General

The ISTD is committed to promoting an environment where all individuals are encouraged to achieve their full potential and develop their skills, encouraging its teachers to maintain an open approach towards the different talents and abilities offered by all their students.

It undertakes to comply with the requirements of equalities legislation in force from time to time and to ensure that it has systems in place to ensure that it does not discriminate against any candidate either directly or indirectly, on the grounds of colour, race, nationality, ethnic origin, gender, mental or physical disability, marital status or sexuality. It therefore requires of all ISTD teaching members including its Approved Dance Centres, that they do not discriminate in any of these respects, as additionally noted in the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers of Dance published by the Council for Dance Education and Training, to which all ISTD members must comply.

In order for the ISTD to prove itself as unprejudiced, candidates’ personal details are requested upon registration. The ISTD would hope this does not offend, but the ISTD is required to ask these questions in order to prove itself to be an equal opportunities organisation. Please note the ISTD will observe the guidelines of the Data Protection Act. Personal information will be held on file and will not be disclosed to any party outside of the ISTD.

Action by teachers to exclude any particular individual from a class, or deny access to an examination for any reason, must be taken only after careful consideration of all the circumstances, consultation with the individual concerned (or their parent where relevant), and only if there is a general and reasonable belief that there is no alternative to the action proposed.

ISTD Qualifications

The ISTD qualifications are developed to be open to all, and achievement is measured against assessment criteria according to their ability. As part of its process of new unit and qualification development, and feedback on credit, the ISTD undertakes to consult with its members particularly in regard to:

• those who teach candidates with disabilities
• those who have particular ethnic groupings within their schools, and
• those who teach males

This is to ensure that there are no barriers to entry to the units or qualifications for any candidate and particularly for disabled people, for males/females or for those with different racial groups, other than those directly related to the integrity of the qualifications. It will ensure that the syllabi and assessments proposed do not disadvantage such candidates, or give those with disabilities an advantage over normal candidates, whilst maintaining the competence standard for the level of the examinations.

There are three further circumstances of which teachers must be aware:

• Minimum age limits apply for entry to some examinations. This is to protect the health and safety of young children where physical development may be insufficient to meet the demands of certain syllabi.

• Maximum age limits apply to certain non vocational examinations where the material involved is designed specifically for groups of very young children.

• Certain sections of some performance examinations are designed particularly for either male or female dancers. This reflects the realities and requirements of the dance profession and should in no way be construed as sex discrimination.

The ISTD monitors its entries and examination results by gender, age and ethnicity in order to ensure as far as possible that there are no barriers, and that results are awarded consistently. Candidates’ ethnicity is not indicated to examiners for performance examinations, but age and gender are, as they are relevant to the particular entry of groups on an examination timetable. All written examinations are anonymous to the markers.

Candidates with disabilities

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 which extended the Act of 1995, ‘A body directly discriminates against a disabled person if, on the ground of the disabled person’s disability, it treats the disabled person less favourably than it treats or would treat a person not having that particular disability whose relevant circumstances, including his abilities, are the same as, or not materially different from, those of the disabled person’.

In the Act of 1995, an adult or child is “disabled” if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that has an effect that is:

• Substantial
• adverse
• long term (lasting or expected to last for at least a year)

on his or her ability to carry out normal day to day activities.

The term “physical impairment” includes sensory impairment, e.g. loss of hearing, visual impairment. It includes disfigurement and people with a history of disability.

The term “mental impairment” covers impairments relating to mental functioning, including clinically recognised mental illness and learning difficulties e.g. dyslexia.

A substantial impairment may now include candidates with diagnosed severe illness, such as cancer or leukaemia.

The ISTD reminds its teaching members that it should not treat pupils with disabilities less or more favourably than able-bodied pupils simply because of their disability. The overriding approach taken by teachers is that so far as possible all pupils should be afforded the same treatment, and that where they have a disabled student, adjustments should be made to their normal teaching conditions as far as reasonable.

It may be the case that the individual would endanger his/her personal safety or that of the other students in the class so should be precluded from undertaking that activity on health and safety grounds. If teachers have any concerns on the ability and safety of a student they must seek the appropriate medical and legal advice.

Candidates with requiring reasonable adjustments to assessment conditions

The ISTD recognises that there are some candidates who have coped with the demands of the course, and can demonstrate attainment in the skills being assessed, but for whom the standard arrangements for the examination may present a barrier that could be removed without affecting the validity of the examination. In such circumstances the teacher can apply for a variation in the conditions, as suitable for the candidate. This may include candidates with physical limitations in certain elements of the examination only, who must demonstrate to the best of their physical capability, and who can additionally convey their intentions orally.

