This is a highly flexible online Distance Education MA designed for newly qualified or experienced dance teachers working in and beyond schools. The course has been developed especially to allow you to continue working, integrating your professional practice and expertise with academic learning.
This unique MA combines critical reflection and individual pedagogic practice at one of the UK’s top Universities for dance practice and research. The first programme of its kind in the country, the MA Professional Practice Dance Technique Pedagogy epitomises our dedication to the future of dance and dance teachers as well as our pioneering approach in the field.
This course was developed in collaboration with The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) and caters for all genres of dance technique teaching. You begin by reflecting on prior learning before being supported to explore a chosen area of dance technique teaching in more depth that, in turn, leads to a major work-based learning project. Delivered part-time through distance learning, we ensure that you are able to develop as a practitioner and maintain your work commitments while you study.
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This MA programme is rooted in reflective practice – the course enables you to use your existing skills and knowledge, and find ways to explore your current practice. The course is divided into three modules with flexibility to pay per module and complete each phase in a time frame that works with and around your professional commitments and individual ambitions.
Through online discussion groups, guidance from your Supervisor and your module handbook, you are encouraged to position your professional knowledges through reflecting on your prior experiences and learning, culminating in a submission of a portfolio giving context to your practice.
RPL - alongside this module you will also be guided through making a claim for 80 additional credits that will be awarded to you as a Recognition of Prior Learning.
this module you will choose an area of your practice to research in depth and explore any existing work related to your chosen subject. This is a chance for you to explore your own work and to look at the work of other practitioners and researchers and explore new paths for your practice.
By the end of this module you will have produced a detailed research proposal that relates to your own professional practice. You will have accessed key sources, gained preliminary investigative experience and critical analytical skills that will further enhance the final phase of this course, as well as your career.
In this final module you will carry out the research proposed in the previous module and critically review the implications it has on your chosen area of dance pedagogy. This is a chance for you to explore your chosen subject in greater depth: collect, analyse and evaluate data; articulate your research within an academic framework and through dissemination to your field of practice.
As part of this module you will complete a critical review, give an oral presentation, and produce a professional artefact. The oral presentation and the artefact allow you to find ways other than the written word through which to articulate your research.
On completing this module you will be able to demonstrate a high level of knowledge and skills in your chosen area of dance pedagogy, with transferable skills in reflective study, research and critical analysis.
You can find more information about this course in the programme specification. Optional modules are usually available at levels 5 and 6, although optional modules are not offered on every course. Where optional modules are available, you will be asked to make your choice during the previous academic year. If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, or there are staffing changes which affect the teaching, it may not be offered. If an optional module will not run, we will advise you after the module selection period when numbers are confirmed, or at the earliest time that the programme team make the decision not to run the module, and help you choose an alternative module.
This course is taught through Distance Education. You are advised to set aside at least one day a week to complete the appropriate reading, research, practical and written assignments required at each level of the course.
Contact is via online platforms such as Zoom, Teams, Skype, email and blogs) as well as optional campus-based tutorials, and every module has a detailed module handbook.
There are no traditional elements requiring attendance at the University, however as a student on the course you will have full access to our state-of-the-art learning resources and library facilities, on campus and online.
You will be assessed through a portfolio submission of practical, theoretical and oral assignments, including critical reviews, reflective essays and presentations.
On completion of this course, you will benefit from an academic qualification (MA) that demonstrates advanced academic standing, including practice as research skills. You will have the ability to articulate the range of complex pedagogical, practice based and theoretical ideas involved in your own practice as well as in terms of larger world contexts. You will have experience developing and carrying out practice based, academic research. You will also have an internationally recognised qualification that may allow recognition of your pedagogical experience and/or that you can use to pursue teaching positions in educational and higher educational institutions.
Many of our students are already working at a sophisticated professional level with ambitions to advance into more senior and challenging roles as dance teachers or related leadership, management and development roles.
Senior Lecturer in Dance and Professional Practice at Middlesex University and co-Artistic Director of DancingStrong Movement Lab with Adesola Akinleye.
Helen has toured internationally as a performer and presented her own choreographic work at venues, festivals and conferences over the past twenty eight years alongside published work in text form more recently within the fields of Dance and Somatic scholarship.
We’ll carefully manage any future changes to courses, or the support and other services available to you, if these are necessary because of things like changes to government health and safety advice, or any changes to the law.
Any decisions will be taken in line with both external advice and the University’s Regulations which include information on this.
Our priority will always be to maintain academic standards and quality so that your learning outcomes are not affected by any adjustments that we may have to make.
At all times we’ll aim to keep you well informed of how we may need to respond to changing circumstances, and about support that we’ll provide to you.
