Novice and experienced music teacher resilience: A comparative case study

Abstract

In many schools, both urban and rural, children living in poverty face daily stressors including lack of parental support, lack of resources, unsafe living conditions, and poor nutrition. As teachers are first responders in facing these difficult situations, resilience enables teachers to overcome challenges and succeed professionally. Teachers who have been found to be more resilient tend to feel more successful and stay in their positions longer. Teachers at varying experience levels have different approaches to maintaining their resilience in response to daily stressors. The purpose of this comparative case study was to compare the resilience factors of an early career and a late career music teacher within high-poverty, trauma-sensitive contexts. Participants exhibited varying levels of resilience by adapting their expectations to their school context and maintaining a positive attitude.

Canadian Music Teachers’ Burnout and Resilience Through the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Questionnaire responses and focus group discussions demonstrated that many participants felt a sense of alienation from colleagues and expressed concerns for their relationship with students. The feeling of social isolation may be a contributing factor to the decline of music teachers' wellbeing, as healthy relationships is an attributed job resource in job demands-resource theory (Collie et al, 2017;Munroe, 2021). Compromised relationships may contribute to organizational burnout.…”

“…Teachers experience among the highest rates of organizational burnout among all professions (Falecki & Mann, 2015), as teacher attrition remains a widespread systemic issue (Ainsworth & Oldfield, 2019;Beltman et al, 2011;Clarà, 2017;Munroe, 2021;Yonezawa et al, 2011). Russell et al, (2020)…”

“…Falecki and Mann (2015) noted that teachers needed better strategies to manage the ever-increasing stressors of the profession and suggested teachers should receive professional development in cultivating self-efficacy as well as learning to practice self-compassion and optimism as protective factors to ensure long term wellbeing in the profession. Munroe (2021) shared that organizations that cultivated teacher resilience through professional development also yielded lower levels of teacher burnout and attrition.…”

Start Me Up: Experiences of First-Year Teachers Beginning New Instrumental Music Programs in Urban Public Schools

“…Scholars have studied the experiences of first-year music teachers from a variety of perspectives: identity (Draves, 2019), urban issues (Munroe, 2019), micro-political literacy (Conway & Rawlings, 2015), mentoring (Baumgartner, 2020; Gallo, 2018), induction (Conway & Zerman, 2004), and workplace stressors (Stringham & Snell, 2019). Nearly 75 years ago, first-year music teacher Martz (1948) described professional dress, discipline, locating a place to live, and adjusting to a new professional role as important career issues.…”

“…Few authors have focused specifically on the convergence of being brand new to teaching and working in an urban music program. Munroe (2019) used an instrumental case study to describe the challenges of a first-year general music teacher in an urban elementary school. The diverse needs of students and the pressure to perform and meet district expectations for student growth were major issues for her participant.…”