Fostering musical creativity in primary schoolMartinović Bogojević, Jelena (Avtor) Rotar Pance, Branka (Mentor) creativitymusical creativityprimary schoolsMontenegroSloveniateacherspupilsWebster's MCTM – II testThe doctoral dissertation entitled Fostering Musical Creativity in Primary School (sl. Spodbujanje glasbene ustvarjalnosti v osnovni šoli) explores the encouragement, realisation and importance of musical creativity in primary school general education. The context of the research is the teaching of music in the educational systems of the two countries, Montenegro and Slovenia, defined on the basis of a comparative analysis of the two curricula, during which numerous similarities were noticed. The most important ones refer to the structure of the nine-year primary school, divided into three three-year cycles, as well as to the concept of teaching music, which is realised through three musical activities: performing, listening and creating. The roots of these similarities date back to 2001, when a comprehensive reform of the education system in Montenegro began, which relied heavily on Slovenia's educational experience.The methodology for creating the programme for the subject Music culture was, then, created in cooperation with Montenegrin and Slovenian experts. Although creation had been defined in all previous course programmes (Course programme Music culture, 2003, 2011, 2013, 2017), there has been no research on how much this activity has taken root in the practice of Montenegrin primary schools. Research on encouraging musical creativity in Slovenian primary education has been sporadically conducted (e.g., Črčinovič Rozman, 2009; Oblak, 1987; Rotar Pance & Igličar, 2017), so this topic is still relevant for further research. One of the main goals of the dissertation was to establish to what extent and in what way the creation, as a programme-defined musical activity, is realised in the regular teaching of music in Montenegro and Slovenia by examining the experience and attitudes of teachers. B. Oblak (1987) confirmed in her dissertation that the promotion of musical creativity is important for children's creative and holistic development, as well as the need for continuous development of new learning methods. With her own research work, she scientifically substantiated the innovative changes that came to life in Slovenian education through the results of her experimental teaching, which had a far-reaching impact on the development of music pedagogy in Slovenia. From then until today, teaching methods, textbooks and didactic literature have been developed in Slovenia, in which musical creativity attracts a lot of attention. In the last decade, musical creativity in Slovenian general education has gained significant support in the Slovene Music Olympiad (Rotar Pance, 2015, 2018; Rotar Pance & Igličar, 2017), a manifestation that encourages musically gifted students to gain their first compositional experience. In order to have a more comprehensive and deeper understanding of the practice and the possibility of systematically realising creative musical activities within regular classes, in real school conditions, a qualitative pedagogical research was conducted with one fifth grade class within the Montenegrin educational system. The methodology of action research was applied, which proved to be effective in contemporary music pedagogy in order to have a greater impact of research on changing of the teaching practice (Bačlija Sušić, 2012; Conway & Borst, 2001; Hartwing, 2014; Holcar Brunauer, 2013; Laprise, 2017; Pucihar, 2016; Rusinek, 2016; Veloso & Carvalho, 2016). The allowed pluralism of methods provided the possibility of analysing a large number of collected data from several sources, in order to better understand the possibilities of encouraging musical creativity and to understand the effects that this activity exercised on pupils. As part of the action research, Webster's (1994) test Measure of Creative Thinking in Music (MCTM – II) was applied at the beginning and end of the research process, which measured four factors: musical extensiveness (ME), musical flexibility (MF), musical originality (MO) and musical syntax (MS). Empirical research relies on theories of musical creativity, presented in the theoretical part of the dissertation, which consists of four chapters: Explanation of creativity, Explanations of musical creativity, Creativity in music education and Music education in primary school. The chapters contain the most significant theories on creativity, a phenomenon that has been intensively researched in psychology from the second half of the 20th century to the present day (Albert & Runco, 1999; Amabile, 1983, 1996, 2003; Csikszentmihalyi, 1990, 1996, 1999, 2006; Glăveanu, 2010; Glăveanu & Kaufman, 2019; Runco & Jaeger, 2012; Simonton, 1999; Sternberg, 1999, 2003). The specificities of musical creativity, as a domain of a certain construct, are presented from the analysis of the process of music formation to the presentation of research on the characteristics of children's musical creation (e.g. Chevalier, 1995; Kratus, 1989, 1995; Moog, 1976, Moorhead & Pond, 1941; Oblak, 1987, 2000, 2001; Reinhardt, 1990; Swanwick & Tillman, 1986; Young, 2002). Intensive research over the past decade has led to a clearer definition of the term musical creativity in music education. The need to modify and redefine the Western European music educational concept