Workshop 2 – Curriculum Dance Development Workshop for Secondary teachers of PE at Key Stage 3 (years 7-9)

Does dance represent a meaningful aspect of your Physical Education (PE) provision alongside other team/individual games and health & fitness activities?

Recently, Ofsted’s ‘Levelling the playing field’ PE report (2023) identified national curriculum compliance whereby two thirds of schools either do not teach dance to all pupils or the content is not well organised. Additionally, many teachers say that their ability to teach dance is limited and that they are uncertain about their own subject competence in dance, and consequently in their own ability to teach the subject (Gibbs et al, 2017).

Given the above issues, this workshop will support non specialist dance practitioners working within a secondary educational context. We aim to deliver a 3-hour workshop that will facilitate multidisciplinary approaches for teaching dance as part of the National Curriculum for Physical Education (NCPE), within the field of secondary education. Delegates will be supported to understand the main ingredients needed to engage pupils in the process of ‘creating movement and Dance.’ These applied workshops will support delegates through practical experiences, collaborative conversations, and a model of sharing good practice, offering delegates a holistic understanding towards effectively incorporating dance within their school PE provision.

Our goal is for delegates to leave workshops with the knowledge, understanding, confidence and competence to include and teach dance as part of their school PE curriculum with meaning.

What can you expect:

Delegates can expect to gain several benefits from this workshop. Firstly, delegates will acquire improved knowledge and understanding of relevant practices to enhance curriculum dance as a meaningful aspect of their school PE programme. Furthermore, this workshop aims to develop individuals’ confidence and competence to include and teach dance as part of their school PE curriculum, and ultimately motivate and influence young people to engage with movement and dance as part of their learning journey.

Delegates can expect to achieve the following outcomes:

· Build an understanding for why we should promote movement and dance within a school setting.

· Gain an understanding of how to facilitate effective dance lessons to enable all young people to learn through movement and dance.

· Develop knowledge of a range of insightful approaches and practices towards developing meaningful curriculum dance.

Specific activities:

· This is a practical workshop where delegates will engage in practical movement and dance experiences in a dance studio setting (therefore, please wear appropriate and comfortable clothing).

· Delegates will benefit from the interactive nature of the workshop featuring demonstrations, movement experiences, practical tasks, and assessment for learning activities.

· The workshop will deliver opportunities for collaborative exchanges and sharing curriculum practices to allow for the application of theory to practice developing meaningful learning opportunities.