PROBLEMS OF GROUP MANAGEMENT IN PRESCHOOL MUSIC LESSONS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

The research was implemented within the framework of the University of Latvia master's study program "Pedagogy" course "Effective classroom management". During the action research, the researchers identified group management problems in music lessons at educational institution X, in group Y. Key problem identified was the insufficient attention of children at the beginning of the lesson. The research proceeded to also look for possible solutions. The aim is to analyse current methods of delivering effective music classes in a pre-school setting, and propose and validate new strategies to improve the beginning of a music lesson. The study involved 17 preschool children (11 boys and 6 girls), a music teacher, and two group teachers, and an observer. The study was conducted from October 2019 to March 2020. The first results of the action research show that as the teacher changed her classroom activities, introduced certain group management techniques, such as signalling and acoustic counting, and repeating these as a routine activity in each lesson, children's attention improved significantly at the beginning of the music lesson and became more sustained.