Projects
National Dance Qualifications
About the project
SkillsHub managed the project on behalf of Innovation & Business Skills Australia (IBSA) consulting with Australia’s diverse dance industry. The project ran for over a year, with 8-9 months provided for consultation and feedback on the framework for the qualifications and units of competency.
Background
The proliferation of dance genres, the rise of competition television shows and high profile dance events has led to an increase in demand for training in all styles of dance. IBSA, the industry skills council responsible for national qualifications in the cultural industries in Australia, commenced a project to develop a Live Performance Training Package, which incorporates a dance stream.
SkillsHub was contracted to undertake the National Dance Qualifications project. Additionally a National Project Reference Group with representatives from industry, training providers and State Training Agencies was established to oversee the management of the project. This group worked together to ensure that the dance community and training providers across Australia were engaged in the review process.
The project builds on the valuable work undertaken by industry organisations and Ausdance, to develop the Australian Guidelines for Dance Teachers, which included the development of interim national competency standards for dance teachers. A large number of accredited courses in dance are offered across Australia and there has been close consultation with training providers to ensure that national qualifications reflect best practice that already exists.
Program results
We are pleased to announce after months of consultation and input from Australia's diverse dance industry and training providers, on September 6th 2010 the qualifications and units were signed off on by the National Project Reference Group. The Training Package was officially endorsed in June 2011 comprising the first ever Live Performance Training Package. Please visit the IBSA website for details on the Training Package.
Program recommendations
Following endorsement of the qualifications (June 2011), Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) can start the process of adding them to their scope of registration. RTOs who currently offer accredited courses can continue to offer those courses until the date when their accreditation expires. However, even if RTOs are in a position to offer accredited courses for a number of years yet, we encourage them to plan for the transition to the new national qualifications within 12-18 months.
IBSA and SkillsHub recognise that the introduction of the national qualifications has far-reaching implications for existing RTOs and for dance studios who may be interested in offering accredited training. IBSA will be publishing information to help RTOs and dance schools take advantage of the new system early next year. A range of professional development activities is also planned.
Image supplied by the Australian Ballet School - John Tsiavis
