Self-efficacy and music teaching: Five narratives

This article examines generalist primary (elementary) school teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching music. Five teachers, each with five years teaching experience, were interviewed for the study. Using this interview data narratives were constructed for each of the five teachers. These narratives focused on what factors contributed to the level of self-efficacy each teacher experienced in teaching music. The five narratives are presented, structured using the five elements of narrative - character, setting, a problem (or problems) faced, actions taken to address the problem/s, and resolution – outlined by Ollerenshaw & Creswell (2002). Each narrative is followed by a brief discussion of the impact of the four key aspects that contribute to self-efficacy – mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and physiological arousal.