Dance Mapping - Arts Council England

• the lack of dance specialists with QTS available to carry out the work
• the positioning of dance within PE departments where teachers are not dance
specialists
• the introduction of dance into the new primary school curriculum.
It is unfortunate that this unprecedented growth in dance provision is occurring at a time when
formal training for specialist dance teachers is being cut. The places for initial teacher training
(ITT) in dance grew in 2004/05 and 2005/06 but have since been cut. 55
ITT PLACES
Dance PE
03/04 37 1469
04/05 70 1412
05/06 82 1377
06/07 72 1243
07/08 61 +24 1114 -355
Table 50: Initial teacher training places
The implications of much of this for the market place is of great significance to this Dance
mapping research as it suggests that the market demand is for a very particular kind of
workforce, those that can teach and lead workshops in a wide range of formal and
informal settings. Future strategies for dance will need to consider this considerable
growth area both in terms of workforce development and progression routes for young
people into dance.
The environmental analysis suggested that there is strong evidence that there is a mismatch
between supply and demand in relation to the dance workforce. Existing training does not
appear to be providing the workforce required within the field.
4. Training and development
Dance training has changed and evolved over the past 80 years but since the 1960’s training
opportunities have grown exponentially. Research carried out by Bates (2008) stated:
55 Source: Teacher Development Agency (TDA) website
138