New approaches to solving the problem of advanced training for music teachers: the view of a teacher at a children’s music school

Russia manages to maintain its leading position in the field of training musicians. Despite certain losses that we suffered in the turbulent years of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the domestic musical community, at the cost of considerable effort, managed to defend the powerful potential of Russian musical art accumulated over centuries.

     Comparing the domestic system of music education, which has its pros and cons, with the experience of the leading countries of the world in this field, one could, other things being equal, cautiously predict that Russia will retain a favorable place in the musical sun in the foreseeable future. However, life presents our country with new serious challenges. 

     Many domestic and foreign experts in the field of musical cultural studies are already noting the growing negative impact of some global processes on the “quality” of music in our country, the “quality” of people, and the quality of music education. The category of negative factors includes crisis phenomena in the domestic economy and political superstructure, growing confrontation in the world, increasing international isolation of Russia, stagnation of intellectual and cultural exchange with leading Western countries. New problems have been added to the previous problems in the field of music: difficulties with creative self-realization and employment of musicians and music teachers, growing social fatigue, apathy, and partial loss of passion. New (not always negative, often very positive) stereotypes have appeared in the behavior of young musicians: modified value guidelines, the growth of pragmatism, utilitarianism, rationalism, the formation of independent, non-conformist thinking. The teacher will have to learn how to more actively motivate young people to study, since currently less than 2%  учеников детских музыкальных школ связывают свое будущее с музыкой (примерно один из ста). В настоящее время этот показатель эффективности работы с некоторыми оговорками можно считать приемлемым. Однако, в самом ближайшем будущем требования к результативности учебы могут кратно возрасти (об этом мы поговорим чуть ниже).

      New realities require an adequate response from the music education system, the development of new approaches and teaching methods, including the adaptation of a modern student and young teacher to those traditional, time-tested requirements, thanks to which Russian musical culture has reached its heights. 

    It is fundamentally important to emphasize that the domestic reform of music education, including the task of modernizing the system of advanced training for music teachers, must be focused not only and not so much on solving today’s problems, but on challenges in the future. How can one recall the approach of our famous music teacher A.D. Artobolevskaya to education. Her pedagogy is “pedagogy of long-term results.” She knew how to look into the future. It shaped not only the musician of tomorrow, not only his personality, but also society.

     It is appropriate to note here that not all countries in the world link their education systems to future changes. Much attention is paid to predictive developments in the field of modeling “new” music teachers in Finland, China, and some other countries. In Germany, the concept of education with an eye to the future is developed by the Federal Institute of Vocational Education. As for the United States and most Western European countries, the main (although not the only) instrument regulating the education system in these countries is the market, the system of capitalist relations. And here it should be noted that the market, being a sensitive and quick detector of changes,  does not always work ahead. Often it is late and “hits the tails.”

        Looking to the future, we expect another major test. In the medium term, in 10-15 years, Russia will face a demographic collapse. The influx of young people into the economy and the arts will decline sharply. According to pessimistic forecasts, by 2030 the number of boys and girls aged 5-7 years will be 40% less than at the present time, which is also not the most favorable time. The first to face this problem will be teachers of children’s music schools. After a short period of time, the wave of demographic “failure” will reach the highest levels of the educational system. Losing in quantity  In relation, the Russian music school must compensate for the numerical deficit by increasing the quality potential and skill of each young musician and his teacher. I would like to express confidence that following the domestic traditions of academic education, adapting it to new challenges, using the full power of the Russian music cluster, we will be able to improve and optimize the system for searching and developing musical talents, turning them into diamonds. And the main role here should be played by a new, more professional music teacher.

     How to respond to these challenges? How to orient the system of advanced training for music teachers to solve current and future problems?

     Apparently, the solution should be sought through evolutionary transformations, improving the system of advanced training, including taking into account the best practices of foreign countries. It is important to consolidate the efforts of all experts, regardless of their views, on the basis of mutual consideration of opinions, on the principles of constructive competition. By the way, Chinese experts believe that “reducing the distance” between the country’s scientific elite and practicing teachers would help increase the effectiveness of the music education reform in the PRC. Such a dialogue would also be useful for the development of Russian musical art.

