Dancing their identity: observant female dance teachers shaping a new path in education

Abstract

This article examined, for the first time, religiously observant female dance teachers who take part in shaping a new path in dance instruction in a Jewish religious spirit within the Israeli general-religious education system. The article examined the connections between the teachers’ perceptions and positions on aspects related to their professional world, and between their commitment to, and satisfaction from, teaching. A total of 119 teachers participated in the study. The findings show that a predictor for satisfaction and commitment is the perception of reciprocation between teacher and the teaching profession, while commitment is also predicted by the intrinsic personal motivations.

Keywords:

• Satisfaction
• commitment to teaching
• motivations for choosing the teaching profession
• dance instruction
• religious education

Notes

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2. Lam, Ideological Dilemmas.

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5. Dagan, “Religious-General Education.”

6. Katz, “High School Yeshivas”; Lam, “Ideological Dilemmas in Education”; Maslobti and Gaziel, The Teachers in Religious-General Education.

7. Rich and Illouz, “Education and Teaching Objectives”; van den Berg, “Teacher's Meanings.”

8. Kosminsky, “Professional Identity in Teaching.”

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10. Nisan, “Wanting What Is Desirable”; Oplatka, Foundations of the Administration of Education; Katzir et al., “Choosing the Teaching Profession”; Katzin and Shkedi, “Factors Influencing Entry”; Chan, “Teacher Professional Development.”

11. Nisan, “A Sense of Duty”; Katzin and Shkedi, “Factors Influencing Entry.”

12. Katzir et al., “Choosing the Teaching Profession,” 10–29; Lortie, Schoolteacher: A Sociological; Richardson and Watt, “Who Chooses Teaching and Why.”

13. Meyer, “The Self and the Life Course.” See also Katzin and Shkedi, “Factors Influencing Entry”; Zack and Horowitz, The School is also the Teacher's World; Lortie, Schoolteacher: A Sociological.

14. Katzir et al., “Choosing the Teaching Profession.”

15. Lortie, Schoolteacher: A Sociological.

16. Oplatka, Foundations of the Administration; Lortie, Schoolteacher: A Sociological; Richardson and Watt, “Who Chooses Teaching and Why”; Arnon, Frenkel, and Rubin, “Me? A Teacher.”

17. Sagee, Coping Resources of the Educational-Counselor; Lortie, Schoolteacher: A Sociological; Tamir and Lesik, “Jewish Day School Teachers”; Watt and Richardson, “Motivations, Perceptions, and Aspirations”; Choi and Tang, “Satisfied and Dissatisfied Commitment.”

18. Razak et al., The Influence of Culture on Teacher Commitment; Choi and Tang, Satisfied and Dissatisfied Commitment.

19. Oplatka, Foundations; Lortie, Schoolteacher.

20. Oplatka, Foundations; Reyes, Organizational Commitment of Teachers.

21. Lent and Brown, Social Cognitive Career Theory; Sutton and Wheatley, Teachers’ Emotions and Teaching.

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26. For elaboration on the model see Perlshtein, A Connection of the Upper and the Lower Spheres.

27. McCutchen, Teaching Dance as Art.

28. Adshead et al., Skills and Concepts for the Analysis of Dance; Eisner, The Kind of School We Need.

29. Anderson, Why and How We Make Art.

30. Brinson, Dance as Education.

31. Bond and Stinson, “I Feel Like I’m Going to Take Off!”; Krug and Cohen-Evron, Curriculum Integration Positions.

32. McCutchen, Teaching Dance as Art.

33. Ministry of Education, Management Circular.

34. Lam, Ideological Dilemmas, 151.

35. Adler, Creation and Art in the Religious-General School; Adler, Creation and Art, 9.

36. Lam, Ideological Dilemmas.

37. Creswell, Research Design.

38. Arnon et al., Me? A Teacher?; Pink, Drive; Lortie, Schoolteacher.

39. Pink, Drive; Spokane, The Resolution of Incongruence.

40. Chan, Teacher Professional Development.

41. Maslobti and Gaziel, The Teachers.

42. Maslobti and Gaziel, The Teachers; Rich and Illouz, Research Report.

43. Chan, Teacher Professional Development.

44. Choi and Tang, Satisfied and Dissatisfied Commitment.

45. Katzir et al., Choosing the Teaching Profession; Richardson and Watt, Who Chooses Teaching and Why; Lortie, Schoolteacher.

46. Kook, Orrot haTeshuva, 80.