Classroom observation ability among pre-service music educators in Greece

The purpose of this study was to examine the classroom observation ability of pre-service music teachers in Greece (N = 62). Two groups of undergraduates, one near the beginning and one near the end of a two-year course sequence in teaching methods that included in-class and in-school training in observation (‘juniors’ and ‘seniors’, respectively), observed videotapes of one elementary (4_th grade) and one secondary (8_th grade) general music class, each being taught by its own expert music teacher. Subjects wrote comments that judges classified into subcategories within overall categories of lesson, teacher, and students. Results largely confirmed those of previous research from the USA, with the more experienced subjects making significantly more comments and both groups focusing more on teachers than on lessons or students. There were also differences between subcategories and significant interactions involving experience level and sex of the subjects.