An investigation of the factors that influence students in their choice of music as a senior cycle subject in post primary education

The overall aim of this exploratory research study was to elucidate the factors that influence students in their choice of Music as a Senior Cycle subject, in the context of providing guidance to students in secondary education. In recent years Music has come under increasing focus in media and educational discourse as being more likely to elicit higher marks in the Leaving Certificate Examination than other subjects (Faller 2013; McGuire 2019; Moore 2014). Moreover, recent statistics from the State Exam Commission would appear to support this claim with 97.8% of students achieving an honours grade (H5 or higher) in the Leaving Certificate Music exam in 2019 (DES 2019c). Notwithstanding its good performance as an exam subject, the provision of music in secondary schools varies considerably due to school status and only 6,234 students took the exam at Higher level in 2019 (Moore 2014; SEC 2019c; Smyth 2016). This study addresses a gap in research in relation to the factors which influence student take-up of Music in Senior Cycle. An interpretivist paradigm was employed in this study with two phases of data collection (Braun and Clarke 2013). Phase 1 consisted of two focus groups with a sample of 24 Transition Year (TY) students in one secondary school, while phase 2 collected narratives from six Senior Cycle Music teachers through semi-structured individual interviews. The main findings in this study indicate that a number of extrinsic and intrinsic factors influence students in their choice of Music as a Senior Cycle subject. Extrinsic factors include, subject sampling, timetabling, schools supports, parental influence, teacher influence and career guidance provision. Intrinsic factors include ability, passion for the subject, subject related gender issues and future career options. Finally, a number of recommendations are put forward for policy, practice and research.