The Administration of Music Programs in Canadian Schools

Abstract

Shand and Bartel describe a major research project undertaken by the Canadian Music Education Research Centre at the University of Toronto: “an investigation of the administration of music programs in Canadian elementary and secondary schools in 1989-1990.” Shand and Bartel designed a six-question survey-questionnaire, which they distributed to a random sample of 192 school boards across Canada (beginning in February 1990). They received 175 responses by January 1991. They present here a detailed statistical analysis of the responses they received to each of the six questions. Conclusions include the discovery of a high level of teacher motivation among those teachers below high school; moderate board support (as evidenced by the priority given to hiring music teachers); a lack of administrative support; a lack of budgetary support; an indication that adequate administrative support may demand the presence of a specialized music or fine arts administrator – currently unavailable in many boards and giving rise to “a desperate shortage of support”. The results open up several areas of further research interest, and the need for a second survey, the results of which are presented in the Canadian Music Educator Vol. 35 No. 7.