Unit one
Teaching effective technique for your instruments or voice (Aug to end Sept)
The ESTA PG Cert was launched in 2017 and represents a partnership and collaboration with the University of Chichester in the UK.
This international course is at Masters Level (level 7) and is delivered online, beginning with one week of residential study at the University of Chichester campus.
Enrolment is now open for 2020, and applications are invited from teachers of either bowed strings, plucked strings, piano, woodwind, brass, percussion or voice.
The course will begin with its residential week from 9th to 14th August 2020, at the University of Chichester in the UK. All students are supported throughout the course by a subject specific mentor.
This course gives you the opportunity to take a look at your own teaching technique and specific strategies and techniques you use, in addition to standing back and developing a broader perspective on teaching and learning and music education in general. The course offers a well structured programme with mentors who are all highly experienced teachers, and a blend of face-to-face and online learning that results in a level 7 qualification from a well regarded higher education institution. Being a student on this course is all about developing as a reflective practitioner; someone who is willing to stand back and look at what they are doing, and contemplate changing aspects if they need to. The awarded PG Cert is a unique qualification for the teaching profession.
You will be assigned a mentor from the ESTA mentor panel. Your mentor’s job is to guide you through the course, lead study sessions and assess the work you submit. Your studies, be they online through webinars, one-to-one meetings with your mentor or course leader, discussion groups, reading, making a video, or reflecting on practice, will focus on every aspect of your teaching with particular relevance to the context in which you work. This work will help you to question things you may have taken for granted, explore work with and without notation and develop a holistic approach to your teaching.
Your course leader will provide an overview of the whole course, lead study sessions, and also make assessments of all students’ work to ensure fairness. In order to gain the maximum benefit from your investment in this programme of study you should plan your diary carefully to make sure you have all the deadlines for completion and submission of work highlighted.
Who is the course for?
The ESTA PG Cert is designed for teachers who want to enhance their approach to teaching through a programme of study that is both academic and practical.
Successful completion represents one third of a Master’s degree.
Participants will:
- Develop practical skills in teaching musical and technical material, fostering an engaging and student-appropriate approach to music learning and performance
- Foster an investigative and inquisitive approach to teaching by developing skills in both research and reflection
- Actively develop communication skills to enable effective teaching
- Develop skills in curriculum planning that are highly relevant in the profession
What do I study on the course?
The course has four main units of study and three additional ones, and the units are as follows:
Unit 1 focuses on teaching effective technique for playing or singing. Much of the work for this unit is undertaken at the summer school.
Unit 2 is titled learning to play. For many professional teachers, it has been years since they experienced learning as a beginner, and being removed from the learner’s experience can be a disadvantage. Instrumental and voice teachers are in a unique position, as opposed to a school class teacher, where they create an experience tailored to each learner. They need to develop an awareness and understanding of how learners learn in order to enable both teacher and learner to collaborate effectively and enjoyably. This unit enables teachers to experience and reflect on the learning process, giving them a valuable tool to develop their professional practice.
Unit 3 is titled teaching strategies for teachers: Working with children and young people. Pro-active teaching requires practical planning and preparation, and also an understanding of teaching the instrument as it has developed historically and within practical contexts. This unit enables teachers to be prepared for the diverse settings they may encounter in their teaching careers, giving them a grounding in teaching theory and exploring a range of methods and strategies that can be embedded into their own professional practice.
Unit 4 centres on developing effective curricula for instrumental and voice teaching. Teachers often become reliant on published schemes, tutors and methods which may play an important role in guiding both teacher and learner along a path of enquiry towards the acquisition of skills, knowledge and understanding. Through exploring the construction of curricula, teachers are empowered to make confident decisions about adapting published schemes of work or creating their own.
Three additional units provide the opportunity to spend some time looking at aspects of work which are of significant importance to all teachers:
- Safeguarding children and young people in music education
- Equality, diversity and inclusion in music education
- Promoting children and young people’s positive behaviour.
Who teaches the course?
The ESTA PG Cert is taught by members of the ESTA mentor panel, all of whom are distinguished UK-trained musicians, working as teachers and performers and who are based in the UK.
