Individual Support, Autonomy Support, Motivation and Interest in Music within the Family as Predictors of Experience of Competence and Grade Relevance in Music Education

Abstract

The nationwide study presented here is based on the research gap, which shows itself with regard to students’ grade relevance in music education. The relevance of students’ grades is understood as a consequence of students’ perception of teaching styles. A hypothesis-testing multi-level approach considers both factors on the student level (n=774) and context predictors of their respective grades (n=31). The results show that grade relevance and student experience of competence can be predicted through motivation, perceived autonomy, individual support, and interest in music within the family. However, the low correlation between classes with regard to grade relevance indicates that the construct represents an independent marker of attitude, largely isolated by class or teaching characteristics. This study confirms motivation as a mediating variable. The results show a relationship between autonomy from the students’ point of view and the autonomy promoting teaching style by their teachers. These findings are discussed regarding emerging research questions.