      Decisions made should be based on the principles of science, gradualism of reforms, and testing of different approaches based on experiment (where possible). Be bolder in using alternative methods and models for organizing the advanced training system. And, finally, it would be useful to free approaches to reform from the political component, to be guided by considerations of the expediency and usefulness of reforms.

     When developing methods and methodology for the future system of advanced training, it is important to keep in mind that almost all countries of the world advocate for the constant growth of the professionalism of their teachers, but approaches to solving this problem differ. It seems that it would not be superfluous to study advanced foreign experience in this matter. 

     The results of reform actions largely depend on correct goal setting. The criterion for the effectiveness and correctness of the concept of continuous education of music teachers is its ability  provide comprehensive  systematic solution of the following main tasks. While preserving the historically verified academic traditions of Russian musical art, to achieve  increasing the professionalism of the teacher, increasing his creative potential. We must help the teacher develop and master  modern  pedagogical and psychological methods of training and education of young musicians, taking into account the NEW QUALITY OF YOUTH, and finally, take into account in their work  new market  realities. The state still has a lot to do to increase the prestige of the work of a music teacher. The teacher must be able to clearly formulate the goals of teaching and education, know how to achieve them, develop the required moral and psychological qualities: be patient, sociable, be able to establish contact with “new” children and adults, and also have the skills to manage a group (team) , strive to improve your creative cultural thesaurus. 

     The teacher is tasked with developing a sustainable interest in self-improvement and developing analytical research skills. Empirics should be supported by fundamental scientific research. We realize that this is a very difficult task. And it must be solved using delicate methods, trying not to harm other educational components. Experience may be needed here  China, where for teachers  music, standards for performing scientific research work have been established. For example, to encourage the participation of young Chinese scientists (and their foreign colleagues) in improving the country’s educational system, the PRC government at the turn of the century   began to implement the “Plan for Incentivizing Distinguished Scientists.” As a result, about 200 young scientists were involved in the implementation of this scientific and practical task. All of them were employed as professors.

      Music teachers at Chinese pedagogical universities in the country are required to compile educational teaching aids in their specialty. In the PRC, the most striking scientific works of recent years include “Introduction to Musical Culture”, “Musical Education”, “Musical Creativity Using a Computer”, “Musical Psychology”, “Pedagogical Abilities and Skills” and many others. Teachers have the opportunity to publish their scientific works in the journals “Chinese Music Education”, “Musical Research”, “Folk Music”, and in institute collections.

     To implement the tasks set by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, for  implementation of the concept of lifelong education requires the creation of an updated institutional   advanced training systems, modern infrastructure  training. It will also be necessary to adjust some essential principles and teaching methods to take into account new factors. The reform should be based on knowledge of general and musical pedagogy, psychology, sociology, musicology, cultural studies, sociology, etc.

     Currently, the infrastructure of the system for advanced training of musicians is in the stage of formation, development, streamlining, and phased certification. Qualitative changes are taking place. There is a process of partial decentralization of the denationalization of the educational system and at the same time strengthening the high-quality previous structures for training and improving music teachers. Perhaps one of the main conditions for the successful development of Russian post-higher music education will be finding the optimal balance between state and market components in a unified system for building new teaching staff.  At this stage of the reform, the tone in the current structure of advanced training is set, as one would expect, by organizations that have extensive experience in training music teachers and generally remain committed to traditional forms and methods of teaching. At the same time, the number of new educational structures is growing, which often do not yet fully meet professional standards. It is fundamentally important to help their formation and development, thereby ensuring a competitive environment in this segment of education. Manifesting  During the transition period, such liberalism, and subsequently the attitude towards those who have not managed to reach a high level of professionalism, should become extremely demanding. Experience can be used  China, where universities are inspected every four years for compliance with education standards. If an organization does not meet the requirements, it is given  some time to eliminate the shortcomings. If after the second inspection the results turn out to be negative, then this university is subject to severe sanctions in the form of reduced funding, restrictions on the number of students, and a reduction in the number of educational programs.

