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National Occupational Standards

Professional Standards

DTAP aims to create nationally-recognised professional standards in the teaching of dance for people of all ages, abilities, and levels of engagement. Its Professional Standards work package aims to develop National Occupational Standards covering the core competencies required by the widest range of practitioners from beginner to advanced, and addressing specialist competencies in the areas of dance with young people; disabled people; health and wellbeing; older people; criminal justice.

The Professional Standards work package is led by the Foundation for Community Dance (FCD), and managed by a Professional Standards Working Group consisting of representatives of a wide range of industry bodies with expertise in community dance (see below).

What are Professional Standards?

Professional Standards can be developed by anyone to describe the work that they do and the standards by which they aim to achieve their objectives. Developing these standards collectively gives our sector strength and a clear message to be able to communicate about dance facilitation competencies to other sectors.

Professional Standards are useful to help us distinguish different levels at which we work, making clear routes for career progression, understanding competencies and transferability of those competencies.

What are National Occupational Standards (NOS)?

National Occupational Standards are statements of skills, knowledge and understanding needed in employment and clearly define the outcomes of competent performance.

National Occupational Standards are a formal recognition of Professional Standards. We can submit the Professional Standards that we develop to be approved as National Occupational Standards. These will then have a structure of review and revision every few years to allow for developments in the profession.

What are the benefits of having NOS?

NOS support the dance sector in developing qualifications, helping employers to understand the level at which dance practitioners are operating, identifying training needs, and for dance practitioners to have a clear pathway in their professional development.

Why do we need them?

We need NOS to have a shared understanding of what competencies are needed at different levels of delivery, and in different settings.

Why are we looking at specialist areas?

The specialist areas that we are looking at (young people/ older people/ disability/ health and wellbeing/criminal justice) are a starting point for some areas of practice that have different and specific sets of competencies over and above basic skills in leading dance. Community dance happens in very different settings, therefore it is important to understand the level of support that is needed for an inexperienced practitioner working within specialist settings and also to recognise the experienced practitioner in action. This knowledge affects the rates of pay provided by employers and pathways for practitioners in their training.

What are the implications for organisations/agencies?

NOS will provide benchmarks by which you can develop supportive policies and development routes for the dance practitioners you employ. It will support you to deliver appraisals and because of the identification of level of competence, could also help to identify appropriate pricing policies according to levels of experience.

Having NOS will help the process of identifying need for specific courses and qualifications to be developed. Using NOS can support the sector to develop a framework, building a collective clarity across organisations as to understanding the level at which courses are set, and levels of work based learning.

What are the implications for dance practitioners?

NOS will provide benchmarks by which you can look at your own practice and evaluate your development as you gain experience through your work based learning, and through courses that you attend. They will enable you to recognise your development and, if working freelance, to make a judgement about what level you are operating at and set your working fees accordingly.

What are the implications for those looking for a dance teacher?

The NOS that are adopted by the sector will ensure that standards are set at which dance teachers and practitioners need to work. As such, those looking for a teacher will know that teachers who work to the NOS use a clear professional code of conduct and meet a quality standard.

How will we know whether a dance teacher / practitioner we are working with meets the standards?

Over time, organisations and dance practitioners will be able to identify where they fit within a framework for the sector. Development of Professional Standards at different levels is the starting point for this activity.

Visit the Skills for Business website for further Information on the benefits of National Occupational Standards and what they do.

As part of DTAP’s work different models of regulatory frameworks are being explored to see how we might communicate to the general public collectively as a sector in the future about our Professional Standards and how they are implemented. See the regulatory framework page of this site for further information.

Core Working Group for Professional Standards

• Ruth Till – Chair
• Sue Akroyd, Head of Community Studies and One-Year Programmes, Laban
• Helen Angove, Course Leader, BA (Hons) Dance in the Community, University Campus Suffolk
  Jeanette Bain, Director, ADAD - Association of Dance of the African Diaspora
• Sally Brooker, Healthier Dancer Programme Manager (maternity cover), Dance UK
• Lisa Craddock, Programme Manager, Professional Development, Foundation for Community Dance
• Liz Dale, Head of Education and Training, CDET, Council for Dance Education and Training
• Anusha Subramanyam, Artistic Director, Beeja
• Ann Ward, Courses Officer, Laban Guild
• Cynthia Pease, Head of Customer Services & Quality Assurance, ISTD

Specialist Consultancy Groups

There are also specialist consultancy groups advising on each specialist competency area (young people, disabled people, health & wellbeing, older people, criminal justice). These groups will report their findings to the Core Working Group who will decide if there are common elements that can be incorporated with the core standards that are in development.

Once standards have been developed within these consultancy groups they will then be opened out for opinion to the wider sector during April 2010. Sector response will be incorporated into the standards between May-June 2010 and once adopted by the sector will be submitted to become National Occupational Standards.

For more information about this aspect of DTAP’s work contact Lisa Craddock, Programme Manager, Professional Development at the Foundation for Community Dance on 0116 253 3453 or email lisa@communitydance.org.uk