Music teachers’ stance in action to develop student autonomy

Abstract

In the context of instrumental teaching, developing student autonomy is a major goal of teachers in addition to transmitting knowledge and fostering musical learning. This research, which consists of two successive studies, focused on the development of student autonomy from the teacher’s perspective. In the first study, I conducted a qualitative analysis of 21 teachers’ beliefs and intentions with regard to the development of student autonomy and their roles in this process. The results showed that teachers considered themselves somewhat at the periphery of the process in which students attain autonomy. In the second study, I analyzed in depth the joint action of three teachers with their students during two successive lessons. My analysis of the film recordings revealed that teachers performed many pedagogical actions to develop student autonomy, albeit unconsciously and without verbalization. The results of this second study suggest that there are four possible teaching stances that make it possible to develop autonomy. Based on a synthesis of the two studies, I propose a model that helps teachers to develop student autonomy through the understanding and clarification of the four key phases of the self-regulation process.