Anu Sepp

• PhD; MA (music)
• Professor at Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre

In numerous countries, primary school class teachers have problems regarding music teaching. It has been reported that there is a lack of both confidence and musical skills. However, the question often relates not only to a lack of self-efficacy beliefs but also to the organisation of the studies. This research looks for sources influencing the for...

Reflection is a key component in teachers’ educational programs. As teachers transfer human values through the subject(s) they teach, their pedagogical thinking plays an essential role in decision-making. As part of the Arctic Reformative and Exploratory Teaching Profession (ArkTOP) project (Finland), this case study examines the potential for deve...

At present, the idea of teacher professional development is widely highlighted in education. The present qualitative study examines whether coteaching in collaboration between music lecturers at two universities could enable their professional development and improve student learning. Our study consisted of piano courses in two independent primary...

Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin luokanopettajaopiskelijoiden kokemaa hyötyä musiikin sulautuvien oppimisympäristöjen (blended learning environments) eri osa-alueista. Kontaktiopetuksen vähäisen määrän vuoksi kaksi pianonsoiton opettajaa kahdessa yliopistossa pyrki kumpikin omilla sulautuvilla oppimisympäristöjärjestelyillään tukemaan luokanopetta...

This is the final part of research started in 2014 when development of the new National Curricula (NC) was initiated. The role of music education had to be mapped to prove its meaning as a traditional mandatory subject in the NC. According to the research program, different aspects, related to music education (content, integration of art subjects,...

Lately there has been much interest in how university level studies develop students’ generic skills and to what extent university education meets the requirements of working life. Generic skills are needed in every profession and field. The term has been widely used during the past few decades due to the rapid change in society and working life. I...

According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (1989), children’s participation in cultural life and arts is of utmost importance. The ideas of children’s equality and their right to participation are also emphasised in curricula and other policy programmes in many countries. Three decades after the signing of the CRC,...

The intention in this pilot study is to outline the preliminary guidelines for the development of new assessment practices in the education diploma in music at Finnish general upper secondary schools. The rationale for the study arose from the ongoing education policy debate in Finland that suggests that one of the academic subjects in the general...

The purpose of the study is to research how music is learned in a web-based learning environment. The users of a web-based learning environment were asked to perform a self-assessment about their music learning. The research question was to determine which kind of learning experiences students had when studying music in a web-based learning environ...

Several factors, such as international trends of globalisation, technological innovation, changing learning environments as well as internal developments in socio-cultural contexts and educational policy-making are constantly shaping values of people and causing difficulties with specification of their identity building. Our study is based on compa...

The importance of supportive learning environments has been considered of utmost importance. In Finnish universities where the educational entities are being re-organised, teacher educators have to reconsider and also reorganise the learning environments to sustain the quality of teaching. At the Universities of Helsinki and Lapland, where the prim...

The primary goal of music teacher education programs is to produce good teachers for schools and how to identify them through entrance examinations. This study examines the kind of entrance examinations in place at the masters’ level in music education in Estonian and Finnish universities, and the similarities or differences between these examinati...

In Finland, music subject is part of National Core Curriculum and in the primary school stage (grades 1-6) usually taught by primary school teachers. To assure instruction of music education on a highly professional level, pre-service teachers are taught piano course as part of music didactics.This article reports findings of the pilot study carrie...

Curriculum development for general comprehensive and also vocational schools needs consideration of the context, in which availability of non-formal and informal education (extracurricular activities=EA) plays an important role forming a meaningful whole with formal education. This pilot study attempted to find out what motivates students (aged 13–...

International trends of globalisation, changing learning environments as well as particular socio-cultural contexts and educational policy making are constantly shaping selection of the content for national curricula (NC) of general comprehensive schools. Art subjects (music, literature and art education) have been compulsory elements in Estonian N...

p class="IATED-Affiliation">The phenomenon of joint singing, originating from the traditional old folk song and subsequent choral singing, has developed in Estonia into a significant cultural metaphor– Song Celebrations. Recent decades have brought about rapid changes in Estonian socio-cultural reality: the process of globalisation has raised the q...

This article discusses the five-string kantele as an example of the Finnish national heritage, a school instrument and an example of sustainable design. A qualitative case study was made by collecting the data from the Finnish students – prospective teachers – and the sixth form pupils, who had designed and carved their own five-string kanteles. Th...

This article reveals the results of a comparative study of Estonian and Finnish general music education. The aim was to find out what music teaching practices and approaches/methods were mostly used, what music education perspectives supported those practices. The data were collected using questionnaires and the results of 107 Estonian and 50 Finni...

This article reflects on connections between music teachers’ pedagogical thinking and music syllabi of Estonia and Finland. The intention of this article is to highlight these aspects, to find connections from the perspective of music teachers of both countries, and to analyse their music teaching practices according to the three level model of tea...

The article is part of a comparative study between Estonian and Finnish comprehensive school music education. The aim of this article is to describe and compare the most meaningful aspects of music teaching from teachers’ point of view. Research questions were what the most essential aims of music teaching were for students and for teachers from te...

Abstract This article reflects on connections between music teachers’ pedagogical thinking and music syllabi of Estonia and Finland. The intention of this article is to highlight these aspects, to find connections from the perspective of music teachers of both countries, and to analyse their music teaching practices according to the three level mod...

The fundamental document directing the teacher's action in music teaching on the comprehensive level is the music syllabus in national core curriculum. The research problem is to find and compare the curriculum model, content and pedagogies of Estonian and Finnish music syllabi, examine and construct a general view what the similarities and differe...

The research objective was to find out the Estonian music teachers' pedagogical thinking according to the three level model of teachers' pedagogical thinking (Kansanen 1993), to what extent the decision the teachers are making are being influenced by the national curriculum, what music teaching practices are mostly used and what music education vie...