The present study attempts to explore the field of creative music workshops with the elderly. A growing amount of research has been carried out into running (creative) workshops, and besides we know a lot about the elderly and ageing. The aim of this research is to gather knowledge on the merging of both subjects, creative music workshops with the elderly in the so-called ‘fourth age’. In particular, this research project has been carried out as a study of a potential professional field for musicians and music educators. For this reason the research objective is focused on the position of the workshop leader and what is needed to run creative music workshops with elderly in residential homes for the elderly successfully. We therefore aim to explore aspects connected to this practice such as entrepreneurship, musicianship and leadership.
This study focuses on the complexity and uniqueness of 45 beginning teachers’ professional identity, an important perspective that is usually not an explicit part of induction programmes. Data were collected in four workshops designed to support beginning teachers in reflecting on personal and contextual aspects that influence (the development of) their professional identity. Based on these reflections, portraits of each teacher were constructed. Five overarching identity themes emerged from these portraits: Classroom management, Students learning, Workload, Collaboration and Standing up for oneself. All themes were visualised into a configuration consisting of personal and contextual aspects, arranged according to three foci: focus on oneself, on students, and on team/organisation. The configurations differ in their magnitude but do justice to the unique and complex nature of each teacher. Constructing configurations is a promising way for understanding what really matters in beginning teachers’ professional identity development and helping them deepen their reflection.
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