The Lived Experiences of Dance School Teachers on Parental Engagement

Abstract

Dance education plays a vital role in the holistic development of learners, fostering not only creativity and self-expression but also discipline, collaboration, and confidence. This qualitative study is a study of the lived experiences of Beijing, China dance schoolteachers as they work with parents as part of dance education. The research discusses a gap in the current literature regarding teachers using their understanding of parental involvement dynamics, specifically in extracurricular dance. With a transcendental phenomenological approach, descriptive narratives of the rich were gathered from respondents, in depth interviews with ten experienced dance schoolteachers. They shared their thoughts, emotions and strategies for instructionally and emotionally working with students and parents. Thematic analysis of the data yielded ten discrete themes surrounding adaptability in teaching, emotional labour, proactive communication, managing parental expectations, and accountability. Challenges and successful tips for establishing meaningful partnerships with parents as second caregivers as teachers provide. The findings indicate that teacher-parent communication needs to be improved, teachers need increased emotional support, and there are institutional programmes that should promote collaborative engagement with one another. At the end of the study, the paper presents several practical implications for the dance school, including the formation of training seminars and parent education programmes for the improvement of teacher-parent relationships. This research adds to the understanding of arts education parental engagement through insight into the complex roles teachers play and within the emotional labour of working as a teacher.