Þórunn Ylfa Brynjólfsdóttir
Þórunn Ylfa Brynjólfsdóttir graduates with a master's degree and teaching license from the art education department in the spring of 2024.
Art dance studies in Iceland
Attitudes of art dance teachers towards art dance teaching and its impact on student welfare
This essay reports on a study of the attitudes of art dance teachers towards art dance teaching and its impact on the well-being of dance studentsThe trigger for the study was to explore the potential of art dance education for student success It is a qualitative study based on six individual interviews with art dance teachers who work or have worked in five art dance schools in the capital area.
The aim of the study was to give teachers a voice, to explore how art dance teaching shapes the individual, to identify obstacles and challenges, to discuss vision and to present ideas about new priorities The theoretical background of the study covers the position that has characterized the Western education system over time and how it is integrated into the discussion about art dance teaching and dance students. The academic writings of dance scholar Susan Stinson are supported.
The study revealed the attitude of teachers that the importance of education in job-oriented artistic dance studies is not only about promoting technical skills, but also about developing skills and virtues that benefit students in life The attitudes of the art dance teachers were a sign of awareness, where the emphasis is placed on the student and his well-being. The teachers believed that a hierarchy within art dance teaching could stand in the way of the well-being of students and could have a variety of effects on them.
The results indicated that hierarchy is unconscious and ingrained within the art dance teaching form The results also show that the Icelandic art dance teaching profession faces a variety of and systematic limitations that shape teaching practices and limit its professional development It is clear that new priorities and approaches need to take place if we are to promote greater success and well-being of dance students Methods need to be implemented that recognize and enhance the value of human factors The system needs change but such changes are challenging to implement and are long-term tasks They call for courage, reflection, dialogue between teachers, increased cooperation between schools, open minds, time, patience and support to follow new paths.
Supervisors: Ingimar Ólafsson Waage and Sandra Ómarsdóttir
30 ECTS MA
