Trainee teachers' entrepreneurialism as self-determination and creativity in a blended music learning environment

Questions we care about: Our case revolves around compulsory music studies and primary school teacher education. The teacher’s education has a dual role: enabling trainee teachers to have experiences about and to understand their own creativity and using these insights to design appropriate pedagogical solutions concerning the subject. The Finnish music education in basic education emphasises each pupil’s participation and creativity. Additionally, teachers are expected to strengthen their pupils’ generic competencies, including ‘Working life and entrepreneurship’. The studied music learning environment has been organised by exploiting a blended learning approach. This blended learning environment is able to strengthen students’ creativity and self-determination (andragogy, heutagogy) because the students are responsible for leading their own learning processes. Teachers also must learn academagogy, which refers to their understanding of who they are, what they want to do, the ways to achieve their objectives, and whom to ask support when needed. Based on these observations, we first asked how widely the trainee teachers utilised the offered blended learning possibilities. Second, we were interested in how the trainee teachers’ self-determination manifested in the studied blended music learning environment. Third, we asked how the trainee teachers’ creativity manifested and evidenced itself in the studied music course.
Approach: The context is a compulsory music course in one Finnish university. The data were collected during academic 2015–2016; to collect the data, we used questionnaires, videos about the lessons and trainee teachers’ reflection diaries. The participants were one music lecturer and 90 first-year primary school student-teachers. The two authors of the current paper participated in the entire research process and were supported by two specialists in this constructive investigation. The analysis follows a theory-guided content analysis approach. The theoretical background is built from the theories about general music education, entrepreneurialism, blended learning and self-determination.
Results: The results indicate, however, that the interactive, moving cycle of the phases of pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy became important. The path to the student-teachers’ creative identity and capacity was apparent, to some extent. An awakened awareness about the students’ own academagogy was also evident.
Implications: The study enhances our understanding of blended learning environments in teacher education and may strengthen student-teachers’ creativity and self-determination. Blended learning approaches offer more flexibility to respond to students’ needs than the traditional teaching–learning situations, but each element that is blended may not benefit every student.
Value/originality: The study combines many theoretical issues. We assert that entrepreneurialism as self-determination and creativity in a general education blended music learning environment is worthy of investigation. The findings may encourage scholars and educators to experiment and study these approaches in various learning environments, especially in arts education.