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Idrottsämnet i skolverksamheten innehåller mängder av olika aktiviteter. Bakgrunden till denna studie grundar sig i tidigare forskning som bekräftar att dansundervisningen kommer i skymundan för mer populära aktiviteter och bollspel. På grund av dansens påvisade svaga genomslag i undervisningen samt att en ny läroplan har implementerats i skolan, finns vetenskapliga tomrum kopplat till dansundervisningen över tid. Syftet med denna studie är att fokusera på dansen och uppmärksamma tre olika dansformer såsom de träder fram i samtliga kursplaner mellan 1962-2022. Denna studies tillämpade metod är en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av dokument, vilket har möjliggjort granskningen av LGR62, LGR69, LGR80, LPO94, LGR11 och LGR22. Textinnehållet i samtliga kursplaner är i sin tur avgränsat till idrottsämnets centrala innehåll och betygskriterier. Resultatet visar att dansen har haft ett varierat genomslag i kursplanerna och att framställningen av dansformerna har förändras över tid. Vidare jämförs likheter och skillnader i hur dansformerna träder fram, för att då kunna synliggöra mönster. Den kulturella formen tenderar att avta med tiden medan den expressiva formen synliggörs mest och finns med i alla kursplaner. Träningsformen träder i sin tur fram minst, men kan tänkas få ett ökat utrymme i framtiden. I diskussionen redogörs en sammanfattande tolkning av denna studies resultat. Genom att utgå från studiens syfte och frågeställningar ställs dessa i relation till tidigare forskning. Med hjälp av läroplansteorin motiveras tolkningar och ställningstaganden där förklaringsmodeller i första hand kopplas mot bland annat samhället och dansens genomslag i undervisningen., Physical education in school contains many different activities. The background for this study is based on previous science and research, which confirms that dance lessons are reduced by more popular activities and ball games. Since the dance demonstrated as a weak impact in school, there are scientific gaps connected to dance lessons over time. The purpose of this study is to focus on dance and then pay attention to three different forms of dances, as they appear in all curricula between 1962-2022. This study´s method is a qualitative content analysis of documents, which made it possible to review the content in LGR62, LGR69, LGR80, LPO94, LGR11 and LGR22. The content in all curricula is in turn limited to physical educations syllabuses and specific the core content and grading criteria. The results of this study confirm that dance has had a varied impact in the syllabuses and the forms of dance represents changes over time. Furthermore, did a comparison show similarities and differences of how the forms of dances appear over time, which made patterns noticeable. The culture dance tends to decline over time, while the expressive dance is most visible and the only one that is included in all syllabuses. The training dance, fore’s the least, but could conceivably get an increased space in the future. The discussion presents a summarized interpretation of the results of this study. Based on the study's propose and questions, these are placed in relation to previous research. With the help of curriculum theory, interpretations and positions are justified where explanatory models are primarily linked to society and the impact of dance in physical education.

