Attitudes of secondary school students towards dance in 16+ examinations

Abstract

This study investigated the attitudes of Form 3 and Form 4 students who intend to sit for the Physical Education Secondary Education Certificate examination towards dance. The sample consisted of 265 respondants: 118 females and 147 males attending Junior Lyceum, Area Secondary and Church schools. Data was collected through self completion questionnaires and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Aspects like students' attitudes towards dance, gender differences in these attitudes, the students' knowledge of Educational Dance and their personal experience of dance after school were investigated. This study showed that female students have an overall positive attitude towards dance and that male students manifested negative attitudes to some forms of dance such as ballet and positive to others form such as disco dancing, hip hop and breakdance. The majority of the males are not taught Educational Dance at school conversely, most females experience Educational Dance during their Physical Education lessons. Both males and females demonstrated an interest in learning other forms of dance during their lessons as well as Educational Dance. A positive attitude was also expressed towards dance as a recreational activity. Most males practice dance at the disco whereas females are more apt to go to a dance studio.