Slovenská hudba, Vol. 45, No 3, p.282-287

Educational Climate and Its Influence on Educational Process in Dance at Elementary Arts Schools

Artistic education is free for a wide array of people of interest from pre-school children up to adults. It is subdivided into preparatory study, basic study (divided into levels I and II), extended study, condensed study and study for adults. Majority of pupils of Elementary Arts Schools (EAS) can apply their acquired knowledge, skills and habits in their hobbies or in individual artistic creation. In the frame of the elementary education EAS offers to many of its pupils the basic artistic education on the abovementioned levels, which can work as a basis for their further education. Therefore the study at EAS can be understood as the preparatory stage for pupils for their professional activity in artistic fields.
In general the education focuses on harmonic development of socially established personality of the pupil accentuating his/her knowledge and skills. In this process the physical and mental preconditions of the individual should be respected. At present we can observe that the society is influenced by the rapid development of the information-communication technologies (since the 1980s) and schools also reflect this state. Due to digitalization of the world in which the present youth live, including their ardent interest in videogames, the teachers, in an endeavour to increase efficiency and attractivity of their subjects, reach for various innovative means and methods with a goal to motivate the pupils to active participation in education, and to the desire to learn. However we often forget that no only the means and methods of the educational process, but also the environment in which the acquiring of knowledge and skills takes place, influence the motivation of pupils to learn. Therefore we should focus mostly on the fact what kind of educational climate we create together with the pupils in particular subjects, whether comprehensive or special ones. It is precisely the positive educational climate which most of all influences the pupils in their desire to develop their basic knowledge.