Idrottsämnet i skolverksamheten innehåller mängder av olika aktiviteter. Bakgrunden till denna studie grundar sig i tidigare forskning som bekräftar att dansundervisningen kommer i skymundan för mer populära aktiviteter och bollspel. På grund av dansens påvisade svaga genomslag i undervisningen samt att en ny läroplan har implementerats i skolan, finns vetenskapliga tomrum kopplat till dansundervisningen över tid. Syftet med denna studie är att fokusera på dansen och uppmärksamma tre olika dansformer såsom de träder fram i samtliga kursplaner mellan 1962-2022. Denna studies tillämpade metod är en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av dokument, vilket har möjliggjort granskningen av LGR62, LGR69, LGR80, LPO94, LGR11 och LGR22. Textinnehållet i samtliga kursplaner är i sin tur avgränsat till idrottsämnets centrala innehåll och betygskriterier. Resultatet visar att dansen har haft ett varierat genomslag i kursplanerna och att framställningen av dansformerna har förändras över tid. Vidare jämförs likheter och skillnader i hur dansformerna träder fram, för att då kunna synliggöra mönster. Den kulturella formen tenderar att avta med tiden medan den expressiva formen synliggörs mest och finns med i alla kursplaner. Träningsformen träder i sin tur fram minst, men kan tänkas få ett ökat utrymme i framtiden. I diskussionen redogörs en sammanfattande tolkning av denna studies resultat. Genom att utgå från studiens syfte och frågeställningar ställs dessa i relation till tidigare forskning. Med hjälp av läroplansteorin motiveras tolkningar och ställningstaganden där förklaringsmodeller i första hand kopplas mot bland annat samhället och dansens genomslag i undervisningen., Physical education in school contains many different activities. The background for this study is based on previous science and research, which confirms that dance lessons are reduced by more popular activities and ball games. Since the dance demonstrated as a weak impact in school, there are scientific gaps connected to dance lessons over time. The purpose of this study is to focus on dance and then pay attention to three different forms of dances, as they appear in all curricula between 1962-2022. This study´s method is a qualitative content analysis of documents, which made it possible to review the content in LGR62, LGR69, LGR80, LPO94, LGR11 and LGR22. The content in all curricula is in turn limited to physical educations syllabuses and specific the core content and grading criteria. The results of this study confirm that dance has had a varied impact in the syllabuses and the forms of dance represents changes over time. Furthermore, did a comparison show similarities and differences of how the forms of dances appear over time, which made patterns noticeable. The culture dance tends to decline over time, while the expressive dance is most visible and the only one that is included in all syllabuses. The training dance, fore’s the least, but could conceivably get an increased space in the future. The discussion presents a summarized interpretation of the results of this study. Based on the study's propose and questions, these are placed in relation to previous research. With the help of curriculum theory, interpretations and positions are justified where explanatory models are primarily linked to society and the impact of dance in physical education.

Background: Research has indicated that an aesthetic perspective on movement is lacking in physical education and that exploratory teaching assignments are rare. Purpose: The aim of the paper is to explore how PE teachers approach the issue of teaching expressive dance and which learning processes students are involved in while dancing. Participants, research design and data collection: Sixty-eight students from three different secondary school classes and four PE teachers at one municipal school in Sweden participated in a pedagogical intervention. A dance education unit built around Rudolf Laban's framework of movement was video recorded. Careful attention was paid to ethical considerations. Data analysis: Using Dewey's transactional perspective as a holistic starting point contributed to dissolve the dualism between individuals and the environment (Dewey and Bentley 1949/1991). The analysis was informed by practical epistemology analysis [Wickman, P.-O., and L. ostman. 2002. "Learning as a Discourse Change: a Sociocultural Mechanism." Science Education 86 (5): 601-623], where the terms gaps, relations and encounters were applied to distinguish various types of transactions. The concept of risk [Biesta, G. 2013. The Beautiful Risk of Education. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers] was utilised to explore how teachers' pedagogical methods interacted with the environment in the pedagogical intervention. Findings: Most transactions occurring during the dance unit were interpreted as narrow transactions, meaning that the students' actions followed responses to the teachers' initiation of a dance assignment. Expanded transactions occurred when the students were given the opportunity and responsibility to find their own solutions to dance assignments. This is interpreted as leading to an expanded purpose, which involves new ways of moving. Interrupted transactions, i.e. when actions were stopped and no encounters occurred, were observed in the form of students hesitating or av

