Abstract:
Dance teachers in special education schools face challenges in the practice of dance teaching through conflicting understandings of disability and inclusion, matching pedagogy and practice to curriculum and validating intrinsic understandings as effective teaching knowledge. This research has sought to investigate how touch is pivotal in navigating through these challenges. The question addressed how a special education dance teacher experiences touch and what this information can reveal about the role of dance and the dance teacher in the special education context. This study utilised an auto-narrative and phenomenological approach to research the lived experience of touch. Narratives of „every day‟ touch encounters with students were analysed and revealed deeper understandings of how touch can provide the special education dance teacher, with insight and confidence to practice in this challenging context. Critical reflection and inquiry of the narratives found that continued practice of touch can create opportunities for developing pedagogical meanings and knowledge. Confidence of the special education dance teacher to continue entering into touch experiences enables dance to be a safe curriculum subject to engage in teaching and learning about touch. This research also discovered how dance and touch can become sites where higher cognitive skills can be taught. This has posed questions of how special education teachers and special education students can use these entities to develop key competencies and achieve learning objectives that are meaningful and relevant. This research has provided a voice in an area of dance that is not commonly practised or heard. These findings might provoke interest and expand people‟s knowledge and understanding of dance in special education, helping it to escape from its isolated status. It is hoped that by touching upon these experiences and sharing these narratives, this research will touch others.