       Foreign experience in using market and state   regulators, finding the optimal balance between the use of centralized management methods and private initiative.  Based on this criterion, three groups of countries can be roughly distinguished. To the first  we can include states where the market plays a dominant role in the education system, and the role of the central authorities is secondary. This is the USA, most countries of Western Europe. The category of countries where the role of the state predominates, and the role of the market is of a subordinate, secondary nature, can, with certain reservations, include Japan, Singapore, and some other countries.  The most prominent representative of the third group of states, where the center and the market are represented relatively equally, is the PRC. It is important to emphasize that each of these groups contains elements that are interesting for Russia.

     Speaking about the US experience in music education, it should be noted that  Each state (as a consequence of the federal structure of the country) develops its own criteria for the advanced training procedure, its own methods and tools. In other words, in the USA there are no single universal requirements or criteria for the quality of music teachers. IN  In Germany, it is the local authorities, the district government, that provides assistance and controls the improvement of qualifications. It is noteworthy that in Germany there is no uniform (for all states) curriculum.

      Such a decentralized “market” system is good at the stage of searching for the most effective education model, and is indispensable as a tool for its constant adjustment. However, at the conservative stage of the system’s functioning, such diversity sometimes does not play a very positive role in creating a free labor market for music teachers. The fact is that  Different requirements for music education in each American state sometimes force a candidate for a specific position to undergo training and certification in that particular field.  the state where he plans to work. So he strives  increase your chances of being hired. “Where I studied, that’s where I came in handy.” This “serfdom” dependence to some extent limits labor migration in the country. While losing in this component, the American tradition of decentralization of powers creates effective compensatory mechanisms that are interesting for Russia. These include a variety of professional, usually public, organizations that take on the functions of coordinators, sources of information, analytical centers and even monitors of the quality of education. These include the “National Association for Music Education”, “Music Teachers National Association”,  “ The Music Education Policy Roundtable”,  “College Music Society”, “Commission on Teacher Credentialing”   (California)  and some others. For example, the last of the organizations listed above, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, created a commission of representatives from colleges, universities, labor organizations, district and district organizations. The commission’s mission is to monitor state-of-the-art developments in music education and develop new standards for music teacher training in California.

      The category of promising organizations of this kind could include the one recently created with the participation of the famous Russian teacher E.A. Yamburg, the Russian association “Teacher of the 21st Century”, which is called upon at the present transitional stage of reforming the educational system to adapt and adjust the implemented certification system.

     It should be recognized that even in the United States, which is distinguished by a high degree of traditionalism and conservatism in these matters, there has been a tendency for organizations of the mentioned type to go beyond territorial boundaries and cover the entire country. In 2015 The US Congress adopted a national program  “Every Student Succeeds Act”, which replaced the previous “No Child Left Behind Act”. Although it is not entirely mandatory for use by all American educational structures, it is nevertheless intended to become a guideline for them. The new program tightened the requirements for teachers, requiring each state to set new standards for highly qualified teachers (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_education_in_the_United_States). Similar function of the all-American “soft” regulator  The declaration adopted in 1999 on the main directions of education reform “Tanglewood II: Charting for the Future”, designed for a forty-year period, should play a role.  

     When assessing the Western experience of music education, we must proceed from the fact that the most tangible results in the field of music, in particular in the field of performing arts, were achieved in the USA and Great Britain.

     With a certain degree of caution, we can assume that at the present stage of reforming the domestic system  music education is closer to a compromise   смешанная модель управления системы повышения квалификации. Одним из главных ее принципов является равновесное сочетание рыночных и государственных инструментов управления. Возможно, эта модель станет для нас переходной к новой форме мобилизации интеллектуального потенциала страны за счет дальнейшего снижения роли государства.

     The correct choice of the ratio of state, public and private organizations will to a certain extent determine how successful the reform of music education will be  RF. In addition, it is necessary to find the optimal balance between national traditions of music education and the principles of “Bolonization”.