Background: Research has indicated that an aesthetic perspective on movement is lacking in physical education and that exploratory teaching assignments are rare. Purpose: The aim of the paper is to explore how PE teachers approach the issue of teaching expressive dance and which learning processes students are involved in while dancing. Participants, research design and data collection: Sixty-eight students from three different secondary school classes and four PE teachers at one municipal school in Sweden participated in a pedagogical intervention. A dance education unit built around Rudolf Laban's framework of movement was video recorded. Careful attention was paid to ethical considerations. Data analysis: Using Dewey's transactional perspective as a holistic starting point contributed to dissolve the dualism between individuals and the environment (Dewey and Bentley 1949/1991). The analysis was informed by practical epistemology analysis [Wickman, P.-O., and L. ostman. 2002. "Learning as a Discourse Change: a Sociocultural Mechanism." Science Education 86 (5): 601-623], where the terms gaps, relations and encounters were applied to distinguish various types of transactions. The concept of risk [Biesta, G. 2013. The Beautiful Risk of Education. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers] was utilised to explore how teachers' pedagogical methods interacted with the environment in the pedagogical intervention. Findings: Most transactions occurring during the dance unit were interpreted as narrow transactions, meaning that the students' actions followed responses to the teachers' initiation of a dance assignment. Expanded transactions occurred when the students were given the opportunity and responsibility to find their own solutions to dance assignments. This is interpreted as leading to an expanded purpose, which involves new ways of moving. Interrupted transactions, i.e. when actions were stopped and no encounters occurred, were observed in the form of students hesitating or av

Background: Research has indicated that an aesthetic perspective on movement is lacking in physical education and that exploratory teaching assignments are rare. Purpose: The aim of the paper is to explore how PE teachers approach the issue of teaching expressive dance and which learning processes students are involved in while dancing. Participants, research design and data collection: Sixty-eight students from three different secondary school classes and four PE teachers at one municipal school in Sweden participated in a pedagogical intervention. A dance education unit built around Rudolf Laban's framework of movement was video recorded. Careful attention was paid to ethical considerations. Data analysis: Using Dewey's transactional perspective as a holistic starting point contributed to dissolve the dualism between individuals and the environment (Dewey and Bentley 1949/1991). The analysis was informed by practical epistemology analysis [Wickman, P.-O., and L. ostman. 2002. "Learning as a Discourse Change: a Sociocultural Mechanism." Science Education 86 (5): 601-623], where the terms gaps, relations and encounters were applied to distinguish various types of transactions. The concept of risk [Biesta, G. 2013. The Beautiful Risk of Education. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers] was utilised to explore how teachers' pedagogical methods interacted with the environment in the pedagogical intervention. Findings: Most transactions occurring during the dance unit were interpreted as narrow transactions, meaning that the students' actions followed responses to the teachers' initiation of a dance assignment. Expanded transactions occurred when the students were given the opportunity and responsibility to find their own solutions to dance assignments. This is interpreted as leading to an expanded purpose, which involves new ways of moving. Interrupted transactions, i.e. when actions were stopped and no encounters occurred, were observed in the form of students hesitating or av

Background: Research has indicated that an aesthetic perspective on movement is lacking in physical education and that exploratory teaching assignments are rare. Purpose: The aim of the paper is to explore how PE teachers approach the issue of teaching expressive dance and which learning processes students are involved in while dancing. Participants, research design and data collection: Sixty-eight students from three different secondary school classes and four PE teachers at one municipal school in Sweden participated in a pedagogical intervention. A dance education unit built around Rudolf Laban's framework of movement was video recorded. Careful attention was paid to ethical considerations. Data analysis: Using Dewey's transactional perspective as a holistic starting point contributed to dissolve the dualism between individuals and the environment (Dewey and Bentley 1949/1991). The analysis was informed by practical epistemology analysis [Wickman, P.-O., and L. ostman. 2002. "Learning as a Discourse Change: a Sociocultural Mechanism." Science Education 86 (5): 601-623], where the terms gaps, relations and encounters were applied to distinguish various types of transactions. The concept of risk [Biesta, G. 2013. The Beautiful Risk of Education. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers] was utilised to explore how teachers' pedagogical methods interacted with the environment in the pedagogical intervention. Findings: Most transactions occurring during the dance unit were interpreted as narrow transactions, meaning that the students' actions followed responses to the teachers' initiation of a dance assignment. Expanded transactions occurred when the students were given the opportunity and responsibility to find their own solutions to dance assignments. This is interpreted as leading to an expanded purpose, which involves new ways of moving. Interrupted transactions, i.e. when actions were stopped and no encounters occurred, were observed in the form of students hesitating or av

