The Place launches new MA Creative Dance Education to prepare the next generation of skilled dance teachers

London Contemporary Dance School at The Place today announces the launch of a new postgraduate programme, MA Creative Dance Education, adding to its portfolio of uniquely interdisciplinary postgraduate courses. Designed to prepare the next generation of dance educators to shape inclusive, creative, and research-informed learning environments, the course builds on more than 30 years of expertise in dance education. 

With renewed focus on an arts-rich national curriculum, there is a clear and growing demand for well-trained, qualified dance teachers who can deliver high-quality, inclusive creative learning experiences in schools and communities. Similar needs are emerging internationally, and the MA Creative Dance Education brings together global perspectives through its diverse student cohort, faculty expertise and international case studies, ensuring graduates are prepared to work across varied cultural and educational contexts.

The MA Creative Dance Education offers hands-on, embodied learning in the studio through LCDS’s unique practice-based research methodology, supporting students to engage critically with a wide range of pedagogical approaches, recognising that dance education is shaped by context, culture, identity and the needs of learners. Through observation, studio-based enquiry, micro-teaching and a mentored six-week placement, students will develop evidence-informed, wellbeing-led approaches to teaching while building adaptable practices that can evolve across schools, community settings and professional training environments. The programme also encourages students to plan their longer-term professional development, including pathways toward professional accreditation such as Qualified teacher status (QTS) or international equivalents through appropriate external routes.

Structured across three progressive units, the course guides students from mapping the field of creative dance education to applied teaching practice and a substantial practice-informed research project. Creativity is explored as a dynamic, relational process that emerges between bodies, people and contexts, enabling dance education to respond to shifting cultural landscapes while supporting whole-person learning and wellbeing.

Situated within the vibrant environment of The Place — a hub where community participation, youth training and higher education intersect — students will benefit from direct access to a wide spectrum of teaching contexts, from children and young people to adult and over-60s learners. Through this unique ecosystem, the MA Creative Dance Education aims to nurture reflective, agile and socially responsive educators ready to contribute to the future of dance learning both in the UK and internationally.