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Dance Training and Accreditation Partnership (DTAP)

In April 2009 Arts Council England made an award of £200,000 from Grants for the Arts to the Foundation for Community Dance to support DTAP's pilot phase which ran until April 2011.

The pilot phase encompassed the development of national occupational standards in dance leadership (led by Foundation for Community Dance), the development of a new qualification for working in dance with young people (led by Youth Dance England), and research and development for a register for dance artists and teachers for the teaching of dance outside of formal education

To visit the DTAP website and read more about the partnership follow this link: www.dtap.org.uk

  • Association of Dance of the African Diaspora (ADAD)
  • Council for Dance Education & Training (CDET)
  • Dance UK
  • Foundation for Community Dance
  • Laban
  • National Dance Network (NDN)
  • National Dance Teachers' Association (NDTA)
  • Standing Conference on Dance in Higher Education (SCODHE)
  • South Asian Dance Alliance (SADA)
  • Youth Dance England

National Occupational Standards in Dance Leadership

FCD completed its consultations with dance artists on professional standards and these have now been accepted by Creative and Cultural Skills (CCSkills) as National Occupational Standards (NOS) in Dance Leadership and are now live to view on the CCSkills website and downloadable here:

How do I make use of National Occupational Standards?

If you are a freelance dance practitioner, you can use these standards to demonstrate the competencies you have to your employers. If you are a member of Foundation for Community Dance then you will have a Code of Conduct and you can use these standards in conjunction with your professional code. You can also evaluate your practice using them to self assess what standards you deliver effectively and why, and those that you feel less confident in that you might seek some advice, training or do some reading about to support your professional development.

If you provide training, you can map your learning outcomes against the NOS to see which of the standards your training course addresses.

If you are an employer, you can use the standards as part of your job descriptions for dance artists you employ to work in participatory settings.

Process to develop professional standards and framework

In 2005, the Foundation for Community Dance, on behalf of its members, took the lead on the process of research and development to provide the community dance profession with a strategy to address its current and future development needs by articulating professional standards, supporting professional development and validating professional status in community dance.

This began with extensive consultation with individuals and organisations across the dance and arts sectors. These took the form of face to face meetings and an online survey.

Making a Move was the resulting strategy launched in 2006 and completed in 2008. After 2008 FCD joined with the Dance Training and Accreditation Partnership to realise the strategy in a collective way.

You can read the executive summaries for Making a Move below:

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