
www.ijcrsee.com
153
Drobac-Pavićević M., Bjelobrk Babić O., & Đurđanović M., (2024). Implicit theories of teachers about the importance of teaching
music, International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education (IJCRSEE), 12(1), 145-156.
of teachers’ responses, we determined that they are satisfied with the provided content for listening to
music, they like the compositions, but they also strive for additions or changes in this area (Listening to
compositions could perhaps be refreshed. Well, of course, I like them, but again, I say, there should be
a reform, uh, of the music culture curriculum expressed in these plans and programs of music culture
in which they would participate. Teachers should also participate in this reform because I simply feel
that we are excluded from these reforms. And yet, we know best what is most important to students up
to the fifth grade in music education). Teachers perceive the area of listening to music as relaxing, but
also very demanding for quality processing of the teaching unit, mostly thinking about an analytical and
cognitive-emotional approach to listening to music, which also indicates insufficient competence within
the didactics of music education or the number of hours of this subject in undergraduate studies. The
necessary refreshments should be more aligned to 21st-century students, and in the field of singing and
listening to music, we confirm the opinions of teachers with this argument: It should be refreshed a bit, the
program content of listening to music and singing songs, to be ... a bit more adapted to children.
If we talk about the perception of program content by grading them by the difficulty of processing
for teachers, the area of musical literacy (music theory and rhythm setting) is foremost in its difficulty.
Respondents state that the content area of introduction to the basics of musical literacy is the most
challenging for them, followed by the content area of music listening (analytical and cognitive-emotional
approach). Also, they consider the content area of musical creativity as one of the most challenging
in music education, followed by pupil-influenced factors such as a lack of motivation to learn, as well
as instances when pupils are embarrassed by or receive insufficient parental attention. These issues
certainly require further investigation in future research studies.
There is a feeling amongst the respondents that they feel insufficiently trained to implement the
prescribed number of classes as required by the Curriculum in terms of musical creativity (So, as much
as it is prescribed by the Curriculum, it’s not that much, but there are, you know. I don’t know, whenever
something comes to mind during class..., we’ve come to something, someone wanted something, a rhythm
was heard, so let’s create, someone wrote a song, let’s do it. And how often is that? Maybe 20 percent). It
is evident that teachers combine linguistic and musical creativity by adding visual illustrations, which are
most often used in listening to music activities. However, there can be observed a difference in teachers’
perception of the number of class hours. The first group of respondents believe that music education is not
prevalent enough among students in the lower grades of primary school. This deficiency is compensated
for by the integration of subjects in classroom teaching (According to the current Curriculum, the number
of class hours for music education is not sufficient, in... lower grades, so there should simply be much,
uh, greater number of class hours to allow students to develop themselves as much as possible, uh,
and their potentials. Well, I said that, with almost all classes, even with math, I integrate it. I don’t know,
I don’t know if something is important, for example, we always, always listen to the composition to the
end). The second group of respondents falls into the category that the prescribed number of class hours
is sufficient and that students in the primary grades are sufficiently burdened with the program content of
other subjects, so any additional class would represent an effort for them (Well, maybe it would be good
if there could be a little more, but, looking at this, well, the number of class hours, somewhere it might
be a little difficult to fit in without overburdening the children with additional classes, but certainly, music
education can be, well, correlated with other subjects so it should be used whenever possible in other
classes, not just in music classes. So I think that’s about enough, but, well, if there is a need somewhere,
it can always be added because there’s never enough music).
In exploring the sphere of experiencing music education, we could not overlook the answers to
the question: What, in your opinion, is the most beautiful thing about music education? In all responses,
the creation of a positive emotional climate in music education classes dominates as a result of the shift
of musical activities in the class, where musical performance, singing, playing and vocal-instrumental
group playing (according to teachers’ and students’ preferences) dominate, followed by musical
games, movement and dance. As the most beautiful aspect of music education, some teachers also
mention listening to and recognizing musical examples and developing musical taste. Namely, music
performance, the creativity of both teachers and students, a positive emotional and stimulating climate
and the development of musical taste are elements that characterize music education and are perceived
by teachers as dominant, which is in line with the goals and tasks of teaching this subject at a younger
school age. It is important that teachers are mostly ready for the challenges and new knowledge brought