The Dance Educators Group (DEG) is an informal, un-funded, national networking group of dance education officers and managers who work for established (more than 5 years) dance companies, dance venues or dance agencies across the UK. The Group usually meets three times a year to:
• Share knowledge around dance education.
• Provide information on new developments in the sector.
• Give an opportunity for members to share best practice and network.
• Enable peers to consult and discuss issues and present their work to one another.
Members decide the focus of each meeting to which one or two speakers are usually invited to talk in a voluntary capacity. The DEG also offers other agencies the chance to consult with, or inform, an experienced and committed group of dance educators.
At the meeting on Monday 1st December 2014, Linda Jasper MBE (Director of Youth Dance England) gave a presentation that included information on the PE and Sport Premium and how this can be used to forge new relationships with primary schools through dance activity, in addition to an update on YDE’s latest findings regarding uptake for GCSE and A-Level Dance courses across the country.
Between 2010-2014 there has been an increase in the number of students taking GCSE and A-Level Dance, however the figures are still significantly lower than other arts or physical subjects.
GCSE uptake 2013-14
Dance: 12,200
Music: 48,000
Drama: 69,000
PE: 105,000
A-Level uptake 2013-14
Dance: 1,892
Music: 7,100
Drama: 11,800
PE: 13,000
As of 2016 AQA will be rolling out a new GCSE Dance specification. Unfortunately, based on the draft spec released in June 2015 (available here) there is the potential for these figures to decrease due to the significant changes in course structure and the weighting of theory to practical elements this outlines. Read more about these changes in my other blog post here.