How will the LearningLAB effect the relationship between management and teachers?
LearningLAB is a teacher-built program that is regularly reflected on by the content team and management. Comments from the wider teaching community come in through all communication channels and are valued and given a place in the program. In this way it has become a program from and for the teaching community. Every teacher feels responsibility for their part of the program, and they are knowledgeable of other teachers’ parts. Most teachers are interested in the program and want to learn more, it also had a positive effect on the motivation of participating coaches and teachers.
The LearningLAB program set out to facilitate meta-learning for the students of the YoungKC so that they could experience their school life and musical development in a healthy and effective way. Our aim for students was for them to become not only skilled musicians but also autonomous and motivated learners.
Our main research question was:
How can we best implement a program to help young musicians to learn how to practice effectively and efficiently, organize their time and energy and understand how to be healthy and fit for learning?
A crucial element to the design, development and success of the LearningLAB was the connection to management. The call for the program came directly from the Annick van Gennip, the head of music for the YoungKC, and she gave support to and showed interest in the entire development. Regular meetings were scheduled to monitor the program and the implementation. Central to the philosophy behind the program and the development, was creating a culture of teachers that want to work in teams and who focus on students' needs. The music teaching team was part of many meetings discussing what was needed, how we could shape the program and what material would be best to work with. Teachers and coaches needed to be well informed about musical learning processes. To facilitate this, a training program about practice coaching was implemented. Throughout the research period teachers, staff and students could give input and feedback.
The structure of the program included a weekly group meeting for the students with a relevant theme and morning practice sessions providing the option of working with a coach. The content for the group sessions and coaching was based on research done by Susan Williams on musicians’ learning that was adapted by Irma Kort for younger students and translated into Dutch. Each student in the YoungKC was given a folder containing their schedules, teachers notes, repertoire, notes from their practice coach, their own goals and insights, practice cards, and extra information (info sheets) as needed. During the process of development of the folder and the program, regular input of teachers was asked for and given. The folder became the glue between the teachers and coaches and the teaching team can find an overview of the different classes and progress of every individual student in it. The collective feedback and insights of the students and teaching/ staff team creates an ongoing development of the program. Changes and innovation can be initiated by all members of the team, including students.
How will the LearningLAB program effect collective teacher efficacy and processes of professional development?
Professional development was offered in the introductory course for YoungKC teachers by Susan Williams. The information in the LearningLAB folder is based on the same new learning theories that are part of this course. After the implementation of the program students started sharing practice strategies in the group lessons on Tuesdays and through peer learning in the mornings. Through the communication channels that were set in place, expertise sharing of teachers and coaches started to become part of the program, best practices are added to the program. Teachers are now forming teams around a student, all having a part in their development and enhancing student learning, but also seeing gaps in knowledge earlier and informing each other to help the students as best as possible.
How will the LearningLAB program effect students’ motivation, practice behavior and self- regulation skills?
The program has built routines in our young music students, such as starting the practice in the first hour before school but also using the hours in between lessons to study music subjects. It has helped them become better planners and in creating an overview on their learning processes. In general, they feel better prepared for exciting concerts and exams. Through emphasizing learning processes, they reflect not only on exam or competition outcomes, but they can also look at a process and design it differently in the future when needed. They have shared and learned many new practice strategies and created a practice community in the morning hours. There is more enjoyment in practicing itself. Nearly all students are more positive about their process and practice qualities since the start of LearningLAB. They all mention they have grown and are aware of their progression.
Our sub-questions were
How will the LearningLAB program effect students’ motivation, practice behavior and self- regulation skills?
How will the LearningLAB program effect collective teacher efficacy and processes of professional development?
How will the LearningLAB effect the relationship between management and teachers?
How can we connect teachers to the idea of learning/coaching practicing?
Each of these questions is addressed below.
Our final words
Setting up the LearningLAB was a response to the stress and learning needs of the young musicians in the YoungKC. The development of the structure and content by Irma Kort and Susan Williams was largely drawn from programs that were facilitated for the Conservatorium by Susan Williams in programs including tutoring, practice and performance training modules and modules for the master program The Musician-Educator and for the intranet space Your Health and Practice.
The knowledge and insights that have come from the implementation of LearningLAB offers valuable potential ideas that could be useful for the Conservatorium, thus making a cycle connecting the younger and older musicians. The main areas where the conservatorium could be inspired by the YoungKC include:
- Making practice coaching available for any student who needs it
- Training teachers in musical learning processes
- Building teacher teams around each student.
These practices open up knowledge and provide tools and connections that can help each student become the musician they want to be.
It is well known that stress is an inevitable part of an ambitious musician’s life. Basing their education on creating the right kind of structure, content and support is the aim of any institution that wants to create excellence. However it is not just about teaching skills and knowledge. What we have learned in diving into the LearningLAB experience is that focussing on motivation, self-efficacy, self-regulation, exploration in practice and connections between student peer group and teacher-coach-student teams – all fully supported by management – creates a culture of learning where the real aim is to create brilliant learners. Excellent musicians are a side-effect.
Susan Williams and Irma Kort
Challenges, recommendations and future needs
The coaching team is small now, this makes it vulnerable, more coaches are needed with different expertise sets and musical backgrounds to create a strong and flexible team that can develop the program further.
Staff development should be part of the recruitment of new colleagues. It will help new teachers to become part of the teaching community at YoungKC and give them an overview on all subjects and their content.
Dissemination and cooperation between Young Music Talents Europe (YMTE) schools is very important to create a situation in which more students and teachers can benefit from the program and the program can develop more with input from foreign experts.
The program can also reflect on what is happening in instrumental and vocal education in The Netherlands, giving possible blueprints on how to create new communities in music education and supporting diversity and inclusivity.
In the program we emphasize working in teaching teams, but we are communicating in such a way that there is no conflicting information to the student. This is a form of decentralizing music education and forming a team of teachers around the student. Although the majority of teachers cooperated, some were not comfortable and decided not to participate. This needs to be addressed and we need to find out what made them uncomfortable and how we can let them join the community on their terms. Collective Teacher Efficacy was ranked as the number one factor influencing student achievement (Hattie, 2016). All this research however was done in general education and there are no results yet on research of CTE programs and student achievement in music education. For this reason, programs should run for a longer period in time and research on the developments and CTE should be implemented to see the effects in music education.
