This Professional Access Course into Education (P.A.C.E.) is a must for professional dance specialists interested in working in schools and for dancers wishing to forge a long-term association with individual schools and the school network.
For professional dance company transition courses, click here.
In the early 90s, I graduated from the Laban Centre, London with a First Class BA (Hons) Degree in Dance Theatre. At the time, I thought I knew all I needed to know about Dance. Naively, I thought I was appropriately prepared to take up a post as Artist in Residence at a High School in Leeds. What a shock I got when I arrived on my first day, only to find that I was teaching 32 boys in a subject called Compulsory Studies!
My first lesson was a disaster and I couldn't believe that I was faced with pupils who didn't relish, or truly appreciate the beauty of dance. As if that wasn't enough, I found myself attending numerous staff meetings where acronyms such as KS1 and KS2 were being bandied about. Lesson plans; what was one of those - and more to the point, what on earth was short term and long term planning?
Reality had struck, I was no longer in the cozy environment of a dance academy where everyone truly appreciated dance as an art form. I was now faced with the cold reality of having to earn my keep and the scary notion of having to find a way of surviving in a very alien and strange school environment.
Well, to cut a long story short, I found a way to swim in those pupil infested waters and lived to tell the tale. In fact, those early days shaped my career and nearly twenty years later having worked my way up the pedagogic infrastructure, I've become very passionate about ensuring that dance specialists wishing to work in the education sector have access to appropriate CPD courses, skills and mentoring opportunities.
The past couple of years has seen a significant growth in the number of schools offering Dance as part of the curriculum. As a result, the opportunities for specialists to become engaged in school work has increased. Therefore, it is very clear that to keep up with the growth of the subject we need to create a workforce of specialists with true pedagogic understanding.
Dance in Educations Services has been providing transitional courses for professional dancers for the past ten years. Dance In Education Services offer a number of CPD training opportunities for specialists wishing to access the schools network. Previous clients have included Phoenix Dance Theatre and Northern Ballet to name, but a few.
Our P.A.C.E. courses have been designed to ensure that specialists gain an understanding of, school culture, pedagogic terms, language, curriculum requirements, lesson planning, assessment, facilitation skills, analysis, planning, assessment and review.
Classroom Management
Understanding the National Curriculum
Core Skills in Dance
Relevant Teaching Bodies and Organisations
Education Initiatives
Teaching from Dance In Education Services Resources.
Devising Dance Resources for a Specific Age Range
Health & Safety
Legal Issues and Compliance
Insurance and Liability
Lots of tips, tricks, hints and advice on working and surviving in the education sector.
To ensure that you stand a chance of being engaged in a school it is imperative that you can talk the talk and walk the walk. For example, a Head Teacher may not know, or care what a Grand Jete is, but s/he will understand terms such as Every Child Matters; the difference between attainment and achievement; Ofsted requirements, local authority regulations and national strategies.
The Professional Access Course into Education course teaches you about working in a school environment. Throughout the course, we explain pedagogic terminology and we clearly demonstrate (through practical/theoretical activities) how to apply your subject knowledge in schools to ensure a happy experience for you the school and the pupils.