any specific years of the participants’ education. In Step 2, due to the lack of a distinct timeline, we interrogated our notions as to the significance of the timeline in our material. The timeline was blurry, contradictory, and difficult to grasp simply from a longitudinal perspective. To proceed, despite the difficulties, we chose to analyze the material in its entirety, that is, without taking the three parts (years) in the predesigned timeline into account. The focus became the students’ social positions concerning their upcoming careers as music teachers regardless of which year the data represented. When coding the data in Step 2, we identified categories of codes that were more frequent than others. These categories were labeled as different themes, specifying the socially constructed positions they captured. According to Braun and Clarke (2022), the names of themes are crucial because they serve as mini-abstracts conveying the findings they summarize. Given this, it is important to stress that the labels of the themes in the findings do not point to preexisting fixed or static positions; instead, they were constructed during the study as performative and discursive. Naming the themes as characters with specific missions is a methodological means to help the reader understand our interpretation of the data findings. In Step 3, in which the social positioning themes were determined at collective levels, we returned to the longitudinal timeline, asking ourselves the following analytical questions: What overarching social positioning themes are evident in the data? How are the identified social positions placed on a linear timeline? Which ones are floating, and which are constant? Are there any significant identified patterns that could be related to a longitudinal timeline? After posing these questions in this final step, it became possible to create a longitudinal timeline. However, the timeline constructed in Step 3 was not linear but revealed contradictory, overlapping, and complex patterns. Finally, also in Step 3, the findings were viewed in relation to the concept of musical identity (Hargreaves et al., 2017).

Ethical Considerations

Regarding the empirical material underpinning this article, the participants’ data have been handled in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation, applied throughout the European Union to protect individuals’ fundamental rights and freedoms, particularly their right to protection of their personal data. We have also complied with The Swedish Research Council’s (2017) advice regarding ethical considerations (good research practice). After the 11 participants had been informed, orally and in writing, about the study’s objective (i.e., to explore how preservice music teacher students view themselves, from a longitudinal perspective, as future music educators), the dissemination plans, the participants’ right to remain unidentifiable as individuals, and their right to discontinue participation whenever they wanted to without any explanation, they all gave written informed consents. No sensitive personal data, for example, about an individual’s religion, political opinions, sexuality, race, or ability/disability, were handled in this study. To ensure the anonymity of the informants, their names have been replaced with capital letters in the findings section, ranging from A to K. Besides the aforementioned ethical considerations, it was also important to consider the risk of bias. Because we are currently music educators in Swedish higher music education and former music teachers in schools, we have considerable experience of teaching music. To address the risk of letting our own values and norms guide the data analysis, we have, to the extent possible, tried to bracket out our own experiences and expectations. We constantly asked whether a given finding could indeed be seen in the empirical material or whether it was something emerging from our personal bias. We have also presented preliminary analyses in music education research seminars and conferences in Scandinavia to get input on our interpretations.

Findings

Students’ Social Identity Positionings in Music Teacher Education

The findings are divided into three parts connected to a longitudinal timeline, headed “Year 1,” “Year 3,” and “Year 5.” The most frequently articulated social identity positions are presented, labeled “cultural bearer,” “social worker,” “life coach,” “(nervous) specialist,” “realist,” “musician,” and “playing teacher.” These identity positions are not to be seen as tied to specific individuals; rather, they are mixed within each participant and in constant dialogue with discursive practices constituted by the students’ educational context, often in contradictory ways. Some participants expressed several of the dominant positionings, some specifically emphasized one position over the others, and some switched from a distinct set of positionings in Year 1 to another set of positionings in Year 5.

Year 1

In the personal reflection notes the participants wrote in their first year of education, the focus on the music teachers’ social and cultural responsibility is significant. The two dominant social identity positionings in Year 1 are therefore labeled the social worker and the cultural bearer. The students depicted themselves as music teachers who, in various ways, contributed to cultural life and social change in society. They positioned themselves as people fostering democracy, justice, and equality:

A teacher of music must be able to put music in a societal context. Be able to see how music works as a tool for resistance and politics. What I want to accomplish is honestly peace on earth. I work on several international projects at a folk music camp with participants from all over the world, and I see how music brings people together. (B, personal reflection note, Year 1)

I believe that the practice of music can simplify life at different levels. I think it might be possible to become a kind of sanctuary for students with difficulties in school or bad home conditions. (C, personal reflection note, Year 1)

I want to make a difference. The most important thing about working as a teacher in all artistic subjects is to build an understanding of culture. I believe that it is important for everyone’s well-being and a better society, wherever you come from. (K, personal reflection note, Year 1)

