Professional Agency, Loneliness and Solitude of Primary Finnish Basic Education Music Teachers

Teachers’ professional agency has been increasingly studied from different perspectives, but little is known about how music teachers experience their professional agency in Finland where typically one music teacher is responsible for teaching music in one school. The aim of this qualitative interview study was to examine Finnish music teachers’ ( N = 10) experiences of their own agency to understand how their professional agency is structured. The study was based on the concept of subject-centred sociocultural agency, which consists of an individual’s experiences, will, feelings, meanings and sociocultural and material conditions. The data were analysed using abductive, data-driven content analysis. The findings provide insights into music teachers’ professional identity, their experiences of community and loneliness, their relationship to a wide range of learners and the meanings of music in interpersonal interaction and human development. The study suggests that solitude and loneliness are unique features of the professional agency of a music teacher. When actively chosen, being alone enriches the relational reality of the teacher and should be defined as solitude.