means, above all, providing opportunities for each child to experience their own creative experience, from spontaneous exploration of sounds to generating musical ideas into meaningful musical wholes (Abramo & Reyndols, 2015; Burnard & Murphy, 2017; Jordan & Carlile, 2013; Koutsoupidou, 2008; Oblak, 1987, 2000, 2001; Odena, 2016, Pesek, 1997; Sullivan & Willingham, 2002). This opportunity was given to primary school pupils in Montenegro and Slovenia, through programme-defined creative activities, which were presented through a comparative analysis of course programmes. The theoretical part also points out the following: the application of constructivist theory in music education, interdisciplinary connections and integrative teaching, as well as the application of modern information and communication technologies that are becoming an important tool for encouraging creative music processes in music education. The impetus for the research was, also, provided by contemporary reflections on the importance of practice in a certain socio-cultural context (McPherson, Welch, & Burnard, 2012). The empirical part of the doctoral dissertation is presented in the sixth and seventh chapters. The sixth chapter contains the results of a quantitative empirical pedagogical research in which the attitudes and experiences of teachers on musical creativity in primary schools in Montenegro and Slovenia were examined (N = 154). The results show that there are differences in achieving the goals of musical creativity between Montenegrin and Slovenian teachers. Slovenian teachers achieve more goals in the field of creativity in music, while Montenegrin teachers realise more verbal and artistic expression of musical experience, achieving a higher degree of intercourse connection. As aggravating circumstances, teachers in Slovenia see, above all, an excessive course programme, while Montenegrin teachers state the lack of didactic literature, tools for work, but also the lack of interest of pupils in creation. According to the teachers, pupils are the most creatively productive in the second three-year educational cycle. In the realisation of tasks, a significantly higher percentage of teachers pay more attention to the creative process in relation to the creative product. Teachers perceive themselves as creative people, both at school and outside, which confirms their involvement in various musical activities. Teachers highly value their mastery of all stages of the implementation of creation in teaching practice. The research also examined the competencies of teachers in the field of musical creativity, so both groups of respondents believe that they have not acquired a high level of knowledge and skills in the field of musical creativity during their studies, and that licensed professional development programs in both countries contain elements of musical creativity. Slovenian teachers, unlike Montenegrin ones, highly value the knowledge and skills they acquire within these programmes. The use of modern information and communication technologies (ICT) is used equally in both countries, with Slovenian teachers in this research being divided on whether or not technology encourages creativity. Research of attitudes and experiences of music teachers can, in addition to scientific contribution, provide a deeper picture of the situation in teaching practice, provide significant insights in future curriculum improvement, both in primary schools and higher education music institutions, in order to strengthen the competencies of future music teachers. The seventh chapter presents a qualitative empirical pedagogical research, conducted as an action research during the 2017/2018 school year with one fifth grade class (N = 30) in one primary school in Montenegro. The research was conducted in two cycles, determined according to school semesters. Action research shows that, in a clearly defined school framework, it is possible to intensively realise creation as a musical activity, while overcoming certain limitations, through clearly designed methodological procedures in the realisation of a wide range of tasks. Some of the strategies that can be applied are: group form of work in most activities, encouraging a constructivist way of learning and the implementation of integrative teaching as an upgrade to the acquired knowledge that achieves a holistic approach in music education. At the end of the research, relational coding was performed to establish the connection between the categories: acquisition of musical knowledge, development of musical skills, development of critical thinking, learning through problem solving, collaborative creativity, which highlighted the subcategory of teacher roles, and integrative teaching and motivation. Measurement by Webster’s (1994) MCTM – II test, demonstrates that teaching in which creativity was encouraged contributed to the development of three factors of creative thinking in music: musical flexibility, musical originality and musical syntax. The dissertation aims to contribute to new knowledge of the importance of the child's own creative processes for the child's development, as well as to contribute to a deeper insight into the real state of practice, by examining attitudes about musical creativity, ways of realisation and competencies from the teacher's perspective.[J. Martinović Bogojević]20212021-04-08 10:14:04Doktorska disertacija125873UDK: 78:37COBISS_ID: 54159363sl