Supporting conservatoire students towards professional integration: one-to-one tuition and the potential of mentoring

This paper reports on qualitative research undertaken at a conservatoire in the United Kingdom, exploring students' perceptions of how they were supported in realising their aspirations as professional musicians and making the transition to professional life. In particular, the research explored students' perceptions of the role played by their instrumental/vocal teachers in this process of professional development. Data were analysed using a conceptual framework of mentoring proposed by Renshaw. Mentoring, as a concept and practice, has rapidly gained currency in a wide range of professional contexts as a powerful tool underpinning innovation and talent development. Within music education, mentoring has begun to find a place, particularly in relation to talent development and professional integration. In the context of conservatoire training in Higher Education, there has also been some indication that one-to-one tuition may provide a fruitful mentoring environment. However, the term has been loosely used, and distinctions between mentoring, coaching, advising, counselling and instructing have not always been clear. Findings from this study indicated that in many cases the students felt the student-teacher relationship generated key characteristics of a mentoring environment. However, the teaching interactions they described tended towards modes of coaching, advising and instructing rather than mentoring. Instances that came closer to a mentoring approach were appreciated by the students. In addition, it was evident that the majority of students were having some difficulty in finding ways to connect their passion for music to real-world contexts and the development of a professional path. This issue underlined the potential importance of developing mentoring approaches further. It was also evident from the data that students' collaborative learning experiences played an important part in supporting students' professional development. These should be considered further in relation to supporting students' professional integration and could be conceptualised within a framework of peer co-mentoring.