B talked about music pedagogy as a means of fostering resistance and a way of bridging conflicting cultural differences between groups of people. The cultural bearer position is shown in B’s writing to be one of promoting social change and improved understanding among cultures worldwide. The social worker was exemplified when C imagined herself as a sanctuary for children with bad home conditions. She believed that music education could serve as a tool for meeting challenges in life. K exemplified the social worker and cultural bearer positions when arguing that the most important tasks of a music teacher were to strive to improve society and develop school in a direction promoting education in all forms of artistic expression. The quotations of B, C, and K exemplify how the music teacher in Year 1 was positioned as someone who reaches out to students who are thought to need music as a means of empowerment. The social worker focuses on music as a means of promoting social justice, whereas the cultural bearer focuses on music as cultural empowerment.

Another significant social identity position articulated in the personal reflection notes from Year 1 is the music teacher as a life coach. This social position specifically targets the development of students’ self-esteem, or personal growth:

I hope to be able to show that music is a tool to develop as an individual. To help others find a belief in themselves. (F, personal reflection note, Year 1)

Get students to understand and embrace the opportunities music provides. Allowing them to blossom in step with personality and passion. This can give students and young people security and access to their identity development. (J, personal reflection note, Year 1)

According to F and J, one goal of a life coach music teacher is to show students how music can be used as a means for developing and improving their self-confidence. This position emphasizes the teacher’s role in developing students’ personal growth through music.

When summarizing the findings for Year 1, the identified positions point toward the ideal music teacher as someone who takes responsibility for democracy and culture in society at large and at the same time cares for the student as someone who needs protection and improved self-esteem. The music teacher as a cultural bearer, that is, a cultural missionary and representative in local society, is constructed as one dominant position. The other two, the social worker and life coach, are concerned with the students’ social environment and inner personal growth. The ideal music teacher in these three social identity positionings is described as a haven, an enabler who bridges, influences, and makes a difference for children and youths. Musical learning is described as a tool with which to counter injustice and as therapy for body and mind. Notably, there is almost nothing in the personal reflection notes from Year 1 emphasizing the music teacher as a performing musician or as a skilled and highly specialized teacher of music. It is important to recall that the data from Year 1 were produced when the participants were relatively new to the discursive practice constituted as higher music education in general and preservice music teacher education in Sweden specifically and that they wrote their “letters” individually. It is therefore likely that the three dominant social positionings identified in Year 1 manifest effects of identity in music discourses inculcated in the participants’ preparatory music education. Year 1 could thus be understood as characterized by the identity positionings the students brought with them as newcomers to the discursive practice of preservice music teacher education.

Year 3

In Year 3, the students seemed occupied with evaluating their program of study rather than discussing the future. However, despite the students’ focus on their current coursework in Year 3, the data indicate displacement of the social positionings constituted in Year 1. The cultural bearer and social worker positions were less articulated than in Year 1, and the music teacher as a life coach was one of the most frequently articulated positions:

Music has always been a way to improve my mental health, and if I were to be told that my students had improved their mental health, well then, I think that would be great. (G, focus group, Year 3)

I want to use music to develop the students as human beings. I focus a lot on relationships. (F, focus group, Year 3)

Music can be a haven, it can be peace of mind, it can be concentration. It can contribute to such incredibly nice joyful things. I want to be a role model, producing strong individuals. (J, focus group, Year 3)

The life coach position is evident in the previous quotations when the participants emphasized the importance of the music teacher as someone focused on improving the students’ mental well-being, using music and their own mature personalities as means. G drew on his own experience of music as a means of improving mental health, which he wanted to pass on to his future students. F emphasized relationships, imagining herself using music as a tool for developing students as human beings. J applied his own experience of what music can do to enhance personal growth. Music was described as a sanctuary and as something that provides joy and peace of mind. The life coach as a social identity positioning stresses the importance of building relationships and using music as a means for contemplating life.

Another dominant social positioning identified in Year 3 is the (nervous) specialist. This position focuses on musical expertise and music teachers as subject-specific authorities. The participants defined expertise as a music teacher as being technically skilled on one’s instrument, specializing in specific genres, and having advanced knowledge of music theory and ear training. We have put “nervous” in parentheses to highlight that this positioning is constituted by the discursive practice in a contradictory way, as confident music specialists in the making and as anxious students afraid of not measuring up to the high standards described as crucial for a specialist teacher working with high achievers in music:

I have chosen a specialization in classical music. It will be my genre. Maybe I missed some other stuff because my singing teachers are only classically oriented. (C, focus group, Year 3)

I will have to take a lot of extra courses. To feel like now I can apply for a job in an upper secondary school and teach at an expert level. I need to put in another year, or maybe three or four semesters, at the same time as I’m working. (K, focus group, Year 3)

C was convinced that she wants to specialize in classical genres, but she was anxious that her narrow scope could result in a lack of teaching skills in other genres. K was aiming at a career as a specialist music teacher, and he was ready to take extra courses and private tuition after finishing the 5-year music teacher education to attain the high standard he thought was necessary for a specialist music teacher.