Assessment conditions may be varied for example in the following ways, on an individual candidate basis, by means of advance permission from the ISTD only:

• Extra time may be granted in performance examinations for recovery between dance exercises, or for repetition of instructions by the examiner
• Candidates on groups in examinations may be rotated so that the particular candidate may not be required to lead the group
• Additional medical equipment may be used within the examination, such as special microphones and hearing equipment for deaf candidates
• Candidates taking written examinations may be allowed extra time, a scribe, word processing equipment, coloured examination papers, translators etc

This list is not exhaustive and advice may be sought from the Customer Services and Quality Assurance department regarding the appropriateness of assessment conditions and the permission process.

The candidate cannot be marked on different criteria because of the restrictions the disability may cause them. If a teacher wishes to enter a pupil with disabilities for an examination the quality of the performance in an examination is to be equal to that of an able-bodied candidate. This is mandatory in order to achieve a true and fair dance award.

Reasonable adjustments are generally not appropriate therefore where the examination is focussing on assessing the area which is the candidate’s particular difficulty. Additionally, any reasonable adjustment arrangements made will not be such as to give the candidate an unfair advantage over an able-bodied candidate.

If a candidate with a disability is to be submitted for examination, for any Theatre and Dancesport Faculty, the teacher must complete an “Application for Reasonable Adjustments” form and return it to Customer Services and Quality Assurance department, a minimum of three weeks prior to the official examination entry, together with a doctor’s letter and other supporting evidence as relevant.

Many candidates have a physical or mental impairment which do not need any changes to the examination itself, but in many cases it is helpful for the examiner to be aware. This is good practice so that the examiner can ensure that the candidate has the best possible examination experience. The Application for Reasonable Adjustments form has a separate section for such candidates, which must be completed under the same process as above.

Download Application for Reasonable Adjustments form

It is important that this form is completed for any candidate in this situation, every time they enter an ISTD examination. This is because the candidate’s difficulty may change over time, and the requirements of each examination may be different.

The teacher and the examiner will be informed of the agreement and the changes to the assessment conditions, and the teacher must then complete the normal candidate registration and examination entry process. All requests for arrangements must be detailed in advance and agreed by the ISTD, and must not be instituted by the teacher without this permission. No adjustments will be considered at the time of the examination.

If further guidance is required, please contact the Customer Services and Quality Assurance Department.

After each examination where an Application for Reasonable Adjustments process is carried out, feedback information is requested from the teacher by means of a questionnaire, to ensure that any changes were carried out appropriately and the candidates were satisfied with the experience, as well as to advise on any future requirements. This includes advice from Approved Dance centres offering higher level and written examinations.

Candidates requiring special consideration

ISTD dance examinations below professional level are single performances at one moment in time. It is therefore important that the examination is fully completed.

If a candidate is unable to take any examination due to illness, either by withdrawing beforehand, or on the day, the ISTD will refund 50% of the examination fee on receipt of a doctor’s certificate. A refund will not be given once a candidate had commenced an examination.

Application for a refund should be made to the UK or International Examinations departments.

If a candidate has a minor injury prior to the examination, the examination may only be taken on production of a medical certificate. The ISTD reserves the right to refuse entry to the candidate on the day if the examiner judges that the injury is such that it would be damaging to the health and safety of the candidate. It should be noted that there is no liability on the part of the ISTD or the examiner if an injury occurs during any ISTD examination.

During the course of an examination, if a candidate suffers an injury or becomes unwell, the examiner will stop the examination and determine the severity of the problem. The candidate will be given the opportunity of a short break before recommencing if they so wish. If the candidate cannot complete the examination, the examiner will confirm the details in writing to the Customer Services and Quality Assurance department, and include the candidate’s result sheet.

In Graded examinations, candidates must reach 25% of the marks attainable in each unit to pass the examination overall, and therefore all units must be achieved. In Vocational Graded Examinations, candidates will normally fail if they attain 20% or less in any one component, or 40% or less in any three components. If a candidate is unable to complete any component of the examination for any reason, marks cannot be adjusted to compensate, but if the component or unit has been completed to an extent such that the minimum pass mark is achieved, then the result can stand and the qualification be awarded.

The result in such cases therefore will depend on the point at which the candidate ceases the examination. All marks awarded will be recorded, but if the marks do not reach the minimum pass in all components or units, the candidate will be unsuccessful. The report sheet will be sent to the teacher for the candidate in the normal way.

In all such circumstances the candidate may retake the examination as soon as they are able.

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