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Although the problems in early childhood music education (ECME) have been addressed in many scientific studies around the world, the fact that the problem is still among the issues for which solutions are still sought in current studies suggests that a permanent solution has not yet been found. The main purpose of this study, which is designed as a qualitative case study, is to propose a master's degree program that is believed to be a solution to the current problems in the field of early childhood music education (ECME) in Turkey. In line with that, a master's program proposal for ECME specialization education was developed in line with the Turkish Higher Education Qualifications Framework (THEQF), existing information in national and international literature, and participant opinions. The proposed program is based on Bandura's self-efficacy theory, aiming to improve the performance of early childhood instructors with limited experience in teaching music. The participants of the study were determined by purposeful and snowball sampling method. The study group consisted of 24 participants, including 14 academicians who teach courses on ECME in faculties of education and health sciences and conduct postgraduate studies in this field, and 10 music teachers who teach music in private schools. The data were obtained through literature review and the interviews with the participants and reported in various categories and subcategories using descriptive and content analysis in line with the sub-objectives of the research. The analysis was focused on the evaluations of the participants about the course structure, content and interdisciplinary interactional potential of the proposed master's program. The findings have paved the way for the creation of a draft master's program within the scope of the Turkish Higher Education Qualifications Framework. As a result of the research, 43 general competencies and 43 field competencies were determined for the proposed master's program in the dimensions of knowledge, skills and competence at the master's level in line with the Turkish Higher Education Qualifications Framework (THEQF). In addition, the courses to be included in the program and their contents, the disciplines that the ECME specialist can interact with, and the opinions/suggestions of the instructors and music teachers about the proposed master's program were explained in detail. This study, which also aims to strengthen the professional competencies of ECME specialists and provide a reference point in the formation of music education programs in the future, is thought to improve the quality of experts in the field of ECME and to provide a guideline for prospective music education programs. In addition, the study is expected to contribute significantly to the instructors from different disciplines in terms of providing a solution for ECME specialization and creating a new field of specialization. Erken çocukluk müzik eğitimi (EÇME) konusundaki sorunlar, dünya genelinde yapılan birçok bilimsel çalışmada ele alınmış olmasına rağmen, sorunun güncel çalışmalarda hala çözüm aranan konular arasında olması bu sorunlara kalıcı bir çözüm önerisinin henüz bulunamadığını düşündürmektedir. Nitel araştırma ve durum çalışması yaklaşımıyla yapılandırılan bu araştırmanın amacı; Türkiye'de EÇME alanındaki mevcut problemlere çözüm olabileceğine inanılan bir yüksek lisans programı önermektir. Bu amaç doğrultusunda Türkiye Yükseköğretim Yeterlikler Çerçevesi (TYÇÇ), ulusal ve uluslararası alanyazındaki mevcut bilgiler ve katılımcı görüşleri doğrultusunda EÇME uzmanlık eğitimi için bir yüksek lisans programı önerisi geliştirilmiştir. Önerilen programın temeli, müzik alanında sınırlı deneyime sahip olan erken çocukluk eğitimcilerinin performansını geliştirme amacıyla Bandura'nın öz-yeterlilik teorisine dayanmaktadır. Araştırmanın katılımcıları, amaçlı örnekleme yöntemi ve kartopu örneklemesiyle belirlenmiştir. Çalışma grubu; eğitim ve sağlık bilimleri fakültelerinde EÇME’ ye yönelik dersleri yürüten ve bu alanda lisansüstü çalışmalar yapan 14 akademisyen ile özel okullarda müzik dersleri veren 10 müzik öğretmeni olmak üzere 24 katılımcıdan oluşmaktadır. Veriler alanyazın taraması ve katılımcılarla yapılan görüşmeler aracılığıyla elde edilmiş, betimsel ve içerik analiz yaklaşımı kullanılarak çeşitli kategori ve alt kategorilerde araştırmanın alt amaçları doğrultusunda raporlaştırılmıştır. Katılımcıların, önerilen yüksek lisans programının ders yapısı, içeriği ve disiplinlerarası etkileşim potansiyeli hakkında sundukları değerlendirmeler esas alınmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular, TYYÇ kapsamında bir yüksek lisans programı taslağının oluşturulmasına zemin hazırlamıştır. Araştırma sonucunda; önerilen yüksek lisans programı için TYÇÇ doğrultusunda yüksek lisans düzeyinde bilgi, beceri ve yetkinlik boyutunda, 43 genel yeterlik ve 43 tane de alan yeterliği belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca, programda yer alacak dersler ve içerikleri, EÇME uzmanının etkileşim kurabileceği disiplinler, önerilen yüksek lisans programı ile ilgili öğretim elemanları ve müzik öğretmenlerinin düşünce / önerileri açıklanmıştır. EÇME uzmanlarının mesleki yeterliklerini güçlendirme ve ilerleyen dönemlerdeki müzik eğitimi programlarının oluşturulmasında bir referans noktası sağlama amacı da taşıyan bu çalışmanın, EÇME alanında uzmanların kalitesini yükselteceği ve gelecekteki müzik eğitimi programları için bir rehber olacağı düşünülmektedir. Ayrıca, farklı disiplinlerden gelen eğitimcilere EÇME uzmanlığına yönelik bir çözüm yolu sunması ve yeni bir uzmanlık alanı oluşturması açısından da önemli bir katkı sağlaması beklenmektedir.

