Artists in Schools: 'Kick starting' or 'kicking out' dance from New Zealand classrooms

Abstract

New Zealand primary school teachers have access to a comprehensive arts curriculum that includes dance, drama, music, and visual arts. This research focused on several teachers’ reality of implementing the dance curriculum in New Zealand primary schools, drawing on Snook's (2012) study in this field. Our research valued the voices of teachers, principals, and parents. We found that the primary school teachers in this study lacked experience in teaching dance, manifesting as a lack of confidence to teach dance in their classrooms. The teachers spoke to the practice of bringing in dance experts to kick start, support, develop, and mentor dance programs in their schools. A surprising, yet clear finding from our study was that a teacher's preexisting lack of confidence in teaching dance might be compounded by the visit of an expert. This statement raises several issues regarding artists in schools programs in New Zealand that are examined in this article.