    Let’s continue the conversation about ways to improve the domestic infrastructure and improve the qualifications of music teachers. Moving in this direction, we would benefit from Finnish experience (considered one of the most advanced in the world) in the development and implementation of a long-term professional development program on the basis of universities, institutes, training centers, and schools. It is useful to become familiar with the activities of the British Teacher Development Agency, which not only organizes mandatory professional development, but also finances studies. This practice would be very useful for our country. 

     Apparently, the idea of ​​​​forming territorial (regional, district, city) educational clusters, including those created on the basis of existing educational structures, is promising. One of these pilot projects is the scientific and methodological center of the Moscow region “Pedagogical Academy of Postgraduate Education”.

     There is a certain potential for improving teachers in educational music institutions at the primary level, for example, in children’s music schools. Obviously, there are reserves here in using the practice of mentoring, sharing experiences, and transferring knowledge from more experienced employees to young specialists. In this regard, the American methodology for such work, called “Master-Teacher programs,” is interesting. The English experience is curious when  For the first year, a beginning teacher works as a trainee under the supervision of experienced mentors. The practice of working with young teachers has become widespread in South Korea  a whole team of employees. Improvement of teacher qualifications would be facilitated by a more active invitation to  music school of specialists to conduct certified classes under the advanced training program (lectures, express seminars, business games, etc.).  Assistance in conducting such classes, as well as in the practical implementation of the acquired knowledge, could be played by a facilitator (English, facilitate – provide, facilitate) from among the most advanced teachers of the school or an invited specialist.

     Foreign (English, American) experience in creating interschool network knowledge exchange, joint training of teaching staff, and solving common educational and other problems deserves attention. For example, in the USA, associations of schools are being created, the competence of which, in particular, includes organizing joint interschool teacher courses.

     It seems that in our country there is a future for such a source of knowledge and experience as private teachers. The state, represented by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, could experimentally form (including through the legalization of “private” teachers) a segment of officially registered private, individual music teachers, and develop amendments to tax legislation. This would also be useful from the point of view of creating a competitive environment in the education system.

     Не углубляясь в данной статье в вопросы, связанные с категорией частной преподавательской деятельности, важно подчеркнуть, что, например, в Германии ученики, подготовленные частными музыкальными учителями, составляют большую часть победителей  all-German  competition “Youth Play Music” (“Jugend Musiziert”), which has a 50-year history and is held  the authoritative German Music Council “Deutscher Muzikrat”. The representativeness of this competition is also evidenced by the fact that more than 20 thousand young musicians take part in it. According to the German trade union of independent teachers, the number of officially registered private music teachers in Germany alone exceeds 6 thousand people.

      To be fair, it should be said that this category of teachers, for example, in Germany and the USA, receives on average less income from their activities than full-time music teachers.

      It is also interesting to get acquainted with the American practice of using so-called “visiting” teachers (“visiting music teachers”), better known  How  “floating teachers” In the USA, they began to train music teachers aimed at improving the quality of teaching other academic subjects: mathematics, science, foreign  languages. This work is actively carried out in  John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts under the “Changing Education Through the Art” program.

      The topic of developing a system of proprietary advanced training courses (and training in general) in our country deserves attention. They can be of at least two types. Firstly, these are classical advanced training courses, the leader of which is a nominal or informal leader, known in his circles as a highly qualified teacher-methodologist. Another type of such courses may place an emphasis on a “star” composition of teachers, functioning both on a permanent basis and in an ad hok mode (modeled to solve specific problems).

     At the end of the consideration of the issue of the organizational structure of advanced training, it is necessary to say about the need to continue work on creating a register of certified organizations authorized to carry out postgraduate training of music teachers. It is important to ensure that all organizations and teachers claiming to provide quality services strive to be included in the register. This issue can be resolved if everyone who wants to improve their qualifications knows that the services of only these organizations and teachers will be counted during certification. This is exactly how the American Music Teachers Association operates, which assumes the function of guaranteeing the provision of quality educational services. The creation of such an organization in Russia, giving it a dispatching function for the distribution of teachers, would help optimize the work on advanced training. Under certain conditions, this would make it possible in the future to implement the idea of ​​introducing in each specific subregion  and/or the educational structure of a fixed single day  advanced training (for example, once a month).

