Dance teachers’ competency in school education: a narrative systematic review

Teachers play a crucial role in ensuring the quality of education; however, the ability of dance teachers has been questioned, as people who have not received formal educational training are entering the profession. At the same time, the interdisciplinary nature of dance education determines the complexity and multifaceted nature of dance teacher competency. Therefore, we proposed the importance of exploring the competency of dance teachers and the urgency of providing a holistic perspective with a systematic approach. This study followed the PRISMA process to screen articles systematically. It employed a narrative thematic analysis method to identify the knowledge, skills, or personal traits of dance teachers, as well as to identify models or mature assessment tools for evaluating dance teacher competency in articles published over the past decade. The study identified four themes of dance teacher competency: Empowering and Inclusive Mindset, Instructional Pedagogy, Innovative and Integrated Dance Pedagogy, and Dance Skills and Subject Knowledge. The review failed to find a dance teacher competence model and an established assessment tool.