Background: Research has indicated that an aesthetic perspective on movement is lacking in physical education and that exploratory teaching assignments are rare. Purpose: The aim of the paper is to explore how PE teachers approach the issue of teaching expressive dance and which learning processes students are involved in while dancing. Participants, research design and data collection: Sixty-eight students from three different secondary school classes and four PE teachers at one municipal school in Sweden participated in a pedagogical intervention. A dance education unit built around Rudolf Laban's framework of movement was video recorded. Careful attention was paid to ethical considerations. Data analysis: Using Dewey's transactional perspective as a holistic starting point contributed to dissolve the dualism between individuals and the environment (Dewey and Bentley 1949/1991). The analysis was informed by practical epistemology analysis [Wickman, P.-O., and L. ostman. 2002. "Learning as a Discourse Change: a Sociocultural Mechanism." Science Education 86 (5): 601-623], where the terms gaps, relations and encounters were applied to distinguish various types of transactions. The concept of risk [Biesta, G. 2013. The Beautiful Risk of Education. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers] was utilised to explore how teachers' pedagogical methods interacted with the environment in the pedagogical intervention. Findings: Most transactions occurring during the dance unit were interpreted as narrow transactions, meaning that the students' actions followed responses to the teachers' initiation of a dance assignment. Expanded transactions occurred when the students were given the opportunity and responsibility to find their own solutions to dance assignments. This is interpreted as leading to an expanded purpose, which involves new ways of moving. Interrupted transactions, i.e. when actions were stopped and no encounters occurred, were observed in the form of students hesitating or av

Background: Research has indicated that an aesthetic perspective on movement is lacking in physical education and that exploratory teaching assignments are rare. Purpose: The aim of the paper is to explore how PE teachers approach the issue of teaching expressive dance and which learning processes students are involved in while dancing. Participants, research design and data collection: Sixty-eight students from three different secondary school classes and four PE teachers at one municipal school in Sweden participated in a pedagogical intervention. A dance education unit built around Rudolf Laban's framework of movement was video recorded. Careful attention was paid to ethical considerations. Data analysis: Using Dewey's transactional perspective as a holistic starting point contributed to dissolve the dualism between individuals and the environment (Dewey and Bentley 1949/1991). The analysis was informed by practical epistemology analysis [Wickman, P.-O., and L. ostman. 2002. "Learning as a Discourse Change: a Sociocultural Mechanism." Science Education 86 (5): 601-623], where the terms gaps, relations and encounters were applied to distinguish various types of transactions. The concept of risk [Biesta, G. 2013. The Beautiful Risk of Education. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers] was utilised to explore how teachers' pedagogical methods interacted with the environment in the pedagogical intervention. Findings: Most transactions occurring during the dance unit were interpreted as narrow transactions, meaning that the students' actions followed responses to the teachers' initiation of a dance assignment. Expanded transactions occurred when the students were given the opportunity and responsibility to find their own solutions to dance assignments. This is interpreted as leading to an expanded purpose, which involves new ways of moving. Interrupted transactions, i.e. when actions were stopped and no encounters occurred, were observed in the form of students hesitating or av

Background: Research has indicated that an aesthetic perspective on movement is lacking in physical education and that exploratory teaching assignments are rare. Purpose: The aim of the paper is to explore how PE teachers approach the issue of teaching expressive dance and which learning processes students are involved in while dancing. Participants, research design and data collection: Sixty-eight students from three different secondary school classes and four PE teachers at one municipal school in Sweden participated in a pedagogical intervention. A dance education unit built around Rudolf Laban's framework of movement was video recorded. Careful attention was paid to ethical considerations. Data analysis: Using Dewey's transactional perspective as a holistic starting point contributed to dissolve the dualism between individuals and the environment (Dewey and Bentley 1949/1991). The analysis was informed by practical epistemology analysis [Wickman, P.-O., and L. ostman. 2002. "Learning as a Discourse Change: a Sociocultural Mechanism." Science Education 86 (5): 601-623], where the terms gaps, relations and encounters were applied to distinguish various types of transactions. The concept of risk [Biesta, G. 2013. The Beautiful Risk of Education. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers] was utilised to explore how teachers' pedagogical methods interacted with the environment in the pedagogical intervention. Findings: Most transactions occurring during the dance unit were interpreted as narrow transactions, meaning that the students' actions followed responses to the teachers' initiation of a dance assignment. Expanded transactions occurred when the students were given the opportunity and responsibility to find their own solutions to dance assignments. This is interpreted as leading to an expanded purpose, which involves new ways of moving. Interrupted transactions, i.e. when actions were stopped and no encounters occurred, were observed in the form of students hesitating or av

