I was just wondering what qualifications you need to be a music teacher at a primary school? I realise I probably need to know a little more theory than I do now, but thinking back to what we learned in music when I was in primary school, I'm guessing you don't need to do the full uni thing that other teachers do?
I know I could be wrong Just wanna know what's involved...
Yes, I already sing in tune and play a few instruments (clarinet, trombone, all types of recorder, piano and saxophone). Thanks for those suggestions ladies, I'll look 'em up now
You still need to have a Uni degree in teaching to be able to teach in schools. The music teacher at my kids school did a double degree in music as well as education. Have you thought about taking on music teaching as a private instructor? Most of the women I know locally who teach music are not teachers, therefore they cannot teach in schools, but they do take lessons in their own homes or they come to your home. Might be something else to consider as well
More than likely you will have to have a B Ed (Primary) or a Grad Dip in Education.
I know in South Aust you can't teach in a classroom without a 4 yr equivalent degree (either B Ed or another Bachelor with a Grad Dip in Education). You can't get teacher's registration to teach without doing a 4 yr degree (used to be 3 yr degree but that's changed over time).
yup i am a music teacher and also did instrumental teaching whilst at uni and beyond
didnt need a degree to teach instrumental as employed by the parents rather than the school
but for music teacher i did a Bachelor of education and a grad dip in music education
If you allready have a degree in certain fields you can do a 1 year Grad dip and become a qualified teacher in a post grad course
HTH
Ok I am back!! There are a few options around but most schools would want you to be a specialist teacher which means qualified, otherwise the classroom teachers have to attend lessons, which means that they don't get their APT (time off). For Primary you don't need a separate qualification but it depends on the school you are at, many and most would want you to be able to play an instrument yourself and be able to teach basic theory. If you can play an instrument you could offer lessons to individual students or groups of students, but you would need a WWC check for that obviously. As a PA teacher, you need to familiar with school policies, curriculum requirements, assessment etc so although what they are taught is at a fairly basic level at some schools it still needs to be someone qualified who does it.
In Primary in Vic the curriculum covered includes music, dance and drama so it is quite involved although I can cover all 3 of those at times using the Orff Schulwerk approach that I use in most of my classes.
Small schools who can't find a music teacher may sometimes employ someone who comes in to run lessons for students, as I said classroom teachers in most cases would have to attend and do things like some of the assessment and reporting and the person doing this would be paid as an SSO (integration aide) level. This is what happened with Japanese at a school I taught at where we had a mum do lessons for us.
Other places like kinders have groups like Mini Maestros, Hey Dee Ho music come in an run short lessons. As a PP mentioned, you do need to be able to sing well and confidently (and need to do that to teach in Primary as well) They are usually Orff Schulwerk or Kodaly based, which is the method of teaching I use as someone who cannot play an instrument and is in the interesting place where I have a bit of free rein in what I do, with my school knowing I don't have a musical background and only basic sheet music knowledge.
HTH - it is great fun, difficult at times being a specialist instead of building a relationship with one grade each day, I have the whole school in 2 days! but I do love it and learn a lot every day.
Last edited by Beach Mama; January 14th, 2012 at 02:02 PM.
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