Perceptions of physical education and sports teachers towards folk dance in Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions about folk dance of a group of Physical Education and Sports teachers (males n=130; females n=37), working in primary and secondary schools in different cities in Turkey. Despite their positive perception of dance as a social activity, the teachers showed an impartial attitude towards dance as a sport. They considered, dance and sport as two different fields. The consensus among the Physical Education and Sports teacher participants was that dance teaching was not a duty they should fulfil at schools. The participants were not opposed to a separate dance course at schools. In terms of gender, the female Physical Education and Sports teachers had more positive attitudes towards dance than the male teachers. One of the interesting results of this study was the data obtained from the analysis according to the teachers’ specialties. Subsequent to the teachers who specialised in folk dance, the teachers who had the most positive attitude towards folk dance were the teachers in the martial arts (wrestling, judo, boxing, taekwondo) group.

Keywords: Attitudes/Perceptions; Folk dance; Physical education; Sport; Teachers.