Constructive Frictions on RePlay! - Een praktijkonderzoek naar de eigen professionele ontwikkeling door de systematische confrontatie van het persoonlijk interpretatiekader met de muziekeducatieve praktijk

The aim of this practitioner research study was to develop a music educational practice as a music educator in which how I think I act and how I actually act are aligned. The result was RePlay!: a music education project for 16 young people aged 10 to 14 who wanted to create music together over the course of five days. I organized three editions of RePlay!: during the Easter holidays of 2016, 2017, and 2019. The research question was as follows: How can the systematic confrontation between my personal interpretive framework and actual practice stimulate my professional development? Teaching is a complex process in which a teacher's personal opinions, values, and norms inevitably play a role. These mental frameworks are reflected in the teacher's actions and are always formed in interaction with others. Argyris and Schön (1974) referred to this personal framework as a theory of action: a theory about one's own actions, or how those actions should be, from which the teacher's conscious behavior emerges. Within this theory, a distinction is made between the espoused theory (how the teacher thinks he acts) and the theory-in-use (how the teacher actually acts in practice). Discrepancies can occur between these two aspects, of which the teacher may not always be aware. Identifying these discrepancies is not necessarily a problem. On the contrary, such frictions can be a source of learning: Why did this discrepancy occur, and what were the consequences for the educational practice? How do I relate to this discrepancy? Do I want to adjust my teaching practice in the future, or do I revise my thinking? And in what way? These questions can trigger and guide professional development. To make this possible, it is important that a teacher is aware of their underlying beliefs, observes their teaching practice closely, and is thus able to identify potential frictions. The personal lens through which teachers view themselves, give meaning to their work, and act accordingly is referred to by Kelchtermans (1994) as the personal interpretive framework, and it forms a key component of the conceptual framework of this research. To systematically design and optimize RePlay!, the principles of design-based research were applied. Furthermore, my own personal interpretative framework was made explicit in order to compare it with the actual practice of RePlay!. A notable aspect of this practitioner research study is that both the conceptual framework and the methodology were continuously evolving and adjusted. This was based on the progressive insights gained during the iterative process of reading and experiencing. The process-oriented nature of this journey was deliberately included in the reporting, as it illustrates how the ongoing confrontation, evaluation, and adjustment triggered my professional development as a music educator. This research demonstrates how I was able to stimulate my own professional development in a self-directed way through the process of designing and implementing RePlay!. It can serve as an example for other music education professionals, but the concept can also be translated to other forms of professional development.