Background: Research has indicated that an aesthetic perspective on movement is lacking in physical education and that exploratory teaching assignments are rare. Purpose: The aim of the paper is to explore how PE teachers approach the issue of teaching expressive dance and which learning processes students are involved in while dancing. Participants, research design and data collection: Sixty-eight students from three different secondary school classes and four PE teachers at one municipal school in Sweden participated in a pedagogical intervention. A dance education unit built around Rudolf Laban's framework of movement was video recorded. Careful attention was paid to ethical considerations. Data analysis: Using Dewey's transactional perspective as a holistic starting point contributed to dissolve the dualism between individuals and the environment (Dewey and Bentley 1949/1991). The analysis was informed by practical epistemology analysis [Wickman, P.-O., and L. ostman. 2002. "Learning as a Discourse Change: a Sociocultural Mechanism." Science Education 86 (5): 601-623], where the terms gaps, relations and encounters were applied to distinguish various types of transactions. The concept of risk [Biesta, G. 2013. The Beautiful Risk of Education. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers] was utilised to explore how teachers' pedagogical methods interacted with the environment in the pedagogical intervention. Findings: Most transactions occurring during the dance unit were interpreted as narrow transactions, meaning that the students' actions followed responses to the teachers' initiation of a dance assignment. Expanded transactions occurred when the students were given the opportunity and responsibility to find their own solutions to dance assignments. This is interpreted as leading to an expanded purpose, which involves new ways of moving. Interrupted transactions, i.e. when actions were stopped and no encounters occurred, were observed in the form of students hesitating or av

