The Factors which Influence Student Teachers' Confidence to Teach the Arts in the Primary Classroom

This study is concerned with the factors influencing the development of student teachers' confidence to teach the arts in primary schools in England. In previous research (Green et al., 1998), which sought to study students' perceptions of teaching the arts, confidence emerged as being significant to their development as teachers. A sample of twelve primary BA (Education) student teachers were followed over a period of three years. This included two ten-week school placements, each in a different school. Each student undertook a series of six semi-structured interviews, and the data were analysed using the procedure of recursive comparative analysis. This paper reports on the case studies of three students in order to look closely at what factors affected their perceptions of their confidence to teach art, dance, drama and music. The findings are consistent with previous research in student learning and reveal a complex interaction between prior experience, content of the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme and the quality of school experience. Finally the implications for the development of students' confidence in teaching the arts are discussed.