The music teacher as a musician, a social positioning only marginally evident in Year 1, was common among the participants in Year 3. However, working full-time as a musician was not described as a desirable future alternative to teaching. Rather, they regarded musicianship as part of a larger picture focusing on quality of life for themselves and their future students. The combination of the musician, life coach, and cultural bearer positionings, as K expressed it in the following example, was commonly articulated in Year 3:

Part of me just wants to write music. Seek funding as a freelance composer. Another part [of me] can imagine working as a voice or music teacher in any school. I want to be involved, follow children from a young age. Be part of their development. Create democratic and reflective citizens. (K, focus group, Year 3)

This quotation of K illustrates the ambivalence the participants expressed when talking, in Year 3, about their upcoming careers as music teachers. K was partly positioning himself as a musician, aiming to work as a freelance composer, and partly as a life coach, imagining a future as a vocal teacher in any kind of school, overseeing children’s personal growth. The cultural bearer positioning was apparent when he ended up saying that he wanted to contribute to the development of society by educating democratic citizens.

When summarizing displacements in social positionings in Year 3, compared with Year 1, the cultural bearer and social worker were constructed as less important. A gradual shift in focus among the participants was evident, mainly toward the life coach and (nervous) specialist positionings but also to some extent toward the musician. The life coach was seen as a vehicle for developing students’ self-confidence, mental well-being, and personal growth. The (nervous) specialist could be described as an anxious specialist in the making, manifested as a wish for more courses in specific genres, instruments, and music theory. Year 3 also highlighted the complexities and contradictions in the students’ common identity constructions. Despite the emphasis on specialization—constituted in the discursive practice of higher music education—a somewhat contradictory resistance to the view of the music teacher as primarily a genre specialist with expertise in a particular instrument appeared. Ideals from Year 1, when music as a means of social responsibility and democracy were featured, were still constructed as crucial but now with displacement toward the life coach as a means of individual self-fulfillment.

Year 5

In the last part of the study, the participants were a few days away from ending the final semester of their teacher training education. When analyzing the findings from Year 1 in relation to the end of Year 5, a clear shift was identified. The shift reinforced the participants’ already strongly articulated IIM by emphasizing musical specialization. The cultural, social, and life coaching identity positions, which were dominant in Year 1, were displaced into the background by Year 5. Instead, the realist and (nervous) specialist appeared as two dominant and closely intertwined social identity positions. In preparation for their last focus group interviews, the participants were asked to read and reflect on the personal reflection notes that they wrote individually in Year 1. In the following quotations, they partly rejected what they now perceived as idealistic visions. From the realist perspective, they described themselves as naïve, as romanticizing the music teacher profession, and as having overly high expectations of their education and upcoming career:

The very first thing I thought [on reading the personal reflection note] was really the word “naïve.” I may have had overly high expectations. (H, focus group, Year 5)

It was a very romanticized view [in the personal reflection note from Year 1]—“Oh I’m going to be a safe adult and I’m going to create great students”—when it’s about me having a salary and a job. I will not have time to be a haven for all. Some [students] will just be Excel figures—if you have four hundred students in elementary school, it doesn’t work. (I, focus group, Year 5)

The thoughts I had [in Year 1] about the importance of culture in society, sure, it’s important, but now I want to delve specifically into singers’ musical development. I may not be as interested in the development of society at large. (K, focus group, Year 5)

The realist position was illustrated by H when he reflected on what he wrote in his personal reflection note from Year 1, viewing himself as naïve and having overly high expectations of his education. Participant I regarded his Year 1 self as a romantic, whereas a prioritized goal for him in Year 5 was a secure financial situation. The ambition in Year 1 to be a safe adult for children in need was regarded by I in Year 5 as sheer fantasy because no time is allotted for engagement in the students’ lives besides teaching. K admitted that he was no longer interested in social change, instead wanting to delve into students’ vocal development. The realist position in the three quotations constructs the participants as informed about their upcoming profession but somewhat disillusioned because of all the associated demands.

