Did You Know That Anyone Can Open a Dance School?

Dance Edge Blog | Post 1 of 6: The Questions Every Dance Parent Deserves Answers To

Here's something most dance families don't find out until it's too late.

In Australia, there is no mandatory licensing, no government registration, and no regulatory body that controls who can open a dance school and teach children. None. That means someone with no teaching qualifications, no child safety training, no first aid certification, and no Working With Vulnerable People (WWVP) check can rent a studio space, hang a sign, and start teaching your child tomorrow.

That's not a scare tactic. It's just the reality of how the industry works — and it's one that the dance community has been quietly aware of for years.

Why This Matters More Than You Think

Most parents assume that when they enrol their child in a structured program — whether it's sport, music, or dance — there's some form of oversight ensuring the adults in charge are qualified and safe. With schools and childcare, that's absolutely true. Registered teachers, mandatory WWVP clearances, ASIO checks, duty of care frameworks — the system is robust.

Dance studios operate in a different space entirely. They're private businesses. The decision about who teaches your child, how they teach, what child safety frameworks are in place, and how concerns are handled rests entirely with the studio owner.

That's not inherently a problem. Many studio owners take that responsibility extraordinarily seriously. But many don't — and there's nothing legally stopping them from opening their doors anyway.

What Good Studios Actually Do

A well-run dance school doesn't wait to be regulated. It builds its own standards and holds itself accountable to them. That looks like:

Child safety frameworks — clear policies for preventing, recognising, and reporting harm, not just a sentence buried in a terms and conditions document.

WWVP compliance — every person who has unsupervised access to children should hold a current Working With Vulnerable People registration. This isn't optional at a reputable studio; it's non-negotiable.

Transparent communication — safety policies, codes of conduct, and expectations should be documented and available to every family, not just mentioned at orientation and forgotten.

Visible supervision — one-on-one interactions between staff and students should never happen behind closed doors. Reputable studios design their environments and practices so that supervision is active, observable, and accountable.

Qualified teachers — not every dance style has a formal exam syllabus, but the best studios invest in teacher training, professional development, and technique grounded in safe, age-appropriate progressions.

The Question You Should Ask Before You Enrol

Before you sign up anywhere — ask to see the studio's child safety policy. Ask whether all staff hold current WWVP registration. Ask how concerns are reported and handled.

A studio that takes child safety seriously will answer those questions without hesitation and with genuine pride. One that fumbles or deflects? That tells you something important.

The dance industry can be extraordinary — a place where children grow in confidence, build lifelong friendships, and discover what they're capable of. But the environment only becomes that when the adults running it have genuinely put your child's wellbeing at the centre of every decision they make.

That's the standard every family deserves. And it's the standard worth asking for.

Next in this series: Your child loves their teacher — but are they actually qualified to teach? We look at what dance teacher training really means, and why it matters for your child's development and safety.

Dance Edge School of Performing Arts operates from two locations in Canberra — Tuggeranong and Gungahlin. To learn more about our policies, programs, or to ask us any of the above questions directly, contact us at [email protected]