On Becoming a Teacher: Dance, Pedagogy, and the Debate over Dance Teacher Quality

EDWARD C. WARBURTON On Becoming a Teacher: Dance, Pedagogy, and the Debate over Dance Teacher Quality One of the most critical issues in education is teacher quality. In dance there is long-standing debate concerning which teaching skills tend to be weakest and thus comprise the most exigent threats to dance teacher quality. The requisite skills of teaching expertise have been broadly categorized as content knowledge (that is, expertise in the subject being taught) and pedagogical knowledge (that is, expertise in teaching techniques). Which of these sets of capacities (or lack thereof) more frequently cause dance teachers'work to be ineffective? Data from a series of original research studies, employing a range of methods, are considered.