Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare contractual and ideal teaching, research, and service workload data for tenured and tenure-track music education faculty working at National Association of Schools of Music (NASM)-accredited institutions that offered undergraduate and/or graduate degrees in music education. More specifically, two research questions informed this study: (1) What are the contracted and ideal teaching, research, and service workloads for tenured and tenure-track music education faculty according to institution: type (private/public); enrollment; mission (liberal arts, research or teaching/comprehensive); and community (rural, suburban or urban)? And (2), how do these compare? The researchers developed a two-page, 14-item questionnaire, the Music Education Workload Questionnaire (MEWQ) to explore these questions. The 88 completed questionnaires (32.6% return rate) highlighted that contractual teaching, research, and service responsibilities differ little between tenured and tenure-track music education faculty, and that workloads generally involve about 74% teaching, 14% research, and 12% service. In addition, respondents felt that the ideal workload would involve 63% teaching, 22% research, and 15% service. The ideal workload trend of less teaching and more research and service held true regardless of school type, enrollment, mission, or community.
