An investigation into pupils' attitudes towards secondary music education in Cyprus

The focus of this study was on the identification of pupils’ attitudes towards music education in secondary schools of Cyprus. There is a growing body of literature about the Cypriot music education scene, although the majority of studies to date have concentrated on primary school settings with less attention given to the secondary sector; thus, the purpose of this study was to address the current gap in the Cypriot music education literature as well as to contribute more generally towards research in the field of music education.A theoretical model was constructed in the light of previous literature in the field and in response to Bronfenbrenner’s influential ecological theory about child development. The model highlighted the influence of personal, social and educational aspects on the formation of pupils’ attitudes and was used in the creation of the research instrument as part of the empirical enquiry within this thesis.A Pancyprian questionnaire was carried out with a sample of 2996 pupils aged between 12 and 18 years of age representing all of the districts of Cyprus in both Gymnasium and Lyceum schools. The questionnaire focussed on gathering pupils’ perceptions about secondary music education and the subject of Music in school. Different personal and demographic factors were cross-examined in the data, including the effects of gender, district, experience, school type and school grade.Overall, pupils’ attitudes were largely negative, since almost half of the participants provided unenthusiastic and unfavourable responses towards school Music (45.9%), while there was more positive feedback about private music tuition in Cyprus (69.3%). Pupils’ attitudes were based on personal beliefs and views about the subject as well as levels of interest and knowledge gained from music lessons. The study showed that significant relationships exist among five key variables in the creation of pupils’ attitudes, so female pupils, experienced pupils, Gymnasium pupils (especially those within Grade A) and pupils from the Larnaca district were more positive towards the subject of Music, in comparison with others