Finding Confidence

Description of sub-theme

Participants talked about the ways they gained confidence and the abilities required to go forward with conviction and manage the complex environment of research and practice. The process of establishing self-belief and a sense that the idea or project was worth pursuing, carried the person through periods of challenge and difficulty.The underpinning from supervisors/ mentors was implied or explicitly mentioned by participants.

The imperative to instil confidence and the experience of gaining confidence was referred to across a number of participants as they describe the experience of negotiating research and practice. The Site KT students gave active examples how it was for them experiencing being at a mid-point in training; for example of finding their feet in the research world and the clinical placement. One student brought together the idea that research was very challenging but she was enjoying it because it was supported.

…I do think it's very demanding but I've really been enjoying it. Especially having that one-

on-one time with [my supervisor] and learning actually in-depth how to …go about doing some research. (Abby 256-258)

The newer student at Site KT identified that confidence to engage in research was greatly assisted by her previous research experience as an honours student, where she conducted a related study about people’s experience of music in everyday life. Previous training and knowledge clearly increased this student’s ability to engage with the research component of the degree. (Increased input to research in undergraduate courses seemed to increase student preparedness for research at masters’ level

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A senior researcher in Group-BA reflected on her experience of teaching with a two-tier level of music therapy education, 4-year Bachelor of Music Therapy as entrance to the profession and 2- year Masters’ (and then on to PhD) to develop higher research skills. While she was listening to the recent graduate in Group-BA struggling to come to terms with the huge time and absorption challenge of a 2--year entry level Masters’ – she felt that more time enabled students to be just more clinically confident.

A researcher-lecturer at Site KT connected the growth in confidence to the analogy of learning a new language – it includes the acquisition of vocabulary and familiarity with the ‘grammar’ of research. When students acquire these basics, hopefully they can go ahead into the new ‘country’ and make themselves understood and do things independently for themselves. Another lecturer, Helena (this time of clinical practice) also noted the importance of enough time spent in the clinical/practice space. She acknowledged that the required number of practice days was regulated by the professional body and national registration authority, but thought that the level was rather low and observed slightly wryly that she kept“bringing up the fact that I don’t think it’s enough” and the students who happened to add an extra twenty days (160 practice hours) to their total had:

… just another layer of confidence going out into the workforce. They’re a little bit more comfortable with their skills and they’re a little bit more grounded in their clinical work.

(Helena 536-538).

For this participant “it is a juggle” to manage the integrity of the training programme – “I’ve got the integrity of their clinical experience foremost for me” and her colleagues had“also got the quality of their research experience in mind as well”. She acknowledged that they had to experiment to try to maintain the balance between the two, and so “we tweak” she confessed.

A fellow participant added another layer to this dilemma. The aim as teachers was to send students out informed and aware, and we discussed the issues raised by including research in some detail. As observed above, she was on a mission to help students acquire the research language and success gaining a Masters’ qualification also enforced this. She was clear that the research was essential, however she was worried that perhaps it was only the strongest students who gain confidence. She was wishing it would be for everyone when she began teaching, but experience left her with a few nagging doubts:

‘…they’re really proud of having the Masters’. I think that gives them confidence which is

what I wanted to come back to before what I was thinking about, was that really a

phenomenon which I perceive in our … part of the world in music therapy training, is that

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my early aims when I came here was to address that, but I see that it’s not actually that easy

to do…’(Bella 405-411)

This built on another concern she had monitored earlier in the interview, observing that she really appreciated students’ research literacy that was developed by the inclusion of research in the curriculum ‘but the thing I don’t like is how stressed students get by it. (Bella 361-363)

One answer was provided by another Site KT researcher-clinical supervisor in quite a pragmatic way. She acknowledged readily the value of her mentor who encouraged her “to be an independent thinker” but she ultimately thought that it was the beauty of doing the work itself that made the difference. We are all pioneers she said, those of us who “stick at it”. The confidence came from doing it regularly and being inspired by what music does:

…it’s the work. It’s the day-to-day being out there and seeing what music does that has kept

me at it and kept me wanting students to know and to learn and to think and to be creative in

their thinking… (Alex 392-395)

A similar inspiration through practice was observed strongly at Site FV (as noted in Chapter 4).

Paloma, recent graduate in Group-BA indicated that her confidence was aided by the physical object of her Masters’ thesis, which she could return to as a completed achievement and ‘offering’ to the profession, which connected with Bella’s viewpoint above about student pride in the Masters’ degree:

…when I got to the end, I had this book and I could hand it over and I could feel like I contributed something. And I think that part of the research is really important for … emerging and to becoming a professional. (Paloma 474-476).