ERIC Number: EJ1475795
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1063-2913
EISSN: EISSN-1940-4395
Available Date: 0000-00-00
"Walking on Eggshells": Music Educator Perceptions of Agency in Times of Surveillance and Divisive Concept Laws
Arts Education Policy Review, v126 n3 p192-201 2025
Legislation in the United States has increasingly led to limitations on what and how educators are able to teach in the classroom. These measures, often deemed divisive concept laws, can lead to a host of challenges for music educators, impacting student/teacher relationships, repertoire selection, pedagogical practices, and student and teacher safety and mental health, among other concerns. Furthermore, constriction of content can frame the music educator as a deliverer of curriculum wherein the educator may feel stripped of their professional agency. The purpose of this study was to explore how, if at all, music educators from four states considering or actively enacting divisive concept laws achieved agency in their unique contexts. Data included semi-structured interviews with eight music educators. Findings suggest that stakeholders responded to policies in varying ways, the language of policies played a significant role in how policies were understood and enacted, and participants found divisive concept laws as particularly challenging in the midst of broader deprofessionalization of teaching.
Descriptors: Music Teachers, Teacher Attitudes, Educational Legislation, Professional Autonomy, Educational Policy, Elementary School Teachers, Secondary School Teachers, Power Structure, Parent Role, Administrator Role, Language Usage
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Florida; Kentucky; Texas; Wisconsin
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1College of Fine Arts, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA