Musical Elite Gymnasia as Learning Environments and Settings for Personality Development in Secondary Students? the Case of Musical Self-Concept

AbstractElite gymnasia with a main focus on musical education are special institutional learning environments for the students attending those schools: Their curricula differ considerably from those of non-specialized schools regarding the emphasis that is placed on musical activities. Thus, if effects of intensive musical education on personality development proposed in musical education research are to be found, then examining students from such elite schools seems pertinent. However, beyond institutional impact, effects of variables from the students' individual learning environment are to be expected. Thus, reanalysing data from Bernecker, Haag and Pfeiffer (2006), we investigated effects of both the institutional and the individual learning environment on different facets of the self-concept of ability with n = 509 students from 91 classes including class-levels 5 to 10 (corresponding to an age of 10 to 16 years). Classes were located either at musical elite gymnasia providing intensive musical education and including the opportunity to participate in an internationally recognised choir or at non-specialized gymnasia without such an elite musical profile. As expected, multilevel analyses revealed strong effects of school type (i.e., institutional effects) on musical activities. However, in line with Schellenberg (2006), our results did not provide evidence either for substantial institutional effects on the musical self-concept, or for such effects on the academic or general self-concept. Rather, variance in self-concept facets could better be explained via aspects of the individual learning environment or by personal characteristics like school grades or the intrinsic value of musical activities. The implications for potential effects of attending a musical elite gymnasium on personality development as well as avenues for further research are discussed.Keywords: learning environment, music education, self-concept, musical activitiesThe role of institutional and individual learning environments in fostering students' personality developmentThe present paper examines the role of both institutional and individual learning environments in the development of students' personality, focusing on their self-concept development. Regarding institutional learning environments, the pivotal question is: How important is the school environment for students' personality development? It goes without saying that the school environment is important for students' learning: According to the 'utilization of learning opportunities model' developed by Helmke (2012), learning not only depends on individual factors like the students' activities, their potential and their family background, nor is it completely determined by the teacher and his/her instruction. Rather, it is also affected by the environment or context in which learning takes place. Features of the school including its profile can be relevant for student learning and competency development. These aspects will be referred to as 'institutional learning environment' in the present paper. However, it is still an ongoing research issue whether these features are also effective determinants of students' personality development.Learning does not only take place at school. Rather, according to sociocultural approaches to learning, which can be traced back to Vygotsky and his colleagues, the sociocultural environment also plays an important role in student learning. That is, learning takes place in the interaction with other people by means of co-constructing knowledge (JohnSteiner & Mahn, 1996). This is certainly also true for the development of musical competencies, which require intensive practising outside school lessons on a regular basis. Thus, the focus on learning and development should also take into account the students' social environment (cf. Helmke, 2012). The behaviour and attitude of socialisation agents as perceived by the students, as well as their expectations regarding students' activities can be viewed as crucial components of the individual learning environment. …