Dance is a physical activity accompanied by music. Engaging in dance provides children and adolescents with their own activity and enables them to gain numerous experiences essential for healthy mental, emotional, and social development. Therefore, dance is an indispensable part of the elementary and secondary school curriculum. The diversity of content, lack of time, and often the lack of knowledge and interest among physical education teachers push dance (often aesthetic in nature) to the sidelines. With this master's thesis, we aimed to determine the extent and approach to which dance activities appear in the school setting, both in physical education and within certain other school and extracurricular activities. We were also interested in which dance genres are popular among children and adolescents and would like to see increased involvement in them.
The study included 211 casually selected students, consisting of 89 boys and 122 girls from three Slovenian primary schools and five Slovenian secondary schools. We used a closed-ended questionnaire, which, in addition to basic data about the students and their school dance experiences, also included their own assessment of overall development through school dance. We also focused on the importance of encouragement from teachers for the dance involvement of children and adolescents.
Our assumptions about the insufficient inclusion of dance in the school setting proved to be correct. The findings confirmed our expectations that there is still plenty of room for dance diversity, as most dance genres are moderately or poorly represented. The desire of all participating students for greater involvement in more modern dance genres supported our efforts for dance diversity in the school setting. A comparison of assessments regarding the effects of school dance on overall development between male and female students showed that only girls perceive dance as a factor that promotes holistic development.
The fundamental purpose of the master's thesis was to draw attention to the inconsistency in implementing dance content in the school setting in relation to the curriculum requirements and the importance of dance for children and adolescents, which justifies including dance in various school activities. Insights into the inclusion of dance and dance activities in Slovenian schools, as well as the desires of schoolchildren, can contribute to improving the current situation.
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