        It seems that in our country such a source of knowledge as self-education is not yet fully appreciated and in demand. Among other things, neglecting this channel of professional development reduces teachers’ motivation for independent work and fetters their initiative. And, on the contrary, by developing self-improvement skills, the teacher learns to diagnose himself as a professional, correct shortcomings, and plan work on himself for the future. In the UK, a government project “New Educational Resource” has been developed for those who are engaged in self-education.

     It is advisable to more actively use personal initiative in mastering pedagogical science. As you know, Germany is famous for its very high level of independence, independence and autonomy of students in its educational institution. They have great freedom in choosing shapes,  teaching methods and schedule. This is all the more interesting to observe against the background  the traditional German commitment to the principles of ordnung. Such a dichotomy is due, in our opinion, to the belief in the effectiveness of taking initiative in the interests of maximum adaptation of the educational process to the interests of the student.

    When improving the Russian system of advanced training, a fundamentally important place is given to the development and implementation of uniform professional requirements for a modern music teacher, as well as the development of criteria for the quality of personnel training. The solution to this key task creates the prerequisites for streamlining, standardization and unification of all components of the advanced training system. It is important to emphasize that  a creative approach to the use of such a “formalized” structure will allow you to avoid excessive organization, stereotypes, ossification in working with personnel, and prevent the production of conveyor-type performers.

      When talking about teachers providing advanced training for music teachers, it is important not to forget that a teacher’s teacher, by definition, cannot be less qualified in his or her field of knowledge than the subject of instruction.

     It would be useful to provide the student (as is practiced, for example, in Japan) with greater opportunities and freedom in assessing the usefulness and in choosing the educational programs offered to him on an alternative basis (within the framework of the professional standard).

     In our country, an important tool for improving the qualifications of music teachers is the certification system. Let us recall that in many foreign countries this function is assigned to the system of academic degrees awarded to persons who have completed the relevant educational programs. Unlike most foreign countries, certification as a qualification measure in Russia is mandatory and is carried out every five years. To be fair, we note that periodic certification of music teachers is also carried out in some other countries, for example in Japan (after the first two years, then after six, 16 and finally after 21 years of work). In Singapore, certification is carried out every year and affects the teacher’s salary level. 

     In our country  Periodic certification could be abandoned if, for example, as an alternative, a more detailed system of awarding academic degrees was introduced, containing a larger number of intermediate degrees than now. Here we must be wary of mechanical copying of foreign techniques. For example, the modern Western three-stage model of certification of scientific workers  not quite  fits into the domestic system of constant long-term improvement of professional skills, but is not congruent with it. 

      While remaining committed to the certification system, Russia is carrying out a lot of complex work to develop and improve criteria for certification effectiveness. At the same time, we take into account the fact that music, like art in general, is difficult to formalize, structure, and even more so to assess quality.

     It is curious that such a classically market country as South Korea, for fear of a decline in the quality of certification, entrusted control over certification to government agencies.

      An analysis of the qualification requirements that are presented to a music teacher during certification shows that they are drawn up in a highly professional manner. The situation is more complicated  with the effectiveness of evaluation criteria for certification results. For objective reasons, verification of the degree of mastery, assimilation of acquired knowledge, as well as the ability to use it effectively, is very difficult in practice. When testing the acquired knowledge, it is possible  to identify only a vector, a tendency towards the growth of professionalism, but not to objectively record this dynamics in scores and coefficients. This raises some difficulties in comparing the results of testing of different subjects. Similar difficulties are experienced  and foreign colleagues. The expert community in most countries continues to work on improving the qualification requirements for music teachers. At the same time, the dominant opinion is that, despite the low efficiency of monitoring the teacher improvement process, other, more advanced assessment methods have not currently been found (see, for example, blog.twedt.com/archives/2714#Comments.”Music Teachers Associations:Stages for Showcasing or Hospitals for Healing?”/).  This does not mean at all that control over the quality of certification can be reduced. On the contrary, it is necessary to intensify the use of criteria for assessing the level of training of those being certified. A definite breakthrough in  области контроля  the effectiveness of studying could be the creation in the future of an electronic version  advanced training for music teachers (preferably not primitive, far from the Unified State Examination). Theoretically this is possible. By the way,  already now in   In England, China and some other countries, some of the educational programs are provided via the Internet, and in the PRC also via satellite television and radio. China has mastered the production of “telesatellite music textbooks.” To coordinate these new forms and channels of learning (Smart education), the “Chinese Internet Alliance of Teacher Education” was created.

