ECA has sent the following letter to the Spanish Minister of Education and Culture Ms Mercedes Cabrera Calvo-Sotelo and the Director of the Department Ms Maria Fernanda Santiago Bolaños
13 December 2006
Dear Madame
Access to education is one of the fundamental human rights and the present-day education system in Europe aims at promoting long-term and life-long.
Diploma equivalence and Europe-wide mobility is provided for by the Bologna Convention.
Having these two premises in mind, the situation which dance professionals in Spain face with respect to the homologation/validation/recognition/incorporation of their dance diplomas is absolutely deplorable and abominable.
Compared to the procedures and rules applicable to other arts disciplines such as music, theatre or singing, professional dancers in Spain have not had their diplomas earned under the previous educational system recognized as equivalent to degrees granted under the new education system.
All of these appropriately qualified professionals will be thus excluded from the European higher education sphere.
In Spain the so-called homologation in fact merely provides equivalence certifying professionals for teaching purposes only. It will not provide access to any postgraduate programmes or any grants, stipends or scholarships for graduates with a university degree.
Consequently, this will prevent them from fair competition within the European (or world-wide) market as equals with professionals from abroad.
Moreover, to obtain this equivalence or validation, they must prove three years’ teaching and/or performing experience.
Due to the fact that the required teaching experience is required to have been obtained exclusively from official or authorised dance schools (which in Spain amount to less then 25 per cent of all he dance schools), such rigid conditions prevent many of the very best teachers in Spain from obtaining the required equivalence unless they complete complementary courses to make up for the supposed lack of teaching experience. This rule would apply even to accomplished teachers with more than thirty years' teaching experience who have taught some of the world’s best dancers. Nevertheless, they would still have to qualify by taking these complementary courses!
This paradox has been caused by the fact that their dance schools are thought of as amateur, although Spain is a country which is well-known for its professional dancers and in which dance has traditionally been taught namely in schools of this kind!
Furthermore, while dance teachers' work in dance companies is considered to be just artistic, rather than teaching, experience, it is at least recognised!
All these inane contradictions are absolutely incomprehensible and unacceptable.
Representing interdisciplinary artists' councils and organisations in twenty five countries across Europe and admiring the lively and strong Spanish dance tradition, the European Council of Artists (ECA) appeals to the Spanish government and education authorities to show reason, sensitivity and responsibility and solve this intolerable situation in order to prevent many Spanish many dance professionals from facing the risk of being left out of the framework of the Bologna Convention.
Yours sincerely,
Simon Pellar
ECA Vice-President