The national working group for Dance met on the 8th May at Optima Glasgow.
The main focus of the group is
• to establish what the barriers are to the delivery of Dance
• to improve communication within the dance community
• to establish a network of contacts within the dance community
Con Morris from Education Scotland gave the group an insight into how Glow could be used to establish better communication and links. How a “Blether account” would allow practitioners to support each other and share good practice.

Emma Stewart Jones from Creative Scotland gave an update on the latest training opportunities for PE students and staff. Also partnership with the Conservatoire of Scotland. New PGDE Dance course to start 2015/16.

Keith Murphy from Education Scotland gave an account of how the 3 horizons approach can be used for future thinking, focussed discussion and raise points for action
This led onto discussion points for the next meeting.

Improving the communication network.
As Dance is mainly delivered by PE teachers in Schools Anne McEwan from Denny Dance Academy suggested contacting SATPE (Scottish Association of Teachers of Physical Education) to join their network.
Response from SATPE was
“The SATPE Conference is to be held at Tulliallan on 1st November 2014 ,they would be delighted for the National working group to include a slot on Dance in Education. They are also happy for us to offer workshops etc, if we feel it would be appropriate. This is an excellent opportunity for us to reinforce concrete links with the PE Profession and ensure PE Teachers are fully up to speed in the delivery of dance.”

The group will meet 3 times per year, the next meeting is scheduled for 2nd September 2014

We would welcome your comments and thoughts in this exciting time for Dance education in Scotland.