The research topic explores teachers’ perspectives on improving educational inclusion through the performing arts at primary schools in China.

Within the global context, inclusive education is the key strategy to achieve Education for All (UNESCO,2000; UNESCO, 2015), and recent global trends in the field of educational inclusion have more concerns on the implementation of inclusive education and the pursuit of educational equality (Liasidou, 2015; Pather and Slee, 2019, Van and et al., 2020). Moreover, the performing art education has been viewed as an effective tool for including all children and providing a more inclusive environment in educational settings (Samoraj, 2002; Ockelford, 2008; Cox and Stevens, 2017; Barton-Farcas, 2018). Some global organizations support improving education equality through Art Education, such as the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Society for Education Through Art (InSEA). Some previous studies have investigated the role of arts in creating a sense of belonging, thereby creating an inclusive learning environment (Diehl, 2002; Jones, Baker, and Day, 2004; Marsh, 2012).

China, as a big country that values education sincerely, has attempted to develop inclusive policies and practices in schools (Qu, 2019; Qian and Jiang, 2004), and the government has emphasised on the importance promoting educational equality for each child (Hu, 2018; Bao and Liu, 2015). For example, since the 1980s, The Learning in the Regular Classroom (LRC) program has been promoted in many cities, and it encourages all children should be taught in mainstream schools.

China has been making the ongoing development of inclusive education. However, it is shown that the policy and its relevant legislation is hardly implemented sufficiently, and the everyday practice of inclusion in China is less covered in the empirical literature than from some other parts of the world (Qu, 2019; Xu and Zhao, 2017; Liu and Zhu, 2011). Therefore, to fill this gap, this research explores teachers’ perspectives on using music and dance to promote educational inclusion in primary schools in Shenzhen and explore the potential reasons. Moreover, it will recommend possible educational policies and pedagogy, thereby improving the quality of education and the inclusion of education in China. The results and analysis might be useful for other countries facing the same problem on improving educational inclusion.

The key focus of this study is the exploration of how performing arts and performing arts education can be helpful in inclusive education, and educators’ perceptions of their educational preparation and of the availability of performing arts education to promote the inclusion of children with additional support needs in primary schools in Shenzhen. This overarching focus led to the development of the following specific research questions:

1. What is the influence, if any, of the teachers’ background on the perceived possibilities of music and dance education for educational inclusion?

2, What are teachers’ perspectives of the practical factors hindering and facilitating the employment of music and dance in including children with additional educational needs at primary schools in Shenzhen?

3, What are the similarities and differences between policy goals and teachers’ views on educational inclusion practices at primary schools in Shenzhen?

This research embraced the interpretivist paradigm, believing that accepting multiple meanings and ways of acknowledging objective reality can only be represented rather than be captured (Bryman, 2016; Denzin and Lincoln, 2011). Given that this research involves exploring teachers’ perceptions of using performing arts education to improve educational inclusion, the semi-structured interview was carried out in this study (Silverman, 2016). The thematic data analysis started once data had been collected from the interviews in Shenzhen. In line with the research design, the qualitative data consisted of transcripts from semi-structured interviews with 34 participants (teachers and head teachers) regarding their understandings of using performing arts education to improve educational inclusion in primary schools in Shenzhen. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants, who consisted of music teachers, dance teachers, specialist assistant teachers, class teachers, and head teachers. To avoid losing the exact meaning of the participants' perspectives and information in the translation process (Cohen et al., 2011), all the transcription and coding were done in Chinese. After obtaining the full and familiar understanding of all the transcripts, key codes, themes, subthemes and direct quotation were translated into English. This data-driven analysis was approaching the interview transcripts data with an open mind, and it was constructed through the close reading of the text. Moreover, manual coding and NVivo were employed as the strategy or tool for coding text and manipulating nodes during the data analysis process (Arthur et al., 2012). As noted earlier, I have the art education background and art teaching experience in China for several years, which prepared me to identify and analyse the relevant topics generated from data in this study. However, to avoid the bias issues in interpreting data, I send the transcript back to each participant for checking the validity of my understanding of their ideas and words. Moreover, to be more objective, peers’ feedback and supervisors’ feedback on emerged themes were considered in the process of constructing final themes and sub-themes. Furthermore, I was open to any new ideas in the data, and any new identified topics I ignored or had no considered before data analysis.

This will be the main part of my presentation for the 2021 ECER conference. As the finding, it was interesting to discover that, all teachers hold positive attitudes toward using music and dance to improve schools' educational inclusion. Nevertheless, they considered that inclusive education presented many challenges for implementing the inclusive policy in practice properly. A thematic analysis was carried out for qualitative data analysis after I finished the data collection in July 2019, seven themes emerged from 34 interview transcripts around teachers’ perceptions on creating an inclusive learning environment through music and dance at schools, which are listed below: 1. Teachers’ perception of improving educational inclusion through music and dance 2. Expectations of creating an inclusive learning environment 3. Teacher's values and expectations regarding the achievement 4. Teachers' commitment to their careers 5. Inclusive education practice at the school level 6. Teachers’ theoretical knowledge of inclusive education policy 7. Teachers’ consciousness of children’s background In short, specialist assistant teachers had stronger belief on educational inclusion and better theoretical knowledge of inclusive education. Still, sometimes they were frustrated about their work, because of the lack of teacher education, the lack of educational resource, insufficient supportive system, poor school-wide collaboration and uncooperative parents. Most of the general teachers had poorer knowledge of inclusive education, but they agreed that children could be better included through music and dance. Even though without a full understanding of the concept of inclusive education, experienced teachers could be more inclusive in their teaching activities. Music and dance teachers were more confident about meeting children’s different needs because they could provide an inclusive atmosphere through music and dance education in their classes. Besides, positive leadership had a significant impact on better school inclusion for all teachers and children.

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