Examination of music teacher candidates' lifelong learning tendencies: A mixed method study

Humanity must constantly update its current knowledge and skills to adapt to the present day, where information is developing and changing rapidly. This update would be possible with the school environment and lifelong learning not limited to a specific age range. In particular, the fact that teachers and teacher candidates who will raise the individuals of the future have a tendency to lifelong learning will contribute to both their own development and the development of society, and will also be role models for their students. The aim of this study is to determine the level of lifelong learning tendencies of music teacher candidates, the change of lifelong learning tendencies according to various variables, and the views of music teacher candidates about lifelong learning. The study group of the research was formed by Necmettin Erbakan University Ahmet Keleşoğlu Faculty Of Education in the 2022-2023 academic year. It consists of 80 music teacher candidates studying in the Music Education Department. The explanatory design, which is one of the mixed method designs, was used in the research used as a tool. In the quantitative dimension of the research, the survey method was used and the "Lifelong Learning Tendency Scale" was applied to 80 music teacher candidates. The purposive sampling method was used in the collection of qualitative data.2 focus group interviews were conducted with 12 of the participants who applied the scale through the "Interview Form on the Lifelong Learning Tendency of Music Teacher Candidates" developed by the researcher. In the analysis of quantitative data, descriptive statistics (arithmetic mean, standard deviation), non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis H test were used. Qualitative data were analyzed with descriptive analysis techniques. As a result of the study, it was determined that the lifelong learning tendencies of the music teacher candidates were at a high level in the general average and in the sub-dimensions of willingness to learn and openness to development, and the level of lifelong learning tendencies did not make a statistically significant difference according to the gender and class variable. It is observed that lifelong learning has the characteristics of being realized continuously, at any age and everywhere, intentionally or unintentionally, and it has advantages such as completing the missing education in formal education, making use of free time, realizing it while working on another task, correcting the wrongly learned information and contributing to personal and social development. In addition, among the prominent qualitative findings of the study, music educators should be lifelong learners in order to adapt to this dynamic and lively process, considering the fact that music is a dynamic and lively process, and that teachers should apply to lifelong learning because it is a role model for their students while adapting to current and technological developments.