Safeguarding in the dance sector

The dance sector is made up of lots of different organisations. There’s no single association or governing body unlike many other physical activities or sports. This means there are no standard safeguarding policies and no one pathway to report concerns in dance.

How is the dance sector structured?

Different styles or genres of dance such as ballet, ballroom and Latin, have different ways of working. Each will have either: 

• their own member body or association for the style of dance - for example, the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) is for ballet teachers. Member associations also grant professional teaching qualifications (not PGCE)
• member bodies with teachers who are qualified to teach different styles of dance, with the member body made up of different faculties - for example - the International Dance Teachers’ Association (IDTA) or the Imperial Society for Teachers of Dance (ISTD)

Some dance styles have regulatory or governing bodies, such as the British Dance Council (ballroom, Latin, sequence and freestyle), made up of representatives from the different associations and competition or event organisers. These bodies usually have a set of safeguarding policies.

All organisations should have their own safeguarding policies and procedures in place, for teachers working in that form of dance.

Safeguarding challenges to consider for dance organisations

There are a range of safeguarding challenges in dance organisations these include:

• private dance schools are less familiar with safeguarding requirements than vocational dance schools, which are regulated and have safeguards in place
• students not wanting to speak out about concerns because they’re worried about being penalised - for example, not being selected for a dance opportunity or competition
• dance teachers are held in high esteem by students which make it hard for students to challenge their teaching methods or behaviour towards them
• dance can be a competitive environment with pressure to succeed and ‘get on with it’ 
• anyone can set up a dance school without a teaching qualification
• the structure of the dance sector can make managing safeguarding concerns or conducting investigations complicated
• associations can operate as a silo, teachers may be expelled from one association and join another as information isn’t shared - see our information sharing guidance

What safeguards does your dance organisation need? 

When your organisation is responsible for children and young people it’s your duty of care  to those children to make sure you’re doing all you can to keep them safe. Here’s some guidance to help you get started and put safeguards in place for your organisation:

• introduction to safeguarding in sport
  • what is safeguarding? - find out what safeguarding is and what's expected of your organisation
  • why should I engage with safeguarding? - having safeguards in place helps you respond appropriately to any concerns that may arise and makes it a safer place
  • child abuse in sports setting - learn more about the different types of child abuse and some signs to look out for
• putting safeguards in place - get started putting safeguards in place in your club, activity or organisation
• safer recruitment - a safer recruitment process is required for all people who are in roles with responsibility for children, young people and vulnerable adults
• sports safeguarding training - if you work with children and young people safeguarding training helps makes sure your knowledge and skills are up to date to relevant for your role
• information sharing - working more collaboratively with other organisations and sharing information
• deal with a concern - see our guidance on how to deal with safeguarding concerns that may arise and what actions should to taken
• codes of conduct - download, print and use our sample codes of conduct to let parents, children and staff know what behaviour is expected of them whilst at your organisation 
• photography and filming in sports and activities - our photography and filming guidance explains how you can create and use images and video safely in your organisation
• online safety and social media - safeguarding should continue into the online world find out more about how you can do this for your organisation
• safe sport events management tool - our events tool will help your organisation to meet the safeguarding responsibilities for your sports event