Abstract:
This research was designed to collect six participants' experiences and suggestions in terms of integrating dance and drama into New Zealand primary school classrooms. The purpose of doing this research is to inspire more generalist teachers to integrate dance and drama into primary school classrooms and to encourage school administrators and policymakers to optimize the integration of dance and drama into the educational structure. This research started with examining the background, development and issues around the integration of dance and drama in primary school classrooms. Drawing on relevant literature, the four most common issues are defined and discussed. Afterwards, the research questions are outlined, in order to better understand the encouragements and barriers teachers encountered when they strived to integrate dance and drama into their classrooms. I first use critical autoethnography and position myself, as a researcher, to retell my prior learning experiences about dance and drama courses in Canada and New Zealand to foreground my interest in this topic. Using the qualitative methodology of narrative inquiry, I draw on the narratives of six participants' experiences in integrating dance and drama into their practice. Semi-structured interviews were applied to explore and discuss the research questions with participants. Thematic analysis of data identified three key findings from my research questions: encouragements, barriers, and sparks (inspirations). I found that supportive principals, teachers' prior arts experiences and relevant qualifications were encouraging them to integrate dance and drama into their classrooms. However, attention to numeracy and reading, teachers' confidence and allocated time to the arts were discouraging for teachers wanting to integrate dance and drama into their classrooms. Furthermore, the research considered what participants might envisage for future teaching training in a tertiary degree or diploma and professional development in schools.