Musical language in institutions of child education: assessment of two proposals for teacher formation

Abstract This article assesses two studies evaluating two proposals of intervention employing the language of music in the formation of teachers for Child Education. The interventions took place in public institutions of child education from distinct cities and methodologies with the objective of developing musical language in children, and simultaneously complementing the initial formation of teachers by means of relevant knowledge. Study 1 was based on the creation and application of psycho-pedagogical material, organized by a formation program plus individual support for each one of the teachers. For Study 2, a program was produced based on the Music Learning Theory by Edwin Gordon, which was applied on teachers at a school supported by researchers from a university. The results pointed at a slight improvement in the performance of teachers from Study 1 in contrast with expressive differences in the behaviors of teachers in Study 2. This work sheds light on the formation processes currently employed in child education.