The purpose of this study is to explore prospective early childhood teachers’ experiences in early childhood music education classes taught by teacher educators with field expertise. Thirty prospective early childhood teachers, who were enrolled i...
The purpose of this study is to explore prospective early childhood teachers’ experiences in early childhood music education classes taught by teacher educators with field expertise. Thirty prospective early childhood teachers, who were enrolled in the Department of Early Childhood Education at C University in S City and taking early childhood music education classes, participated in the study. The research was conducted over a period of 15 weeks, from August 31, 2023, to December 14, 2023. Data for analysis included unstructured interview notes from the pre-service early childhood teachers, weekly expectations reports on learning topics, and reflection reports. During the examination period and after the end of the semester, the researcher's notes were collected and analyzed.
The results of the study, revealed several experiences reported by the prospective early childhood teachers: ‘Feeling the beauty of music in an easy and fun way’, ‘Escaping from preconceptions about children’s music activities centered on singing’, ‘Feeling anticipation and pride in the possibility of being practitioners of early childhood music education’, ‘Satisfaction with learning from a teacher educator with field expertise’, ‘Appreciation for the opportunity to participate in classes in other subjects’, and 'Expecting similar experiences in the future'. The results of this study confirm the necessity of offering music classes based on field application-oriented theory and practice to prospective early childhood teachers during their training.