Following a survey posted on our website and on the noticeboard at the school all the feedback we received was in favour of changing most of our IDTA exams to BBO (RAD exams will be unaffected). This is for the reasons outlined below.
The RAD is a registered awarding body of the Council for Dance Education and Training (CDET). RAD exams are accredited by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and have been admitted to the National Qualifications Framework so they have levels of equivalence with qualifications such as GCSEs and A levels, RAD exams can also be used as credits in the education section of UCAS forms.
When I commenced my teacher training with the IDTA and began entering students for these exams, the IDTA was also a registered awarding body for the CDET. This, along with the fact that the IDTA has a good reputation, were the reasons I chose the IDTA. However, they have since withdrawn from the CDET recognition so technically their qualifications are no longer recognised. They have remained a Corporate member of the CDET which implies that their work is still of a good standard but does not meet all the criteria required for full accreditation and IDTA exams cannot be used as credits.
We strive to be an excellent school and as such we want to offer our students the best qualifications and opportunities available.
There are only 4 accredited CDET awarding bodies, the RAD being one of them (they only offer ballet). The only other practical option for us was the British Ballet Organisation (BBO) and the changeover should be relatively straightforward. We will continue to enter for RAD exams as we do now but Tap and Jazz will change to BBO. They do not offer Musical Theatre exams though so we will continue to hold one exam session per year or so with the IDTA for these classes.
The pros of the change to BBO seem to be:
- Accredited qualifications for our Tap and Modern students which they do not currently have.
- The ability to use BBO qualifications on UCAS (university application) forms.
- A more highly recognised qualification overall.
- The dance industry is moving towards overall regulation in the UK (and rightly so I believe). Any dance students can train to teach dance if they reach a high enough level but I suspect that in the future students will need to have recognised qualifications to be allowed to teach dance. The BBO would allow this.
The cons for our students and their parents will be:
- BBO exams are more expensive, approximately an extra £10 per exam.
- Uniforms need to change as BBO has a specific compulsory uniform, although the new uniform will not be compulsory until 1 March 2008 (our last IDTA exam session will be July 2008 and the OLD uniform will be needed for this).
- The style and content is slightly different to that previously learned although I am confident that the students will adapt quickly.
Please remember that this change is being implemented for the benefit of our students only. Indeed my decision to investigate possibilities was prompted by a student querying why the IDTA qualifications weren't recognised.