In Sri Lanka, Western music was introduced as an aesthetic subject into the school curriculum in 1974. It focused on Western classical music compositions, composers, and music theory. In this context, Western music teacher education in Sri Lanka is primarily conducted as a pre-service course at the Maharagama National College of Education (Maharagama NCoE), the sole government institution responsible for training future Western music teachers. Since its establishment in 2002, no study has specifically examined the Western music pre-service course compared with other NCoE courses. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the specific challenges related to the Western music pre-service course at Maharagama NCoE. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four Sri Lankan officials involved in the Western music pre-service course. A qualitative content analysis approach was employed to analyse the interview data. Based on the findings, three categories emerged: lecturers, preservice teachers, and administration. According to these categories, the study identified eight main challenges: the course’s long-standing reliance on part-time lecturers, inadequate salaries for part-time lecturers, difficulty of being a permanent lecturer owing to rigorous exams, low-level admission standards, lack of motivation of preservice teachers owing to heavy workload, lack of practical music competency among pre-service teachers, insufficient resources, and lack of attention from high-level administrators. This study identified that all these challenges may apply to all other NCoEs across Sri Lanka. Beyond these challenges, this study also identified that lecturers are demotivated owing to pre-service teachers’ academic performances and insufficient attention to reforming the admission criteria of the course. The study suggests that it is crucial for the Western music administration to provide the necessary support and guidance for qualified music teachers in Sri Lanka to become permanent lecturers in the Western music pre-service course in a timely manner.
NIMEJA et al. (Sun,) studied this question.