     The quota of knowledge required to pass the certification proposed in our country is flawed and not entirely congruent. Thus, to obtain the first and highest qualification categories, the amount of professional knowledge required to pass certification is established in the amount  216 hours for each five-year period (a bit like trying to measure an artist’s productivity in square meters). At the same time,  it should be recognized that the quality of filling the quota is so high that it  to some extent compensates for the costs of the “quantitative” approach to measuring the new knowledge obtained.

    For comparison, in Austria at least 15 hours are allocated annually for advanced training,  in Denmark -30, Singapore – 100, in Holland 166 hours. In the UK, teacher development (depending on the category of educational institution) is spent  annually 18 working days, Japan – 20 days in training centers and the same amount in your school. In Denmark, the teacher pays for the training himself (but once every three years he can take part in the advanced training program for free), and spends part of his vacation.

      Some assistance to teachers in their professional growth could be provided by a more advanced practice of certification commissions developing recommendations to the examinee on further areas of professional development (remedial education).

      A major role in motivating music teachers to improve their  professional level  plays a role in the practice of linking the growth of skill with promotion, salary increases, and increased prestige  teacher’s work, other forms of encouragement. In many countries, this problem is solved both at the macro level and within the framework of individual educational structures.

      For example, in China, at the legislative level, it was decided that “the average salary of teachers should not be lower, but also not  higher than the average salary of civil servants, and constantly grow.” Besides,  that the Chinese state is the main donor of the country’s educational system. It also participates in improving the living conditions of teachers (finances targeted housing programs), as well as their living conditions. At the same time, trying to extrapolate the Chinese financing practice to other countries, compare it with the experience  other states, we must take into account the fact that in different countries the expenditures on education in the state budget are not the same. And they depend, other things being equal, not so much on the preferences of the central authorities,  how much from filling the revenue side of the budget. Besides the state  other sources of financial income for musical institutions in China are charitable foundations, income from tenants, collective savings, donations, fees, etc. For comparison, in the USA, 50% of the budget of these organizations is formed by the state represented by local authorities, 40% – from private philanthropic organizations, 10% – from their own sources: funds from ticket sales, advertising, etc.

        To encourage teachers to improve their qualifications, Russia is searching for an optimal system of career growth. This issue was partially touched upon above, including when considering the foreign system for awarding academic degrees. Since in our country the conditions are not yet fully ripe for a comprehensive adaptation of the Western model of academic degrees to our current system of advanced training, the following main levers of influence remain in the arsenal of domestic reformers of the educational system.

     Firstly, this is the creation (within the current system of certification of scientific personnel) of mechanisms for recognizing practical achievements as a sufficient basis for the awarding of professional academic degrees. Develop appropriate criteria for assessing the scientific and/or practical results of developments made by scientific and pedagogical workers.

     Secondly, it is the introduction of additional intermediate academic degrees into the domestic system of certification of scientific personnel. Expand the current two-level system of certification of scientific and scientific-pedagogical workers, including in it a full analogue of a bachelor’s degree (legally secured), an academic degree (not the title) of an associate professor, giving it a new quality as an intermediate academic degree between a candidate and a doctor of sciences, etc. It would be It is advisable to carry out the defense of intermediate academic degrees according to a simplified scheme. Perhaps the main task in the implementation of this project is to ensure the integration of the system of academic degrees with the cyclical process of advanced training: three stages of five years. The experience of the People’s Republic of China is interesting, where they introduced an additional academic degree “specialist”, preceding the bachelor’s degree. And in Germany, in addition to the generally accepted ones, the level of “habilization” (German Habilitation) has been introduced, which follows after the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, above it.