Students join a small mentor group and are allocated an individual mentor who both delivers the course materials and assesses their work. The mentor team works under the direction of the Course Leader.
How will my work be assessed?
In Unit 1, students work towards presenting a short, live presentation focused on a specific aspect of playing technique and a video recording of the opening ten minutes of a first lesson, introducing a student to the instrument.
For Unit 2, students submit an abstract of their written work and receive comments from their mentor before their final 3,500 essay is submitted.
In preparation for the final assessment in Unit 3, students analyse the content of a lesson and provide a brief written discussion of their findings. This leads on to a case study of their own (recorded) teaching. Students reflect in writing and specifically consider the impact on learning, contextualising and supporting, with references to relevant teaching literature.
For Unit 4, students first critique the published schemes of work or tutor methods of others, before constructing their own one year curriculum appropriate to a specific category of learner which includes a scheme of work/short term plan and an example of a detailed lesson plan.
Grades, rather than percentages, are given for assessed work. Students receive detailed written, video, or verbal feedback for all assessed work.
Course Structure and Timeline
The course is timetabled over a period of one calendar year with the 2020 intake beginning in July 2020 with preliminary work prior to Unit 1.
- Residential: Sunday 9 – Friday 14 August 2020 at University of Chichester UK*
- Online: 1 July 2020 – 30 June 2021 online
There are four units of study which must all be completed in chronological order and, in addition to online working, students are expected to attend specific study days as indicated in the timetable.
A further three additional units focus on: safeguarding children and young people in music education; equality, diversity and inclusion in music education, and promoting children and young people’s positive behaviour.
* Travel costs from the student’s location to Chichester are not included the course fee
Unit one
is centred on the ESTA summer school, to be held at Chichester University (8th – 14th August 2020) and which students must attend. This unit is completed by the end of September when students move to Unit 2.
Unit two
is completed by early November when students move to Unit 3.
Unit three
is begun in November with all work being completed by the beginning of March 2021.
Unit four
is completed between March and the end of May 2021.
Further information
What you need
Students will need online access (at home) before, during and immediately following participation on the course. They will also need the facility to make simple audio and video recordings throughout the course (most smartphones and laptops will have this facility). These will be needed for:
- Webinars: These will be prepared and delivered by the course leader, members of the mentor panel and invited guest presenters. Webinars will take the form of pre-recorded video presentations with accompanying audio-visual and reading material, each coupled with setting of follow-up work for students.
- Videos of teaching: Students are required to submit up to 4 videos of themselves teaching. It is the student’s responsibility to obtain written permission from: the student they are teaching; the student they are teaching’s parent/carer or responsible adult, and the school or institution, where appropriate.
- Follow-up work may include student discussion online (synchronous or asynchronous) or completion of questionnaires or submission of brief written statements.
Time commitment
Online classes take as much time as regular on-campus classes. You need to set aside sufficient time for study. Plan to spend at least as much time working on the assignments and studying as you would with a traditional course. We recommend that you need to set aside 12-15 hours for study per week in order to get the maximum benefit from the ESTA PG Cert course.
Attendance
- Students enrolled on the ESTA PG Certificate course are expected to attend and participate fully in all study sessions set out in the course documentation and Handbook.
- We understand that musicians are often reluctant to turn down playing opportunities but it is unacceptable to use last minute playing engagements as an excuse to miss study sessions.
- Please refer to the course website for details about computer literacy, levels of engagement and our student code of conduct. The course is delivered in the English language.
Entry requirements
- Applicants must hold a degree that was taught or researched in English and is equivalent to a UK bachelor’s degree or above.
- Alternatively, they may hold an appropriate English language qualification that must be acceptable to the University of Chichester.
- Applicants are expected to be proficient as musicians, demonstrating a performance level of a minimum standard equivalent to Grade 8 ABRSM or Trinity College London.
- All applicants must have access to an online working environment. Skype will be used for mentor/student interaction on the course.
- All applicants will be interviewed face-to-face in their own country or via Skype.
