Re: [TANGO-L] Tango Syllabi

[Gary Barnes <garybarn @OZEMAIL.COM.AU>]

What is a syllabus? What is it for? Is it good or bad?

One useful definition:  '... a syllabus is a list. It is a list of the
topics or themes to be taught
within a given subject. A syllabus is derived from a curriculum. Where a
curriculum is theoretical, a syllabus is practical. Where a curriculum
is
general, a syllabus is specific. A curriculum provides the underlying
rationale for what is to be taught; a syllabus describes the contents
and
order of what is to be taught. If the curriculum is strategy, the
syllabus
is tactics.'  {apologies I cannot remember where I pinched this from...}

Curriculum and syllabus development is fundamentally about beliefs - and
they can be used both to attempt to reflect beliefs, and to form them,
as
anyone on a school curriculum committee will tell you!

They can also be used for marketing - to distinguish your 'product'
from the
next guy's and to make it consistent among all your teachers. This is
the
basic aim of a syllabus in dance school franchises and some dance
associations.

Many independent dance  teachers are not conscious of either the
curriculum
or the syllabus they are using - a lesson plan is even a rarity for
some!
This does not make them bad teachers, necessarily.  Many adjust their
syllabus constantly to suit their student's needs. Most do have an
underlying curriculum, which does not change (or changes only slowly),
but
few spell it out. In some cases, their students are clearer about the
underlying curriculum than the teacher is...

And many teachers who work for franchises, or within a formal system
such as
traditionally organised  ballroom,  do not recognise that the syllabus
they
present embodies a curriculum which serves the commercial needs of the
franchise, or the award-giving needs of the system,  not just  the
desires
of the  students.

Other teachers are very clear on both their curriculum and syllabus,
but do
not see any need to tell their students - judging that the students just
want to learn to dance, and don't care how the teacher achieves that as
long
as it works.

There is no agreed syllabus for tango, perhaps primarily because there
is no
agreed curriculum. A group of people may agree on a curriculum, and
produce
syllabi from that. These  together will encapsulate their beliefs and
methodology about the practice and the teaching of tango - which will
differ
from other people's.

There is no need for an agreed syllabus among all teachers, and it is
very
counter-productive for any teacher to use a syllabus which does not
agree
with their core beliefs about tango - the basis of their  curriculum.

If a teacher publishes a curriculum and/or  a syllabus which they use
(whether they call it that or not), it can help you choose your teacher.

Even without a curriculum, if the main organising principle used by a
teacher is a syllabus which consists of lists of figures, it probably
tells
you a lot about their philosophy of teaching, and possibly their
philosophy
of tango. It may be that the list of figures is the embodiment of a
structured methodology of teaching basics and technique through
figures; but
it is more likely (IMHO) to indicate a focus on performing the figures
as
the desired outcome.

And for most teachers , they do not publish  either a curriculum or a
syllabus, and students make up their mind from word of mouth,
experiment,
etc.. which works just fine most of the time.

It is up to the student to decide...

my 2 cents


 --

Gary Barnes
 Canberra, Australia

 "more tango, more often"