      In addition, it is necessary to strive to expand the horizontal professional specification of scientific titles (bachelor of cultural studies, bachelor of musicology, bachelor of music pedagogue, etc.)

      Third, creating an effective congruent career ladder. An interesting experiment was carried out in a number of Russian secondary schools under the auspices of E.A. Yamburg. A well-known teacher is trying to justify the feasibility of developing “horizontal” growth of teachers, differentiation of teaching staff according to the positions of “teacher”, “senior teacher”, “leading teacher”, “honored teacher” while maintaining the traditional “vertical” job growth. For comparison, in Chinese secondary schools, teachers can occupy the following positions: teacher of the highest category, teacher of the first, second and third categories, and in some cases – instructor-teacher of practical classes.

     The teacher differentiation experience used in some California schools may be useful: Teaching Assistant, Long-term Substitute Teacher, Part-Time Substitute Teacher ), full-time teacher and part-time teacher  of the day (see CareersInMusic.com(Pride Multimedia,LLC) [US] https://www.careersin.com/music-teacher/. Some American music teachers move into administrative work, for example, as a district inspector, in the interests of career growth Music (District Supervisor of Music)  or Music Curriculum Specialist.

     Differentiation of the process of professional post-graduate education serves as a good basis for the development of a system of material incentives for advanced training from the relevant funds of the primary educational organization.

     In some countries, such as Denmark,  в  The school budget provides for targeted expenses for additional training in the amount of at least three percent of the wage fund.

       In a number of regions of the United States, the practice of increasing the salary of a teacher whose students regularly achieve high results is sometimes used. Pennsylvania has even proposed linking a region’s annual education budget to teacher performance based on student testing. In some educational institutions in England  redistribution of funding in favor of efficiently operating organizations is also practiced.  

     In Singapore, upon achieving high results based on the results of certification, an employee is awarded a 10-30 percent salary increase. Japanese teachers who train in the evening or through correspondence receive a stipend of approximately 10% of their monthly salary. In Germany, most states provide for study leave by law (several paid days).

     Improving the quality of education will, to a certain extent, depend on solving the problem of technical support for the educational process with video and audio equipment, music centers, and MIDI equipment.

     Much remains to be done to stimulate public interest in music. It should be assumed that the quality level of society is also the quality of the children who will open the door to music school and become Mozarts and Rubinsteins.

     Speaking about different ways to develop the domestic system of advanced training, let us express the hope that, ultimately, we will be able to maintain our commitment to the principles of academic excellence, classical traditions and values ​​in the training of musicians. It is important to preserve and increase the total intellectual creative potential of the country. And on this basis we will make a leap into the musical future. By the way, Chinese experts admit that the main flaw of their education system is the low content of education and the dominance of empirics, which, in their opinion, limits the intellectual resource of teachers.

       In conclusion, I would like to express confidence that the growing attention to art and the efforts being made in the Russian Federation to reform music education and improve the system of advanced training will bear fruit. This will allow us to prepare modern cadres of music teachers in advance, and be fully armed to meet the coming demographic collapse and other external and internal challenges.

     We hope that some of the ideas outlined above will be in demand. The author does not claim the completeness and complexity of the study. If anyone is interested in a more detailed consideration of the issues raised, we dare to refer to the analytical note “Problems of reforming music education in Russia through the eyes of a children’s music school teacher” (https://music-education.ru/problemy-reformirovaniya-muzikalnogo -obrazovaniya-v-rossii/). Separate considerations regarding the education of future musical geniuses are contained in the essay “Childhood and youth of great musicians: the path to success” (http://music-education.ru/esse-detstvo-i-yunost-velikiх-muzykantov-put-k-uspexu/ .