Syftet med föreliggande avhandling är att belysa och diskutera lärares och elevers meningsskapande processer när expressiva dansuppdrag iscensätts i skolämnet idrott och hälsa. Avhandlingen tar avstamp i pragmatismen och genom Deweys transaktionella perspektiv studeras lärares undervisning, elevers lärprocesser och expressiv dans som undervisningsinnehåll i en sammanhållen helhet. I en pedagogisk intervention deltog fyra lärare i ämnet idrott och hälsa samt 68 högstadieelever på en skola. Ett sammanhållet danstema med utgångspunkt i Rudolf Labans rörelseramverk skapades för att uppmärksamma rörelseupplevelser och estetiska uttryck. Multipla metoder i form av videoobservationer av undervisningen, intervjuer med lärarna och elevers narrativ i loggböcker användes för att belysa frågeställningarna från olika håll. Transaktionsbegreppet och praktisk epistemologisk analys (PEA) prövades för analyser av rörelsehandlingar och elevers texter. Begreppet risk användes för analyser av pedagogiska konsekvenser i undervisningen. Resultaten visar att lärarna förändrar sin undervisning och blir pedagoger som skapar förutsättningar för att utforska icke-förutbestämda rörelser i stället för instruktörer av danssteg. Lärarna utvecklar nya vanor som möjliggör nyanserade och differentierade samspel med miljön och förmåga att ta och hantera risker i undervisningen. Ett förändrat undervisningsinnehåll i form av expressiva dansuppdrag ger möjligheter att återinföra estetiska aspekter på rörelser och därigenom sätta fokus på rörelsers innebörd och mening. Lärarna upptäcker nya grupper av elever, de som vanligen inte dominerar idrottsundervisningen. Resultaten visar vidare att normer kring flickor och pojkars rörelser i ämnet idrott och hälsa rubbas när de deltar i expressiva dansuppdrag. Avhandlingen pekar på att kroppsliggörande är ett värdefullt kunnande och att Labans rörelseramverk ger lärare och elever verktyg och språk att tydliggöra lärandet i ämnet idrott och hälsa. Därtill är estet, The aim of this thesis is to highlight and discuss teachers’ and students’ meaning-making processes in the performance of expressive dance assignments as part of the curriculum in Physical Education (PE). Using a theoretical framework that draws upon John Dewey’s transactional perspective, the analysis of teaching, learning processes, and expressive dance as part of the curriculum of the subject takes its starting point in practical experiences. In a pedagogical intervention, four PE teachers and 68 secondary school students participated. A dance theme was created with its basis in Laban’s framework of movements, in order to create experiences of movement and aesthetic expression. Multiple methods, such as video recordings of teaching, interviews with teachers, and students’ narratives in logbooks, were used to highlight the research questions of this thesis from different perspectives. The concept of transaction as well as practical epistemology analysis (PEA) was applied in the analysis of teaching, movement patterns, and students’ texts. The term risk was used to analyze the pedagogical consequences of teaching. The study shows that the participating teachers altered their methods of teaching, becoming pedagogues creating opportunities for the exploration of movements rather than delivering instructions for dance steps. The teachers developed new habits, which facilitated nuanced and differentiated interplays with the surroundings, as well as the ability to take and manage risks in teaching. Altered teaching content in the form of expressive dance assignments provided opportunities for reintroducing aesthetic aspects of movements to the subject of PE, leading to a shift of focus to the purpose and meaning of movements. The teachers discovered new groups of students, who did not ordinarily dominate the PE classes. Furthermore, the study shows that expressive dance assignments disrupt the gender coding of movements in PE. This thesis shows that bodying is a valuabl

Introduction It is agrued that the use of expressive dance can question gender stereotypes in physical education (PE). Dance has been a part of the PE curriculum in several countries for a long time. Inspite of this studies demonstrate that teaching dance in PE is rare and aesthetical perspectives on moving bodies are absent. The purpose is therefore to investigate PE teachers’ experiences of using expressive dance as a learning object and explore whether dance can help broaden understandings of essence and potential of physical education.Method Pre and post semi structured interviews (Thomssen, 2004) have been used to ’give voice’ to PE teachers’ experiences in combination with videotaped observations (Öhman & Quennerstedt, 2012) during a dance theme in PE. Data collection is focusing on teachers’ actions and talk but taking the whole didactic system into account: the knowledge intended to be learned, teachers’ strategies and the context (Amade-Escot, 2006). The empirical material consist of eight interviews with four PE teachers and 24 observed PE lessons.Results PE teachers describe a feeling of freedom and that teaching expressive dance have broadened their perceptions of what and how students learn. Rather than imitating movements the focus has changed to the students themselves create and reflect on their movements. Teachers have discovered new students than those who tend to dominate the sport teaching. Teachers also recognize that boys and girls co-operate and that girls take as much space as boys do. Discussion Underscoring John Dewey’s (1934/2005) thoughts of bodies in transaction with their social, cultural and physical surroundings, these are brought into conversations with feminist scholars (Sullivan 2001) to expand the thinking about the body such as the role of habit and meaning. Expressive dance as non-competition and including non predetermined movements can challenge a masculine-coded subject. Such a discussion can add new dimensions to the debate

