Doing good and doing well: servant leadership and peer mentoring in a high school band
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
Scholars have problematized large ensemble music due to issues of hegemonic authoritarianism inherent in many traditional rehearsal strategies (e.g., Allsup & Benedict, 2008; Hess, 2023). Peer mentoring is a student-centered instructional strategy wherein a teacher can facilitate opportunities for students to guide learning when serving as mentors and mentees (Goodrich, 2007; 2023b). Researchers suggest that peer mentoring can support the development of leadership skills among mentors (Funfar, 2022; Goodrich, 2023b; Lee et al., 2020). Current music education research, however, lacks a theoretically grounded understanding of the leadership skills developed through peer mentoring. To address this gap in the literature, this instrumental case study was conducted to examine peer mentoring and student leadership in a high school band through a servant leadership framework. Utilizing a framework that extends the work of van Dierendonck and Patterson (2015), in this case study I examined the role of compassionate love, virtuous traits (humility, gratitude, forgiveness, altruism, empathy, and vision) and servant leadership behaviors (empowerment, authenticity, stewardship, providing direction, and inclusion) in promoting wellbeing as learners engaged in peer mentoring in a high school band setting. In this study I sought to deepen understanding of how servant leadership and peer mentoring shaped students’ leadership learning and practice within a high school band.
The study took place at a suburban high school in the northeastern United States and occurred over a twelve-week period at the start of the school year. Data were collected through observations and a series of interviews with the band director, peer mentors, and peer mentees.
Following data collection, data were coded and analyzed. Three themes emerged: empowered student voices, learning leadership, and flourishing together. Combined, these themes suggest a conceptual framework, Servant Leader Peer Mentoring (SLPM). The SLPM framework proposes a way of understanding how students in a band program came to experience and adopt servant leadership as they engaged in peer mentoring and co-constructed a community built on service and care. Additionally, the findings clarified that leadership was also practiced outside of the context of peer mentoring through acts of stewardship as student leaders cared for peers and spaces.
Description
2026
License
Attribution 4.0 International