Abstract
The aim of the present research was to analyze the struggles of in-service primary and secondary teachers regarding rhythmic style dance instruction. Two areas were noted for investigation: 1) Uncovering Concerns of In-service Primary and Secondary Teachers Regarding Rhythmic Style Dance Instruction, by focusing on differences of gender, school type, teaching / dance teaching experience, and 2) Determining issues for improvement based on training type and content considered to be necessary by teachers. Results obtained from the questionnaire analysis were summarized. With respect to the first area of investigation, findings indicate the following points. Firstly, it was shown that regardless of school type, the top three issues were “Being unable to demonstrate the dances”, “ Being unsure of what constitutes good dance (dance movements)” and “Being unable to understand the content of instruction”. Secondly, results also indicate that early-career teachers were more concerned about the differences in pupils’ dance abilities than mid-career teachers. Thirdly a hierarchy of teachers’ concerns was suggested with respect to amount of dance teaching experience. Findings regarding the second area of investigation indicated that in terms of training type, concerns were primarily about ‘skills’, reflecting the desire of teachers to have instructional material that could readily be utilized in the classroom, specifically, training involving dance technique videos and modular training featuring the pairing of songs with instructional methods. Moreover, the following three points were summarized with regard to the desired content of teacher training“, Introduction of various examples in practice”, “ Instructional points to improve practical skills and content explaining the main points / how to ‘get the knack of it’,” and “Instructional matter which takes the students’ stage of development into consideration”.
