SO WE THINK WE CAN TEACH DANCE!

A public letter to anyone interested in the dance community regarding the launch of the new national Training package for the Australian dance industry.

Background

Dance is basking in wider public appeal and interest in Australia. The rise of competition television shows like ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ have led to a surge in numbers enrolling in training in all styles of dance classes. For the first time, dance is now being taught in mainstream schools. The huge number of dancing feet crossing studio thresholds is great news given that they are usually accompanied by smiling faces and healthy bodies, all of which are of course in the nation’s best interest. But just as tendu follows plié, the next step for a healthy dancing nation is to make sure that the classes, teachers and material being taught are safe, supported and assessed. After all, the value of a dance class is significantly lessened if the teacher is unqualified, the material mostly improvised and the classroom unsafe. Recognising this need and wanting to create and set new standards leading to more employable dancers, the Commonwealth Government has injected its presence by creating a network within which this can happen.

Recognising the needs that were being faced by dance student syllabus and teachers themselves, the national Industry Skills Council (ISC) responsible for the cultural industries, Innovation and Business Skills Australia (IBSA) has commenced a project to develop national qualifications for the dance industry. IBSA is one of eleven Industry Skills Councils for the vocational education and training (VET) system recognised and funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR).. IBSA is the official voice on skills and training for a diverse range of industries leading the innovation economy.

ADi Involvement

ADi is privileged to be invited to join the NPRG which has an overall industry governance function for the project. ADi views this new project as a valuable initiative for the dance teaching industry, and consequently  is making its resources available to assist IBSA with concepts for the framework of new standards, drawing upon ADi’s existing pioneering work in creating a comprehensive suite of nationally accredited dance curricula already compliant with the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF).

The AQF provides a comprehensive, nationally consistent yet flexible framework for all qualifications in post-compulsory education and training. The AQF recognises that the schools sector, VET sector and higher education sector each have different industry institutional linkages and tt connects these in a coherent single Framework.

AQF qualifications are used throughout Australia and are developed in conjunction with all facets of industry and the community from agriculture to welding, not to forget music, visual arts amongst over 1,500 courses. . They are integrated where possible to help the student move through and between different education levels and systems by specifying and standardizing the outcomes to be achieved

ADi history

The Australian Dance Institute has spent more than twenty years (by means of its founding corporate affiliate, Australian Dance Vision), creating the first comprehensive suite of nationally accredited dance curricula in Australia. Not stopping to rest on its laurels though, and having integrated the new syllabuses (in ballet, tap and jazz) with the Australian Qualifications Framework, ADV undertook the rigourous task of attaining full Registered Training Organisation status, the first private dance curriculum provider ever to do so in Australia. ADV has recently passed this mantle to ADi to provide a new entity for Open Access Vocational Training to the industry at large.

This early ground-breaking work by ADV is a credit to the organisation, and its Director Penny Lancaster, that ADV has persisted in carefully balancing and assimilating the vitality, dynamism and creativity of dancing and dance teaching with the strict and sometimes pedantic requirements of government training frameworks and standards.

Over a ten year period the organisation has set up its own National Education Committees and has crafted a series of practical, vocational and interesting programs that integrate dance classes with school and TAFE training so that they can be used towards a vocational qualification but more importantly, are accessible, viable and fun. Children enrolled at an ADV school receive a balanced dance education where the outcome is not creating a regimented, strictly controlled line-up of identical sugar plums and swans, but on nurturing a classroom of impulsive and imaginative children who want a safe place to express their love of movement, who will receive a very comprehensive training that does not place emphasis purely on dance performance, but also on musicality, dance history, choreography, dance appreciation, nutrition and employability skills! Further, if the school is ADI Certified, students can additionally receive nationally accredited ADi Certificates in Dance Performance Studies recognised around Australia.

Similarly, dance teachers can now obtain nationally recognised qualifications and will have studied nutrition, psychology, business practice and the techniques of teaching. Within the Australian Quality Training Framework there is an Australian vocational qualification that parents can understand, that is transparent, practical and pleasurable. Dance qualifications, even for young students, can lead to further education after they complete their Certificate IV in Dance Performance Studies. Thus equipping both the young body and mind for a future beyond the short trajectory of many dance stars  - in other words employment opportunities after a performance career or aspiration has unfortunately faded.

Back to the future – open access teacher training

Getting back to the new dance project now at hand, ADi, with other founding Australian dance societies and teaching Institutions is working with Verve and IBSA via a new industry  advisory group, the Council for Dance Educators Co Ltd. - CDE formed to provide direct liason with government in advising feedback on draft  qualifications in teacher and dance training that can be adapted by a provider to suit their own syllabus once expanded to include core “competencies” beyond traditional pure dance syllabus technical content.

Most significantly for dancers and their societies is that ADi is opening its doors so that other organisations can access accredited training. This means it is not necessary for every society or organizations to undergo the administrative rigour and costs of becoming RTOs, write or re-write a complete syllabus in every genre, or to outlay the significant financial commitment that goes with this. By becoming an Adi affiliate they too can learn how to adapt their own syllabus as well as work in joint marketing of proven teacher training courses at the Certificate IV in Dance Teaching & Management level. This is a gradual and active choice which will not interfere with existing membership of participating organizations.

At the core of any new industry standard is the degree of participation contributed by the various stakeholders. In terms of employability skills there are very few professional dancers or teachers who do not trace the provenance of their skills to one or more of the existing dance societies. Hence the formation of CDE as an advocacy group to ensure students of all dance schools have an equitable right of access to the new National Dance Qualifications whether taught by private studio or public school teachers.  

This project is a once in a generation opportunity for government to embrace  professional dance teaching methods used by dance societies, giving them the opportunity to enhance curriculum and improve job opportunities for young dancers and teachers. The optimum result will only be achieved through full engagement by both government and industry at all levels. ADi and CDE will advocating outcomes with the interests of all dance teachers and their silent stakeholders, namely their students, at heart!