'There is no right or wrong way' : exploring expressive dance assignments 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