During the Fourth Industrial Revolution, arts education has gained prominence due to its enhancement of human creativity, imagination, and emotional intelligence. Many countries around the world are already seeing the power of arts education and expan...
During the Fourth Industrial Revolution, arts education has gained prominence due to its enhancement of human creativity, imagination, and emotional intelligence. Many countries around the world are already seeing the power of arts education and expanding arts programs in schools. Korea is striving to revitalize school arts education through revised curriculum and education policies; however, these efforts have not incorporated dance, even though dance education at the K-12 level has grown with overall arts education in many other areas globally.
This study aims to compare the public school dance education in the United States and Australia, which have established dance as an independent subject, with Korea and to find ways to incorporate dance education into the Korean system. We used the following criteria for comparison: existence of a national curriculum, curriculum organization, compulsory and elective course classifications, time allocation, requirements for high school graduation, relevance to college admission, educational objectives, educational content, achievement standards, and assessment. Through our comparison, we found similarities and differences in dance education among countries and drew suggestions for Korean dance education.
First, Korea, the United States, and Australia all had national-level curricula. In Korea, however, the curriculum is applied uniformly to unit schools, and in the United States and Australia, individual districts decide whether to adopt the curricula. Second, in Korea, dance is subordinate to physical education, taught as an ambiguous activity between physical education and arts, while in the United States and Australia, dance exists as an independent subject within the arts category. Third, unlike the United States and Australia, where the time allocated for dance varies greatly depending on the educational stages, Korea mandates a certain level of dance learning time. Fourth, unlike Korea, where there are no requirements for high school graduation, the United States and Australia allow dance credits to apply towards graduation requirements. However, dance courses do not affect college admissions in any of the countries. Fifth, the educational objectives differ across all three countries in content, main points, and the method of statements. Compared to the United States and Australia, Korea's educational objectives are restrictive and hard to measure. Sixth, the three countries have different educational content. Compared to the United States and Australia, Korean lessons are simply repeated rather than intensified in stages, and the curriculum guides lack description. Therefore, it is difficult for Korean teachers to plan and practice teaching activities. Seventh, the three countries share similar definitions of achievement standards, which include knowledge and ability. Unlike the United States and Australia, however, Korea's achievement standards lack a link between each school year and merely demand that students demonstrate knowledge and ability. Eighth, the three countries evaluated both the processes and outcomes of learning based on achievement standards. However, the United States and Australia provide specific and practical guidance for these assessments, linking the assessment to active learning and supporting teachers’ evaluation activities. This is lacking in Korean assessments.
Our analysis confirmed that the inferior status of dance education in Korea leads to subpar dance instruction. To address this problem and improve Korean public school dance education, dance should be established as a subject in schools. Measures to establish a dance subject were proposed as follows.
First, dance should be added to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or the Minister of Education should recognize dance as a necessary subject. Second, dance should be considered as one of the fine arts, along with music, visual art, and theater. State-level guidelines should be prepared so that all arts subjects have equal value and equal opportunities. Third, a dance curriculum should be developed to enhance education, incorporating specificity and sequence in educational objectives, educational contents, achievement standards, and assessment. Fourth, focused and intentional curricula and policies for teacher training should be developed in a way that can enhance dance teachers’ professionalism and competence. Elementary school teachers should be trained in dance, and there should be a direct path for trained elementary and secondary school dance teachers to gain employment in schools. In the case of re-educating current teachers, the Korean government should create training programs that will allow teachers to transition from physical education to dance or to obtain a qualification for a minor in dance. Furthermore, the government should reach out to artists and experts in the dance field and incorporate them into the dance education programs. Finally, materials and facilities must be created or updated. All schools should be provided with textbooks updated with a national-level dance curriculum as well as dance facilities. There is also a need to establish an online dance education platform for teachers to share information about the curriculum.
If dance is recognized as a significant subject in K-12 education, more students will experience and enjoy the benefits of dance education, which will aid in the expansion and revitalization of school arts education. To nurture creative talent, schools should provide more diverse opportunities for artistic experiences. The cultivation of dance education will open new horizons in the nation's school arts education and contribute to cultivating creative talent.