A suggested program for determining the field competencies in early childhood music education specialty

Early childhood music education (ECME) affects children psychologically and pathologically in all developmental areas such as cognitive, affective, linguistic, emotional, social, musical, communicative and intellectual development. The music education received in early childhood, which forms the basis for all developmental areas of the individual, is effective throughout his/her life. The aim of this thesis is to determine the field competencies for specialization in early childhood music education and to prepare a master program proposal. In addition, it is also aimed to identify and provide solutions for the problems in the field of early childhood music education. In order to achieve this, a comprehensive literature review was conducted through domestic and foreign sources (journals, books, articles and theses). Relevant theoretical information on "Musical Development and Education in Early Childhood, Music Teacher Education Models in Different Countries, Music Teacher Education in Turkey, The Status of Music Courses for Preschool and Primary School in Teaching Programs in Turkey, Approaches in Music Education (Dalcroze, Orff, Kodály, Suzuki, Gordon Theory, Music Together®, Conversational Solfege, Drama, Jeux Dramatique) were given in the first section of the study. The second part chapter of the thesis outlines the methodology including the research model, study group, data collection and data analysis The third chapter of the thesis illustrates the opinions of the experts who have conducted and are conducting early childhood music education courses in state and foundation universities affiliated to the Higher Education Institution, experts who have conducted postgraduate studies on the subject in Turkey and in the world, and the educators who undertake early childhood music education in public schools and private education institutions affiliated to the Ministry of National Education, general competencies and field competencies to be created for a master's program that can be opened in the field of early childhood music education; the competencies related to the knowledge, skills and competencies that early childhood music education specialist should have; the disciplines that early childhood music education specialist can interact with, the courses to be included in the program and their contents, the opinions and suggestions of experts and teachers about the proposed master's program were explained under the title of findings and discussion; in line with the literature reviews. In line with the objectives of the thesis; several sets of essential knowledge, skills and competences were created in "Early Childhood Music Education Specialization (ECMEU)" as a field of art education and in the "Early Childhood Music Education Specialization Master's Program" based on the Turkish Higher Education Qualifications Framework for "Qualifications for Graduate Education", "Qualifications for the Basic Field of Teacher Training and Educational Sciences", "Qualifications for the Basic Field of Arts", "Qualifications for the Basic Field of Arts" and "Qualifications for the Field of Fine Arts Music Education". Accordingly, a total of 43 general competencies (13 in the knowledge dimension, 8 in the skills dimension and 22 in the competency dimension) and 43 field competencies (17 in the knowledge dimension, 16 in the skills dimension and 10 in the competency dimension) were created, making a total of 86 general and field competencies. In the fourth and final part of the study, the results and recommendations obtained from the research in line with all the data obtained are listed in items. The problems observed in early childhood music education are waiting to be solved not only in our country but also all over the world. In postgraduate studies conducted in different countries of the world, solutions have been proposed to increase the competence of early childhood music educators. It is thought that this study will create a separate field of specialization that recommends the training of experts for early childhood music education, will be a viable solution to the existing problems and will shed light on new studies to be conducted.