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Dance within education

The focus of my research study will be based on exploring the value of dance within education. When first discussing our 'little wonders' with Helen, this immediately jumped out at me as being one of my little wonders for various reasons: 

a. I was lucky enough to attend a secondary school which had a large focus on vocational subjects, one of which being dance, which I studied as a BTEC within my GCSE options. I had already studied dance outside of a school setting for many years, but I guess at the time I took it for granted that I was able to study dance within an educational setting and explore other genres such as contemporary dance which I wasn't so familiar with. It was only when I spoke to my younger sister about her school experience at a grammar school that I released subjects such as dance weren't offered as part of the national curriculum at all schools. This got me wondering why? or why not? 

b. I have had some experience working as a dance coach within primary schools for extra-curricular dance lessons and dance within PE lessons. This opportunity was detrimental to me as it showed me the enjoyment I gained from teaching children dance within an educational setting, especially to those children who hadn't had any experience of dance before and the value it gave them. Again this contributed to my want to explore dance within education and its relationship to personal development further. 

c. My goal for after gaining this degree (as far in the distance as it may seem right now) is to become a teacher of dance within a secondary school or further education college. In order to become the best teacher I can be and to reach my full potential for passing on my skills (not just in technicality but in transferrable skills) to students, I found it essential to research what can be gained from studying dance in school and if in fact others do share my opinion for the values it can bring. 

So that's it. Essentially a small summary of how I came to my decision to make my little wonder in to the basis of my research project. Of course there will be other key questions that spiral from this broader topic and I am looking forward to getting stuck in to my research!
I'd love to hear your thoughts on studying dance within education too.... 

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