Korean novice music teachers’ perceptions of their first years’ challenges

Recently, there have been attempts to improve the support for beginning music teachers by investigating their difficulties during their first teaching years. The purpose of the study was to describe Korean novice music teachers’ perceptions of their first years’ challenges. In this study, data were generated through participants’ reflective journals, two individual interviews per participant and class observations. The findings indicated that beginning music teachers commonly felt insufficient in terms of music subject matter knowledge and skills as music educators as well as their assessments of students’ performances in music classes. They also mentioned their challenges, especially their relationships with students. Suggestions not only for practice in music teacher preparation and support but for future research on beginning music teachers are provided.