Integration of Slovenian folk dances in the educational process

In this thesis, Integration of Slovenian Folk Dances in the Educational process, we wanted to research teachers use and knowledge of folk dances. We wanted to discover what teachers find difficult when teaching, how we could help them teach lesser known folk dances and help them feel more qualified to incorporate folk dances into teaching. In the theoretical section of the thesis we defined the meaning and the role of folk dances, different kinds of folk dances, different dance forms and how widespread they are. We also described the history and the current condition of dance culture in schools. The theoretical section also includes a presentation of folk dance in elementary school in connection with the development of dancing culture amongst the students and the role of the teacher in achieving quality lessons. In the empirical part we used a quantitative research paradigm. In this research, we included 80 elementary school teachers who have a different level of education and come from randomly picked elementary schools around Slovenia. We collected the data using a questionnaire for the teachers and based on the collected data carried out an analysis. The purpose of this thesis was to find out how much meaning teachers give to the integration of folk dances into their lessons and how well they know dance culture. Based on the current state we would like to increase the use of folk dances in the lessons, encourage teachers to use cross-curricular connections, give more meaning to the cultural heritage of folk dancing and contribute to more frequent teaching and quality lessons in this area. Based on videos and pictorial materials we have created, which are offered in this thesis we would like to empower teachers to feel more qualified and consequently teach even more complicated and lesser known folk dances