Comparison of preschool teacher candidates' attitudes towards music course and music literacy levels

Teachers can support children's innate interest in music, develop their knowledge and skills in music, and contribute significantly to their cognitive, emotional, social and psychomotor development by increasing the quality of preschool education. Therefore, increasing the competence of preschool teacher candidates in the field of music education is of great importance in terms of children gaining healthy and positive musical experiences at an early age. The development of knowledge and skills of educators in the field of music not only contributes to current development processes, but also forms the basis for a more conscious and effective musical education in the long term. This research aims to determine the attitudes of preschool teacher candidates towards the music course they receive as part of their undergraduate education and their musical literacy levels. In addition, it is aimed to examine these two variables comparatively with certain demographic factors. The attitudes of preschool teacher candidates towards music course and their musical literacy levels play a critical role in supporting the multifaceted development of children in the music education provided in early childhood. In the research, general screening and relational screening models were used from quantitative research methods. During the data collection process, the "Attitude Scale Towards Music Teaching" developed by Şeker and Saygı (2013) and the "Music Literacy Scale" developed by Afacan (2016) were applied. The attitudes of the prospective teachers towards music lessons and their musical literacy levels were measured using these scales, and the obtained data were analyzed. The research findings show that the prospective teachers generally had a positive attitude towards music lessons, but these attitudes remained at lower levels due to some factors. It was determined that the levels of musical literacy were generally high, but there were deficiencies in the knowledge and skills regarding the Orff method and instrument practices. It was observed that there was a positive and significant relationship between the attitudes towards music lessons and the levels of musical literacy. However, it was observed that this relationship was weaker in some sub-dimensions. It was observed that variables such as gender, age, university, musical instrument training status and music lesson duration did not have a significant effect on the attitudes of the prospective teachers towards music lessons and their musical literacy levels. However, it was determined that teacher candidates who evaluated themselves as successful in the field of music had higher attitude and literacy scores. The findings of the study reveal that the attitudes of preschool teacher candidates towards music lessons are directly related to their music literacy levels. It is seen that positive attitudes develop the musical knowledge and skills of teacher candidates. However, the deficiencies in the Orff method and instrument practices indicate that teacher candidates need to practice more in these areas and be directed to practice-based education.