Dance and body-related concepts in Early Childhood Education: a review of spanish curriculum guidelines

Abstract

Dance, body awareness, and movement activities can help children’s motor development, movement sensibility, and proficiency. Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers have an important role in offering opportunities for children to explore basic anatomical actions and endless combinations of movement and dance. In this study, the position of dance, types of dances, and body-related concepts in the Spanish curriculum steering documents are reviewed. Through a systematic review, and following previous studies in the field, three main pedagogical discourses were identified: dance as cultural preserver, dance as expression, and dance as bodily exercise. Only one Spanish region includes references to dance games in ECE. There is a use of varied and rich concepts related to the body that can be grouped into three broad categories: body knowledge, body expression, and body care. Further studies exploring teachers’ practices and schemes of work would benefit the field