Policy-Level Articulation of Practical Dance in South Korea’s High School Physical Education Expression Domain: A Comparison of the 2015 and 2022 Curricula

This study analyses the Expression Domain within South Korea’s 2015 and 2022 revised high school Physical Education curricula, specifically examining the policy-level articulation of practical dance. Utilizing comparative document and content analysis of official curriculum texts, the research evaluates the transition of practical dance from a peripheral example to an explicitly named curriculum category. Primary analysis focuses on the subject-specific high school Physical Education curriculum documents issued in 2015 and 2022, while overarching policy materials—including the national curriculum framework, commentaries, and implementation guides—serve as contextual references. The analysis examines shifts in justificatory frameworks from function-centred to value- and culture-oriented orientations, changes in evaluative language from performance-based criteria toward sensibility, relational engagement, and reflective judgement, and a movement from implicit inclusion to explicit policy-level articulation through systematic categorical naming. Findings indicate that while the 2015 revision situated practical dance as a sub-example of modern expression, the 2022 revision explicitly integrates it within achievement standards and structural frameworks. Consequently, practical dance is described more clearly as a form of embodied culture within the policy text. Rather than suggesting a generalized transformation of physical education, this study interprets these findings as a domain-specific strengthening of discursive orientation within the Expression Domain.