South Korean parents' goals, knowledge, practices, and needs regarding music education for young children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore South Korean parents' understanding of and desires for music education for their children. Following a constructivist paradigm and qualitative research methodology, data collection involved in-depth interviews, observations, written questionnaires, family musical materials, and the researcher's journals. The participants were 22 South Korean parents whose children (younger than 5 years old) attended music programs in the Seoul metropolitan area. Data were analyzed by coding, description, constant comparison, inductive analysis, contextualization, negative case analysis, classification, and interpretation. To ensure the trustworthiness of this study, the researcher conducted triangulation, member checks, peer debriefings, and cross-checking of translations. Analyses revealed that parents' goals for their children's participation in music programs included facilitating the child's development, enriching the child's life, preparing for future learning, and providing the opportunity to play through music. With respect to their knowledge about music education, parents described the music programs according to the activities they observed or experienced, but they did not show deeper understanding about a program's philosophy or history. Findings related to family music practices indicated that the primary activities were singing, listening to music, playing instruments, and dancing/movement. In describing their needs, parents expressed the desire to learn musical skills and knowledge not only for their children, but also for themselves. The findings of this study imply the necessity of education for parents of young children relating to a variety of aspects of children's music education.