The (nervous) specialist was prominent in Year 5, but the nervous aspect of the position was downplayed versus in Year 3. The participants wanted to work with high-achieving students in a well-defined and specialized area of music as a subject, such as music theory, vocal training, ensemble and choir:

At the beginning, I was a little bit—upper secondary school . . . I don’t have the skills. I was afraid the students would be more skilled than I am. Now I feel the other way around: I have experience and skills. (B, focus group, Year 5)

I love music theory. Some students are mind-blowing regarding instrument skills. I can’t teach how to play a specific technique, but I know a lot about music theory. It’s pretty good. (H, focus group, Year 5)

B described how she had developed a sense of self-esteem and self-confidence regarding her specialized skills. The anxiety she felt early in her education, at being less skilled than her future high-achieving students, was gone. H described his expertise in music theory as a joy but also as a kind of highly valued musical currency, compensating for other aspects of musical expertise that he lacks.

Along with the realist and (nervous) specialist, the playing teacher position appeared frequently in Year 5. The last position manifests an ambition to keep up as a musician in order to have a good life and keep oneself up-to-date on the professional music scene. Thus, the participants constructed the playing teacher as a condition for being a skilled and respected music teacher in the long run. The difference between the playing teacher and the musician was identified as being primarily a teacher or a musician. In the following quotations, the playing teacher was highlighted:

My ambition when I started was, like, I want to study music because I think it’s so much fun. But the role of the music teacher has grown inside of me and developed over the years. (A, focus group, Year 5)

I’m into music, playing and singing in different constellations. But I have no goal to become a freelance musician. No, we’re music teachers! We can play music now and then, but it generally feels like we enjoy being teachers. (B, focus group, Year 5)

I will continue to play music. It’s such a great passion in my life. But I have no plan to take on the world. It’s just about being a part of the field that you’re going to teach. Especially if you work in upper secondary school and want to be able to motivate your students. To stay updated. (E, focus group, Year 5)

A described how she started her education with a desire to play music. However, as her teacher training program proceeded, the playing teacher position had become ascendant, and in Year 5, she was determined to primarily be a music teacher. B described herself as someone wanting to maintain her position in different professional music constellations, but she was very clear that she primarily wanted to be a music teacher. She rejected life as a freelance musician by saying that she enjoyed teaching music; she also gave voice to her classmates by saying, “No, we’re music teachers.” Like A and B, E described her life as a musician as enjoyable and important for her well-being, but she had no dreams of fame or glory. Instead, she wanted to hold on to the professional musical community “out there” to stay up-to-date in the musical field in which she assumes she will teach.

To summarize the Year 5 data, the participants can be interpreted as to some degree rejecting the ideals they had in Year 1, seeing music teaching as a vehicle for creating a better society. At the same time, they can be seen as excited about their future careers and convinced of their capacity to have an impact on the individual specialized student. There is no doubt that they identified themselves primarily as music teachers.

Discussion

Our study revealed that the participants’ social positionings constructed during the 5-year teaching training program were multilayered, contradictory, and complex. No sharp and definitive boundaries between Years 1, 3, and 5 were observed, but a gradual shift was identified. Some positions, such as the cultural bearer, social worker, and life coach, were heavily stressed in the participants’ first year of education but weakened or were modified as the students passed through Years 3 and 5. In contrast, other social positions, such as the realist, (nervous) specialist, musician, and playing teacher, were weak in Year 1 but strengthened over time.

Unsurprisingly, because the research context was higher music education, all the participants positioned themselves as having their identity in music (Hargreaves, 2017). They regarded music as crucial for their understanding of self and labeled themselves in line with established social positions having music at the core, such as music teacher and musician. Hallam (2017) claimed that changes in musical identity are influenced by the educational and cultural environment and that music education is associated with the renegotiation of musical identities. However, in this study, the participants’ choice between IIM and MII was already settled from the start in favor of IIM. The changes in musical identity were constructed within IIM rather than between IIM and MII. The findings thus indicate that the identity constructions among participants over time seemed to reinforce the already established IIM.

In Year 1, the future music teacher was constructed as an activist teacher with a cultural and social responsibility, a passion for social justice, and a political commitment to underprivileged children and youths. Despite the emphasis on social justice and children’s rights, an underlying IIM of the imagined music teacher was taken for granted by the participants. One can argue that the students’ passion for social justice and interest in culture and politics in Year 1 should instead have positioned them as having MII, although their interest in sociological and cultural issues was clearly framed within music as a hub of their existence. To the participants, music was the obvious means to facilitate everything concerning children’s rights and development.