Relevance of the research problem stems from the need to meet the challenges of personal growth of each participant of the educational process, a productive exchange of information and personalized contribution to the overall result of the conducted educational research. The aim of this paper is to improve joint training activities as the basis for future studies of masters that will be implemented in an open information and education space. The key approach to the study of the problems of the joint educational researches relies on the conceptual ideas of experiments conducting in joint environment in which access to individual and shared data in an open information education environment is restricted. Theoretical and technological tools were developed for working with factorial data of collaborative research in open educational environment. As a result these conceptual ideas were formulated for joint training of master's studies: the stages to improve joint research activities were grounded, the technology of forming joint bank of comparable research materials was created, the system of algorithms for collaborative (joint) working with experimental data was proposed, the strategy ensuring the adequacy of the joint pilot materials for attaining general and private purposes was worked out. This strategy also should be applied to the value and usefulness of collected data. The collected, studied, processed and presented in the paper unique experimental material can be useful both for solving current individual research tasks of undergraduates and for the development of new roles in research. [Note: The page range (2859-2868) listed on the website for this article is incorrect. The correct page range is 2859-2869.]

This paper reports on a research study conducted with a group of nurses in Sweden enrolled in a newly developed blended learning master's programme to become advanced practice nurses (APNs). As background, the paper presents the regional needs the programme is intended to address and describes how the programme was designed. The aim was to understand how, from students' perspective, the nurse master's programme structured knowledge for their future position as APNs. The research question focuses on how the master's programme prepares students by meeting their diverse needs for knowledge. Empirical material was collected at two times during the students' first and second years of study through semi-structured qualitative interviews. The findings highlight the process in which these master's students gained a more advanced identity of becoming APNs. This process demonstrates how students perceive their current position as nurses based on a discourse of knowledge in relation to the practical and theoretical knowledge they encounter in the master's programme. This article concludes by recommending that attention should be paid to developing APN role models in the current Swedish healthcare system. •Internationally the APN role is implemented in healthcare. In the Swedish context the APN role is not yet established.•The nurse masters program contributed to develop the students voice as APNs.•The program reinforced academic support for the APN role, but there was a lack of clinical APN role models in practice.

In the current review, we examined teacher leadership research completed since York-Barr and Duke published the seminal review on teacher leadership in 2004. The review was undertaken to examine how teacher leadership is defined, how teacher leaders are prepared, their impact, and those factors that facilitate or inhibit teacher leaders' work. Beyond this, the review considered theories informing teacher leadership, teacher leadership within disciplinary contexts, and the roles of teacher leaders in social justice and equity issues. The most salient findings were (a) teacher leadership, although rarely defined, focused on roles beyond the classroom, supporting the professional learning of peers, influencing policy/decision making, and ultimately targeting student learning; (b) the research is not always theoretically grounded; (c) principals, school structures, and norms are important in empowering or marginalizing teacher leaders; and (d) very little teacher leadership research examines issues of social justice and equity.

