Delivering dance in the Australian Curriculum

We want dance to have equal status in the learning environment with other art forms, from early childhood through to the final years of schooling.

With a new Australian Curriculum now a reality—and the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) given the brief to develop it—we are making the case for dance to be resourced as a subject area in its own right.

The curriclum is being developed in phases, but because the Arts were originally excluded from the first two phases, it appeared that perhaps visual arts and music might eventually be given preference, as they are the two most established in Australian schools. Dance, drama and media arts are also taught at varying levels, but they have not been as well resourced or understood by the wider community.

We think the best way to achieve this is to have a united voice for arts education (not just dance, or visual arts etc.). We are achiving this though our advocacy work with the National Advocates for Arts Education.