Frequently Asked Questions
National Dance Qualifications Project
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Updated July 2010
1) What is the National Dance Qualifications project all about?
In a nutshell, the project is about bringing dance training into Australia’s national framework for vocational education and training (VET). There are currently over 80 courses in dance which have been accredited in different states and territories, so the dance industry has already embraced the VET sector. However, from a student perspective, there is no link between a Certificate IV in Dance offered by a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) in NSW and one offered by an RTO in Victoria or WA. Under the national system there are clear pathways between qualifications and RTOs are required to give students credit for any units they have completed with another RTO.
2) How would national qualifications affect dance schools currently offering courses or classes?
National qualifications only affect those colleges/schools who are Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) or thinking about becoming registered. The qualifications cover more than dance technique – they are vocational qualifications, that is, aimed at preparing people to work/earn a living in the industry. Therefore they cover not only dance technique, but other skills such as assisting with staging aspects of performances, skills associated with marketing yourself, keeping financial records and so on.
The majority of dance schools in Australia will not be directly affected. Dance schools in Australia currently cover a diverse range of dance styles and standards from fitness and recreational to vocation training up to professional levels. The latter sector is often served by Dance Societies who play a key role in professional dance training in Australia. Societies contribute significantly to training dance students in all genres up to and including professional levels.
Teachers in dance schools may be interested in completing dance teaching qualifications, or gaining recognition for their existing skills (see question below on whether dance teachers have to do a dance teaching qualification).
3) What happens to state accredited courses once national qualifications are in place?
A state accredited course remains in the training system until its specified expiry date. However, if the vocational outcome of that course is the same as an outcome offered through one of the national dance qualifications, the course would not be re-accredited. If an RTO can demonstrate that their course has a significantly different vocational outcome, then it could be accredited. In practice what often happens is that a state accredited course contains a mixture of units from national qualifications and some units specifically developed by the RTO.
However, because RTOs are integrally involved in the development of the national qualifications, it is likely that some will choose to make the transition to national qualifications before the expiry date of their state accredited courses.
4) Has the content of accredited courses been taken into account in the development of national dance qualifications?
Yes. All RTOs offering accredited courses were contacted at the beginning of the project and asked for an overview of their courses and detailed units of competence if they wished to share those. Full details of all crown copyrighted courses in Victoria, NSW, WA and Queensland were provided. Private RTOs provided overviews and, in some cases, full units of competence.
5) How does the content of 80+ accredited courses get covered in less than 15 national qualifications?
The qualifications provide a framework of core and elective units. RTOs select elective units which suit their particular target group. For example within the dance performance qualifications, RTOs can select from the pool of elective units those which cover the dance styles they specialise in.
RTOs who haven’t provided the detail of their courses are encouraged to look at the packaging rules of the draft qualifications to make sure that what they currently offer is covered. If not, please let us know.
6) Do RTOs have to offer all the units listed as electives in qualifications?
No. If the qualification specifies 5 core units and 7 elective units, RTOs decide which elective units among the larger pool of units they plan to offer students. They may wish to offer 7 fixed elective units or offer a couple of different streams. In that case they might decide to offer students the opportunity to choose their 7 elective units from a pool of 12 units.
7) Do RTOs lose their individuality in a national system?
No. The qualifications simply provide a framework in which RTOs continue to offer their special brand of training. The units of competence in qualifications specify WHAT needs to taught, not HOW it should be taught. RTOs continue to use their own copyrighted resource materials, to teach in their own way and to hold their own unique place in the dance teaching market place.
8) Where does training linked to dance societies fit into the national system?
The expertise people gain through completing dance society examinations will be taken into account when they apply to enter a national qualification. For example, at auditions held by RTOs to select students, the expertise gained through the discipline of dance society training will be apparent and play a role in the RTO’s final decision-making. Over time, dance societies may wish to map their levels against specific units of competence in the national qualifications to determine equivalence. The value of dance society training will be acknowledged in the wording of the pathways information in the national qualifications.
9) Will dance studio teachers have to do a dance teaching qualification?
No. They can continue to teach in their dance studio as they do now. However, they may wish to have their dance teaching skills recognised by undertaking what is called recognition of current competence (RCC). This involves contacting an RTO offering a national dance teaching qualification and organising to go through an assessment process which leads to them being awarded the qualification or recognition for specific units without having to undertake the training course.
Teachers who have completed the Certificate IV in Teaching the Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet should be able to gain automatic recognition for the Certificate IV in Dance Teaching and Management since the Cecchetti-specific units have been included as electives in the national qualification and discussions have been held with Cecchetti Ballet Australia to ensure that their accredited course is fully incorporated into the national qualification.
Similarly all content from the following accredited courses has been incorporated into the national qualification:
• Certificate IV in Dance Teaching and Management offered by the Australian Dance Institute
• Certificate IV in Dance (Teaching and Management) accredited in Victoria and offered at:
- • Box Hill Institute of TAFE
- • Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE
- • Isolation Performing Arts Studio
- • Northlands Secondary College.
10) Do other areas of the arts and cultural industries have national qualifications?
Yes. There have been national qualifications in music since 2001 and these were revised last year. There have been national qualifications in visual arts, craft and design since 2003 and these are currently being revised and expanded. Other sectors with national qualifications include screen and media, entertainment, libraries and museums. Relevant units from these qualifications will be used in the national dance qualifications. This is explained in the discussion paper.
11) Should there be more time to allow for more consultation?
The project runs over a year, within which 8-9 months has been allowed for consultation and feedback on the framework for the qualifications and units of competency. The discussion paper outlining the framework was released in mid December 2009 after a round of national face-to-face consultations. Three months has been allowed for feedback on the paper (till 12 March) and there will be further opportunity for feedback on final draft qualifications and units of competence from May until July.
A case for more time can always be argued, but there are budget realities. Because the proposed national qualifications incorporate the content of the large number of accredited courses, we are not starting from scratch. Each of those accredited courses was developed with industry consultation, so in a very real sense industry has been defining and refining their needs in terms of course content for quite a long time.
12) Where can I get more information?
Go the National Dance Qualifications pages on the Verve website. There you can:
• download the revised draft qualifiations and skill sets
• register to receive regular email updates on the project
• listen to two recordings which give you background on Training Packages and the national dance qualifications project
• find out how to provide feedback
