DANCE TEACHER SURGERIES

Recent experience has shown me that dance teachers, particularly those who own and run their own schools, often feel they need advice from someone who is experienced but also genuinely independent.

Although I like to try to inspire teachers with talk of "nurturing artistically gifted children", continuing professional development and the like, teachers are often much more concerned with:

• how to deal with awkward parents
• how to avoid recruiting the wrong teacher and
• getting parents to read documents you send them!

So I've been putting my mind to this. And come up with three possible ways, which are now available to teachers:

1. Group Surgeries: I come to your town and hold a Surgery for a group of teachers. Obviously teachers have to be prepared to be open about their problems, but the advantage is that you get to hear other teachers' problems and we all help to solve them, thus all learning something for ourselves.

2. Private Surgeries in your location: a half-hour private session, where I help you individually with the problem(s). You would need to come well prepared, to make good use of the time. I would help on the spot but also guarantee to give you a written summary of the problems, with recommendations, within 2 weeks of the Surgery.

3. On-Line Surgery: this would work via email and be limited to certain topics, where it is possible to work in a structured way. The topics would probably be:

• Creating a structured process for effective teacher recruitment
• Defining your expectations of your staff and monitoring how they perform to those expectations
• Creating a Pupils' Charter and a Parents' Charter for your school
• Defining and learning a Conflict Resolution Method so that, if you do get into conflict with a parent, teacher, pianist or anyone else, you have a structured means of resolving that conflict
• Creating and operating a Complaints Procedure
• How to express your goals and values in effective marketing documents

[These are topics I have successfully helped teachers with recently]

The costs within the UK would be:

Group Surgery: £15 per person for a 2-hour session, minimum 6 people, someone would have to take responsibility for forming the group.

Private Surgery: £25 for a half-hour session.

[For overseas, you would have to negotiate with me in advance]

On-line Surgery: By negotiation.

Nigel Grant B.Mus.                                     Consultant in Dance Education and Training

Email: nigelgrant@dtol.ndirect.co.uk

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