CriticalDance Forum

i'll come back and explain a bit more about this one later...<P>HSC stands for high school certificate, so what this means is that the subject of ballet will no longer be offered as an HSC subject.<P>the COURSE may still be offered, but the subject will not be included in the marks that go towards the student's university entrance result....it's a complicated matter, and i think it's regrettable.<P>because of the way the australian education system is set up, though, HSC dance was only ever available in one australian state anyway (new south wales). <P>the other states (i.e. the rest of the country) have never allowed the dance course to be a direct subject for university entrance, though they can be part of the high school graduation result ( a tricky distinction to make, and differently made in every state).<BR> <A HREF="http://www.smh.com.au/news/0010/23/text/national9.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.smh.com.au/news/0010/23/text/national9.html</A> <BR><p>[This message has been edited by grace (edited November 11, 2000).]

What about VCE Dance in Victoria? Isn't that accredited? I am completely uncertain of that though, we hear about it often.<P>cheers

beats me, nigel - maybe you could find out for us....?<P>Victorian Certificate of Education, i presume, - but what's it worth? the dance, that is? i.e. in western australia we DO have , in the public secondary schools, year 8 through 12 dance AND ballet (2 separate subjects) - in fact i wrote the year 11 and 12 Ballet Curriculum. but it's never been accepted as a tertiary entrance (TEE) subject, and now TEE is being phased out anyway, so it won't be.<P>would be mildly curious to know what you might find out about VCE.....

actually, in victoria there IS still VCE (or HSC) Dance. My friends are taking it now as an easy extra mark(well, it's not that easy but I guess it's fun) <BR>The system is changing next year, but no one is sure of what exactly it's going to be like, apart from the fact that theres alot more study in history involved, and it's going to be called VCE Dance. They offer it for students in year 10-12(students often take units 1-2 in yr10 and 3-4 in yr 11) <BR>As far as I know, it's still a VCE subject, provided that the school you attend agrees with it.

thanks purple: good to have your input. maybe at some point when you have time, you could describe it a bit for us? wonder why you are not doing it, yourself? would be interested in any further information - i'm guessing you are in year 10, is that right?

For the record grace, in canberra dance can be part of your tertiary package and count towards a UAI (university admissions index, previously tertiary entrance rank). It is also possible to do one semester of 'offline dance' which means you continue to do you normal after school dance training and hand in reports as to your progress and that gets scored towards your UAI as well. <P>I never did dance as a subject because the one class I attended was quite unstructured (in comparison to a usual dance class) and it was full of people from so many different levels, from RAD advanced girls to someone who had never done a dance class in her life. I don't quite know what they achieved in that class, except for a rock eisteddford dance about reconciliation that made me cringe a little. However I believe they do a bit of theory about history/choreographers etc which might have been interesting...

oh katharyn, you are so right!<P>thanks for the info about canberra - which is certainly a different model than the other states, re the 'offline' bit.<P>a little clariification might be needed - the australian education system is a dog's breakfast when looked at this way, with such differences in every state's approach...<P>in western australia, as you say it is in canberra, and as i imagine it is in some other states, you can (still) get credit for doing the dance subjects, which counts towards graduation results and who knows what else, but it is not an accepted Tertiary Entrance Examination subject.<P>i believe this is what the HSC dance has just dropped back to, as it were: that it remains available, as a lesser subject, i.e. not a High School Certificate subject, but still an available secondary education subject. (i remember something about 2-unit and 3-unit, but i'm not going into that here, as these are meaningless terms to others).<P>katharyn, having taught in these programs, i completely vouch for your assessment, that when any and every level of class, includes some students (1 or 2) with years of ballet training, and at least 1 complete beginner who thinks she is 'interested', and anything in-between in terms of skill levels, teaching a 45-minute class or whatever you get, in the school day, is a waste of time....i can certainly understand why you felt your time would be better used.<P>the program has some virtues, different ones in different states, but also many problems and inadequacies, sadly.

it sounds like you are saying that the dance in canberra CAN count towards the top level of university entrance scoring: is that correct?

Yup! Grace, thats what I'm saying! Dance is offered as both an 'A' (accredited) and 'T' (tertiary) subject. Mind you, it doesn't score particularly well, but if you're getting top marks in it (around high 90's) then it isn't too bad. <P>Just briefly on the 'dog's breakfast' that is the Australian education system (as you so eloquently put it ) we were discussing this in my maths class the other day. We are doing university maths because we move a lot quicker than NSW, because we are assessed at the end of each term while they have one big exam at the end of their 2 years. Wouldn't that just make comparison between the states really difficult?

yes - i really can't see why this variation is necessary...still, i know nothing, i guess!<P>i take it you must be in year 12 then - so why aren't you studying?!? seriously though, i had assumed your recent absence from the board was due to end-of-year study. are you finished exams, maybe? year 11 here are just starting, but i think year 12 are finished.....<P>if you were year 12, and you are finished, where to from here? <P>hey, that's great about canberra having dance available as credit in both ways! when i wrote the WA year 11 & 12 Ballet Studies curriculum - about 4 years ago, i suppose - i researched the NSW and the Victorian models a bit, (only a bit because they are very different to ours), but i confess (sorry!) that it never occured to me to look at canberra! <P>you'd never know, would you, from most australians attitudes, that canberra is our nation's capital?

well grace, the reason why I'm not doing it is because I'm too young!(ie, the rest of my class is in yr 10) I can do it next year but at the moment there is NO ONE i nmy school who is in the same year level as me..<BR>So maybe I won't.. maybe can just do 3 and 4 units with my friends, and skip 1 and 2 all together.. but that may not even be allowed!<P>I have heard of dancing courses at a tertiary level which beginners go into, but not fo high school! I think in victoria anyway it would be pretty hard to do VCE dance when you're a complete beginner, and I don't understand how it works at all when you have all these different levels combined..

well, purple, as you imply, it just doesn't work very well at all!

HSC stands for high school certificate, so what this means is that the subject of ballet will no longer be offered as an HSC subject.<P>the COURSE may still be offered, but the subject will not be included in the marks that go towards the student's university entrance result....it's a complicated matter, and i think it's regrettable.<P>because of the way the australian education system is set up, though, HSC dance was only ever available in one australian state anyway (new south wales). <P>the other states (i.e. the rest of the country) have never allowed the dance course to be a direct subject for university entrance, though they can be part of the high school graduation result ( a tricky distinction to make, and differently made in every state).<BR> <A HREF="http://www.smh.com.au/news/0010/23/text/national9.html"