Continuing development is an essential part of any dancer's training and the RSCDS is committed to helping its members with their personal development.
Having obtained the Teacher’s Certificate people continue to develop their skills in a variety of ways, by attending courses taken by other teachers and by teaching in a variety of situations.
To learn more about each area please click on the drop down menu. If you are looking for more information please contact Julia Parr at the RSCDS office: julia.parr@rscds.org
Being responsible for a class can be a daunting prospect. We have prepared several documents to give you helpful advice (see below).
If you decide to take a children’s class, you may find our ‘Basic Teaching Skills – Children’ course of interest. We have created two resources packs, Jigs and Reels and Dance Trad, that are helpful to those teaching children and are available from the shop.
Basic Teaching Skills Jigs & Reels Dance Trad
Introducing SCD to beginners also requires specially focused teaching. Consult our guidance below to assist you in deciding what to teach and when.
The teaching conference at the AGM and other similar events often include discussions and workshops on other specialised aspects of teaching, such as low-impact classes. A session on Inclusive Dancing, for example, was included in the 2017 programme.
These are documents that give useful points to bear in mind when taking and organising a Scottish Country Dance class.
This framework is intended to be a resource to support those teaching Scottish Country Dancing to new dancers. It covers the basic formations and steps, allowing for progression through three levels.
The format of the freamwork is:
- A suggested sequence for teaching steps
- A suggested sequence for teaching formations, in three levels
- A table/grid of RSCDS-published dances which include the listed formations.
The framework is not intended as a prescriptive list of steps and formations, but as a guide that can be adapted to suit the needs and ability of the class and local context.
This is best described as a course for those who are about to take on a children’s class or who are interested in learning how to approach the requirements of a children’s class. It may also be of interest to those who are already leading/ teaching a group of children and may be looking for fresh ideas.
Attendance on the course will result in a “Record of Completion of a course in basic SCD Teaching skills - Children”.
The course skills are useful requirements for anyone delivering SCD to children, but those taking the course may not require all of the elements in the same depth. It is intended that the most relevant can be selected for delivery, depending on the needs of the course members.
To learn more please visit the Basic Teaching Skills page.
One of the ways in which people can continue to develop is by attending special courses. You can also learn a lot just by attending other peoples’ classes and observing what works well …or what doesn’t.
Teachers’ courses at RSCDS Summer School and at comparable events also offer the opportunity to learn and discuss teaching methods and teaching points, for example in relation to newly published books of dances.
The Continuing Development Record is a way of logging progress, which may be useful at some time in the future when required to show evidence of your experience.
The record provides a way of documenting people’s accumulating professional experience. It builds upon the reflective approach of Unit 4 of the Teaching Certificate, encouraging teachers and musicians to identify development activities and to consider how that learning will benefit them and their class.
Use of the record is entirely optional. It can be flexible to suit personal styles and needs.
As your experience grows, your abilities will become more widely known and you may be asked to be the guest teacher at day or weekend schools, at home or abroad. This will present you with new challenges, matching the content of your sessions to the expectations and abilities of the participants, in order to both entertain and challenge them.
The peak of your ambition may be to teach at the annual RSCDS Schools. Those wishing to be approved as a teacher at these should read ‘Procedures for Approval of Teachers and Musicians’ (ES-11) and complete the application form (ES-12).
Download these documents below:
Financial assistance with travel costs for teachers travelling abroad to teach and for Branches running appropriate courses may be available through the Jean Milligan Memorial Fund and particularly the International Teacher Development Scheme.
Applications for financial support under this scheme may be made in one of three categories by the following bodies or office bearers.
- To support the travel expenses for an overseas member of teaching staff invited to teach at either the RSCDS Summer School or the RSCDS Winter School in Scotland. This application would normally be made by the Schools’ Director.
- To support the travel expenses of a member of teaching staff invited to teach at any RSCDS residential school outside Scotland. The application should be made by the relevant RSCDS Branch or appropriate organising committee.
- To support the travel expenses of invited staff and/or running costs of a regional course designed to support teacher development. The application should be made by the relevant RSCDS Branch, regional organising committee, or teachers’ association.
How to apply
To learn more about applying and to download the application form please visit our funding page
Very experienced teachers may want to do more than just teach. There are a number of roles that might interest you, including tutoring and mentoring trainee teachers, examining and assessing the various dancing and teaching qualifications, and adjudicating competitive dancing.