Dance has been a part of physical education (PE) in several countries for a long time. Dance is marginalized in PE in Sweden and there is a gap between the ambitious goal in the curricula and the actually teaching in dance. Many PE teachers generally feel uncertain about the role of dance in their subject and are insecure how to teach it. PE appears to be dominated by a multiactivity model, underpinned by discourses ofhealth and fitness alongside the logic of sport as bodily movement practices aimed at competition. The aim is to discuss whether dance and aesthetical experiences can help broaden understandings of the body and the use of the body within the subject as a part of an identity process. Such a discussion can also add new dimensions to the debate on the nature and purposes of PE. The theoretical references draw on the pedagogue John Dewey's (1934/2005) concepts of experiences and aesthetical judgements. The sociologist Thomas Ziehe´s (1982/1986) concept of unusual learning processes is also used to discuss challenges for students' learning. An intervention study, consisting eight PE lessons with dance inspired by Rudolf Laban (1948/1988), was carried through in three classes on high school level in the compulsory school. The empirical material consists of videotaped lessons and students' written narratives. The results show that aesthetical dimensions of movements and dance as expression challenge students in PE and offer new learning experiences and therefor is a part of an identity process. Instead of imitating and reproducing movements the students have an intention to express feelings through dance and create unpredictable movements. The PE teachers use more student centered teaching instead of using direct teaching with specified movements as a form of social control. New dimensions of subjective experiences and the sensual body are given space in PE as a counterweight to sport-related physical activities.

Dance has been a part of physical education (PE) in several countries for a long time. Dance is marginalized in PE in Sweden and there is a gap between the ambitious goal in the curricula and the actually teaching in dance. Many PE teachers generally feel uncertain about the role of dance in their subject and are insecure how to teach it. PE appears to be dominated by a multiactivity model, underpinned by discourses ofhealth and fitness alongside the logic of sport as bodily movement practices aimed at competition. The aim is to discuss whether dance and aesthetical experiences can help broaden understandings of the body and the use of the body within the subject as a part of an identity process. Such a discussion can also add new dimensions to the debate on the nature and purposes of PE. The theoretical references draw on the pedagogue John Dewey's (1934/2005) concepts of experiences and aesthetical judgements. The sociologist Thomas Ziehe´s (1982/1986) concept of unusual learning processes is also used to discuss challenges for students' learning. An intervention study, consisting eight PE lessons with dance inspired by Rudolf Laban (1948/1988), was carried through in three classes on high school level in the compulsory school. The empirical material consists of videotaped lessons and students' written narratives. The results show that aesthetical dimensions of movements and dance as expression challenge students in PE and offer new learning experiences and therefor is a part of an identity process. Instead of imitating and reproducing movements the students have an intention to express feelings through dance and create unpredictable movements. The PE teachers use more student centered teaching instead of using direct teaching with specified movements as a form of social control. New dimensions of subjective experiences and the sensual body are given space in PE as a counterweight to sport-related physical activities.

Introduction It is agrued that the use of expressive dance can question gender stereotypes in physical education (PE). Dance has been a part of the PE curriculum in several countries for a long time. Inspite of this studies demonstrate that teaching dance in PE is rare and aesthetical perspectives on moving bodies are absent. The purpose is therefore to investigate PE teachers’ experiences of using expressive dance as a learning object and explore whether dance can help broaden understandings of essence and potential of physical education.Method Pre and post semi structured interviews (Thomssen, 2004) have been used to ’give voice’ to PE teachers’ experiences in combination with videotaped observations (Öhman & Quennerstedt, 2012) during a dance theme in PE. Data collection is focusing on teachers’ actions and talk but taking the whole didactic system into account: the knowledge intended to be learned, teachers’ strategies and the context (Amade-Escot, 2006). The empirical material consist of eight interviews with four PE teachers and 24 observed PE lessons.Results PE teachers describe a feeling of freedom and that teaching expressive dance have broadened their perceptions of what and how students learn. Rather than imitating movements the focus has changed to the students themselves create and reflect on their movements. Teachers have discovered new students than those who tend to dominate the sport teaching. Teachers also recognize that boys and girls co-operate and that girls take as much space as boys do. Discussion Underscoring John Dewey’s (1934/2005) thoughts of bodies in transaction with their social, cultural and physical surroundings, these are brought into conversations with feminist scholars (Sullivan 2001) to expand the thinking about the body such as the role of habit and meaning. Expressive dance as non-competition and including non predetermined movements can challenge a masculine-coded subject. Such a discussion can add new dimensions to the debate