Addressing the Critical Shortage of Latinos in Music Education: Pre-Service Latino Music Education Student Perspectives on Recruitment and Retention Strategies
My research focus is on 1st and 2nd generation Latino music education students and their paths to becoming music educators in the United States. Latino students are an under researched portion of music education in the American population, but represent the fastest growing ethnic group in America. During my preliminary research I found that there is a critical shortage of Latino music educators. Through an instrumental case study with critical-case sampling, done through interviews and a questionnaire taken by several pre-service Latino music education majors at a southwest university, I found that the most important factor for recruiting future music educators was having a mentor of strong character to guide and inspire students. The Latino student attitude and perception was taken into account as those researched live this experience and provide the necessary insight into this critical issue as a direct source. In my research, I found that to successfully recruit and retain Latino music education students, teachers and administrators must provide diverse music ensembles, community outreach, and educational tasks with leadership roles. The reason why there is a shortage of Latino music educators, according to pre-service Latino music educators, have to do with: A career process that is too long and expensive; 2. Too few scholarship opportunities; 3. Music education programs that tend to serve more as a roadblock than an opportunity due to their long duration and expensive course load that leads students to drop the major and pursue other degrees and careers
