Task 5b: What existing Codes of Practice steer my professional work?

In my previous blog I reviewed my own personal and professional ethical guidelines, which I established had been built up through common sense and from picking up good practice from my own teachers when training.

Following this blog, I then went on to researching the actual Codes of Conduct that exist within my professional community. Although I am not a member of the ISTD (Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing), their website was the first place I went to look, as I am quite heavily involved with an ISTD school. I therefore feel like I am a part of this particular organisation, or at the very least I feel I am held by the same standards as any fully qualified ISTD teacher by my employer.

It turns out that the ISTD use the Code of Conduct published by the CDET (Council for Dance Education and Training), which I was advised to look at prior to this by one of my employers along with a few BAPP students. This can be found here: CDET Code of Conduct

Reading through the Code of Conduct, I can honestly say that I knew and currently practice all of it, having never before seen it. This just shows that I have picked up excellent work ethics from the teachers that trained me and the people I work for, and I feel very lucky!

The RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) is other prominent organisation in my area, and so I found their Code of Practice as well in order to compare. RAD have a much more breif and condensed Code, but essentially it covers the same ground as the CDET.

So it seems that in the world of Private dance education the CDET Code of Conduct is a great guideline to follow for any dance teacher. They also recommend a book called Dance Teaching Essentials which is available from Dance UK which I have ordered. Will it simply be a more in depth version of the Code of Conduct, or take a more advisory role? We shall see!

I have also contacted another of my employers, ERYD (East Riding Youth Dance). This is a council funded organisation that provides weekly dance workshops and termly performances. It is of course Public, and therefore it will be interesting to see how a dance teachers Code of Conduct in the Public sector differs from that of the Private Sector. (Read part two of this blog to find out!!)