School Music Teachers on Television: Identity and Practice

This study examines how school music teachers are represented in English-language television series and considers implications for professional identity, pedagogy and recruitment. Drawing on a novel, systematically coded database of 36 on-screen music educators from 28 television series from 1952 to 2026, quantitative description maps demographic attributes (age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status), narrative role (minor, major, protagonist), genre and institutional context. Our findings show music teachers are most often supporting characters, typically mid-career, male and predominantly white, with comedy—especially ensemble school comedy—dominating portrayals. Qualitative interpretation demonstrates persistent teacher archetypes and pedagogical tropes: the failed performer turned teacher, the inspirational mentor who singles out a talented student, and blurred teacher–student boundaries. These portrayals routinely privilege spectacle and rapid transformation over sequenced curriculum, assessment and routine labour, risking the creation of distorted public expectations about what music teaching entails. This article situates these findings within contemporary concerns about teacher shortages and declining occupational status in English-language contexts, arguing that mediated images may influence career choice, teacher retention and societal attitudes. Methodological advances include expanded time and geographic contexts of studied texts and detailed coding. The paper concludes by calling for reception and experimental studies to test causal effects on aspiring teachers and to inform teacher education curricula.