As their education proceeded, the participants’ musical expertise developed, and along the way, their engagement with local society seemed to fade. In Year 3, they positioned themselves as music specialists in the making, although anxious about whether they would be skilled enough to teach high achievers in upper secondary school. This specialist position was reinforced over time, and in Year 5, they explicitly preferred working in specialized, high-achieving educational contexts. In other words, the participants went from seeing themselves as ideologically based cultural representatives in the local community to an elitist view both of their career and of children’s and youths’ musical learning. This shift could be interpreted as their gradual submission to discourses common in Western higher music education, leaning on classical conservatory traditions in which genre-specific specializations, musicianship on one or two instruments, and deepened pedagogical skills with a narrow scope are privileged over being a cultural representative in society. Although the music teacher program in focus was not explicitly labeled a specialist music education, it is obvious that the students’ positionings were constructed from an IIM as a specialist rather than as a generalist in music.

However, even though the cultural bearer, social worker, and life coach positions were less emphasized in Year 5, it would be oversimplifying to conclude that the participants had abandoned them. Rather, the findings could be interpreted as indicating that social responsibility, student well-being, and cultural impact in the local community had become integrated aspects of the realist position. The participants described teaching as if it went without saying that a crucial aspect was to help children and adolescents cope with their lives emotionally and mentally, helping them become integrated into society and inviting them to participate actively in the cultural life of the local community. However, in mixing the realist and (nervous) specialist positions, the participants preferred to avoid schools where they would have to teach outside their musical comfort zones.

In line with a fear of being insufficiently prepared for what comes after graduation, in Years 3 and 5, the informants described different strategies for deepening their knowledge of musical areas they regarded as relevant to their upcoming careers. They described how they had specialized and deepened their knowledge through taking extra music classes and extra tuition in their instruments. They considered these steps necessary for meeting demands in their upcoming careers as specialized music teachers.

A body of previous research in music education demonstrates that preservice music teachers largely aim to be professional musicians and that teaching music is regarded as a second choice (Isbell, 2008; Pellegrino, 2009; Roberts, 2007; Woodford, 2002). These studies also show that most preservice music teachers prefer to identify themselves as musicians rather than music teachers. Furthermore, previous research suggests that preservice music teachers often imagine a future in which they start their careers as professional musicians and only later start teaching. This can be seen as a negotiation between two subidentities (Ballantyne et al., 2012; Beijaard et al., 2004; Bouij, 1998; Isbell, 2008). In contrast, the participants in this study constructed a music teacher identity from the outset even though they wanted to continue playing music in various semiprofessional settings. None of the 11 students in our study claimed that they would prefer a future career as a professional musician; instead, all of them claimed that they primarily wanted to teach. The playing teacher can be regarded as a twofold social identity position, understood as teachers playing music for their well-being and because music teachers’ musicianship benefits their students by keeping the teachers up-to-date in the professional music scene. In recent years, researchers have suggested the necessity of a discussion going beyond the antithesis of musician versus teacher. These researchers have described music teacher students as experiencing conflict and have advocated finding an intermediate way (Dolloff, 2007; Regelski, 2007). For the participants in this study, no conflict between the musician and teacher identities was identified. Instead, the students were both motivated and determined to develop a music teacher identity to be attractive on a specialist labor market. The dichotomy between music teacher students identifying as musicians versus teachers (Bouij, 1998; Pellegrino, 2009) was not confirmed here. Instead, our findings suggest that the participants constructed IIM as a lifelong and vital relation, with music serving as a source of meaning and joy regardless of whether the context is teaching or performing.

Given that the present data were produced within a longitudinal case study including 11 students from one specific cohort, the generalizability of the findings is, of course, limited. Our aim, however, has rather been to provide an in-depth analysis of one music educational context, contributing to the discussion of how and why we educate music teachers.

Conclusion

A music teacher might well be very important for cultural and social justice in the local community, so we will conclude this article by discussing the results in relation to the design of the music teacher program. When viewing the present results from a societal perspective, some of the student positions might be included in an alternative narrative of challenging the status quo in music teacher education, specifically, the positions connected to the political and social dimensions of music education. In line with Christophersen et al. (2023), we advocate a need to address issues of change in music teacher education to contribute to social change beyond the classroom. One way of doing this is to concentrate on preservice teachers’ resources, ideas, and visions rather than their shortcomings. This is in line with Kenny (2017), who advocated capturing student voices when informing future planning for teacher education. The knowledge articulated by the first-year students in our study positioned as cultural bearers, social workers, and life coaches might well merit consideration when redesigning music teacher education to serve both social and musical purposes. This is a matter going far beyond the musician–teacher dichotomy and far beyond something intermediate (Dolloff, 2007; Powell & Parker, 2017); this is a proposal to create a new story of music teacher education by connecting the social and the musical.