I have been I touch with an experienced dance practitioner in my area who does a lot of work within dance in the curriculum in wales. She has clarified for me that, “dance is a compulsory element (or at least implied) in the Foundation Phase (ages 3-7) under Creative Development and Physical Development. Also at Key Stage 2 (ages 8-11) under creative activities in Physical Education. At KS3 and 4 (secondary) it becomes optional and usually is dependent on the interests of the staff and the value the school places on dance as an activity.”
She went on to say that “there are very few dance specialists (particularly at primary level) and dance input at Initial Teacher Training level is variable but extremely limited so confidence is low amongst teaching staff. In Wales a major project has been launched to help address this and offer CPD (continuing professional development) for teachers via PESS Dance KS2 and KS3 and also Play to Learn and Creative Movement at Foundation Phase.”
See these links to Pess and Play to Learn:
It’s interesting to hear from her that especially at a young age schools are encouraged to use dance and creative movement to help children’s development but that the skills and training of the teachers is lacking. Even with programmes like PESS will we ever reach the stage where dance and creative movement is being taught at a high level across the board?
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