Self-efficacy of pre-school and primary school pre-service teachers in musical ability and music teaching

Pre-service non-music major teachers deem music and music teaching essential, but they do not perceive themselves to be competent in this field due to various reasons. This research aims to reveal the effects of factors such as gender, age, the year of study they are currently in at university, and musical experience on their self-efficacy in music skills and music teaching. The research was conducted with the participation of 395 pre-service teachers studying pre-school education and classroom teaching in the department of basic education in the faculty of education. The data were collected by employing the self-efficacy scale developed for musical abilities and music teaching. The findings of the research indicate that while the self-efficacy of the participants in musical abilities and music teaching does not show meaningful difference by gender, it does show meaningful difference according to the year they are in at university. According to the regression analyses, the important variables predicting perceived musical ability are music teaching self-efficacy, having previously played an instrument, and currently playing an instrument. However, the variable of music teaching self-efficacy is predicted meaningfully only by musical ability self-efficacy.