Student's voice is frequently not relevant for study program design. The issue addressed in this study is the analysis of student voice in master programs. It does this by aiming to identify student perceptions and expectations, their achievement goals, as well as students' perceptions and expectation for an optimal learning environment. This addresses their need and desire to pursue a program which supports workplace trends. Cross-sectional research was undertaken to understand students' demands in master's programs, their learning strategies and study skills and accordingly increase opportunities for learning and career advancement with a structured and comprehensive approach. The results confirm that students are highly motivated when pursuing master programs, expecting to receive a solid professional preparation and benefit from practical activities. The impact of the master program activities on learning outcomes of students was ranked in descending order of the average score: educational objectives attained (M = 5.36), increased interest for learning and professional development (M = 5.39), the great impact of practical activities on learning (M = 5.41), intellectual challenging activities (M = 5.43). Faculty and university management should consider student voice to improve and innovate master programs, being valuable experts when it comes to their own learning experience.

The number of Chinese postgraduates in JMC has steadily increased with the growing number of JCC master's programs in in China. Little is known about key factors that influence Chinese students' decisions in choosing which program attend. In order to fill a gap in the academic field, a qualitative phenomenological approach was applied to examine the experiences of seven Chinese master's students in JMC from three different universities in Zhejiang province, China. Three important themes have been created including (1) geographical advantages; (2) recommendation of peers and professors; and (3) course design and curriculum. These findings have important implications for school officials and decision makers, with respect to allocating their resources wiser to make masters programs in JMC more attractive. In addition, this research study is the first analysis of its kind to apply a phenomenological approach to study experiences of Chinese students in making decisions of choosing a master 's program. This study lays a valuable foundation for similar topics through a qualitative research method.

With the emergence of sustainability science as an academic field, sustainability education (SE) has increasingly been discussed in terms of nurturing students’ competencies to bring about environmental innovation and global sustainability. The requirements of SE include covering a wide spectrum of knowledge from diverse disciplines and collaborating with real-world stakeholders to solve the sustainability issues being faced in society. A number of SE programs have been implemented at university level, often teaching various methods and tools (e.g., life cycle assessment) and offering project-based learning. However, relatively less knowledge is available to understand how existing SE programs were designed, particularly in terms of the relationship between vision (e.g., expected competencies that students will obtain), curriculum, and admission policy. This paper aims to clarify the opportunities and challenges in designing SE programs at master’s level, through semi-structured interviews and online surveys at 14 leading universities that already run SE programs in Australia, Europe, North America, and Japan. Based on the interviews and surveys, the relationship between expected graduates’ careers, curriculum, and faculty organization was analyzed. The results of comparative analysis revealed that the existing SE programs can be classified into two categories according to graduates’ careers—specialist-oriented programs and generalist-oriented programs. Although the core competencies with which students are to be equipped vary depending on the program, curriculum contents across the categories share identical concepts in sustainability science. From an institutional perspective, it is important to incentivize faculty members to sustain and enhance SE programs. Arguably, fair evaluation systems need to be established for faculty members and SE programs.

Master degree programs have rapidly increased in Colombia to the point where they are one of the most favored options for English teachers seeking to bolster their professional development. This survey study characterizes eighty participants, their five master programs, and their perceptions concerning the influence these graduate courses exerted on their teaching. While participants’ pedagogical and research work seemed to have benefited the most from their studies, their practices involving language policy and administration were regarded as distant from what they learnt. Findings suggest that innovation, reflection, and collaboration permeated participants’ overarching categories of development. Challenges to respondents’ integration of their newly acquired education with their teaching included competing ideologies and agendas exhibited by stakeholders in school communities.

Even though research exists on interdisciplinary education and interdisciplinary skills, the term \"interdisciplinary\" is ambiguous. Currently, studies on how different internal stakeholders in an education setting define and conceptualise interdisciplinarity are lacking. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to define and conceptualise interdisciplinarity in higher education. This is investigated by focus group interviews with 29 internal stakeholders representing students, teachers, and program managers at an interdisciplinary master's program. The conclusion provides a definition of interdisciplinarity; The integration of people possessing different competencies (knowledge, background, and skills) acting upon an identified need, challenge or opportunity that requires a holistic approach founded in synergies and thereby creating new knowledge. Interdisciplinary learning is mainly conceptualised to take place in open-ended and research-like innovation projects.