| Summary: | Teacher education in Austria is currently undergoing a fundamental reform process. Investigations into teachers’ first experience in school indicate that the transition from university life to professional life is not smooth for teachers. In the arts, the adjustment seems to be even more complex (De Vugt, 2013). Artistically well-trained university graduates seem to have difficulty in applying their knowledge and artistic skills. Career crashes and a shortage of music teachers in Austria are some of the consequences (Bailer, 2009). Recently I commenced the Grounded Theory Study, mentoring in music, investigating how mentors act in the induction phase, as well as how mentees cope with it. Narrative interviews beyond mentors and mentees, expert interviews, as well as group discussions with mentor teams, show that mentoring in music education has to find ways to support trainee teachers’ transition between art and pedagogy since they are two fundamentally different practices (Benner, 2001). In this article, I present and discuss two main results of the study: First I show the multilayered status passage (Glaser & Strauss, 1971) that music teacher novices move through from their identity as music students to their identity as music teachers in schools. Second, I suggest and discuss four types of music teacher novices who cope with this status passage in music education differently and how they can be supported by mentors
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