Singing teaching is an unregulated profession – is that a good thing?

In Part 10 of her AOTOS Keynote speech, Dr Gillyanne Kayes discusses singing teaching as an unregulated profession

“Back in 2018 when I was a visiting professor at University of West London around 100 delegates got together to discuss the requirements of teaching singing in Higher Education. At that time I was very much in favour of some form of regulation for our profession.

I have changed my mind.

And I have to say it’s because of the recent Teacher Accreditation Programme we’re running, I began to realise that, were we to be regulated, we might well exclude some excellent practitioners who wouldn’t ‘fit the mould’

• the teacher who flunked out of their degree due to dyslexia giving them an absolute fear of exams and tests – who has set up their own online course!
• the teacher who has a spinal condition that means sometimes they spend days lying down – who it turns out is excellent at breaking down scientific concepts into digestible lesson format
• the teacher who is heading eventually towards total hearing loss and wants to make sure they can work to their best as long as they can

And I can tell you all of them successful, creative and effective teachers

Perhaps being unregulated allows for a more diverse and inclusive teaching community – and it could be that this community is better adapted to the accelerated changes in our society and will help make singing accessible to all. It’s a thought, isn’t it?”

Gillyanne’s Further Reflections

If you follow us on Instagram @vocalpro you will this slide as a pinned post – I aired it soon after the Keynote and had so many thoughtful responses. The main themes are inclusivity, diversity and responsibility. Do go and read the originals for yourself.

• Some were against regulation on the basis that our pedagogical field is always evolving to the sounds of the times, and many teachers already are not up to date on needs for current styles, especially in academia. Whilst we might view academia as giving us ‘legitimacy’ in an unregulated profession, there’s also a danger that existing hierarchies – such as that of Western European classical styles – would simply become further embedded.
• Others had mixed feelings: what about the fact that anyone can put a sign on their door, build a website, or even create a course using AI? Being a singing teacher is a craft, that needs careful guided education. On the other hand, being unregulated allows for many incredible singing teachers and coaches to emerge who might have taken a very different, non-academic or conservatoire route. Perhaps being unregulated makes it easier for us to attract the people who need our particular mix of skills.
• Some reported that they had missed out on jobs they could easily have done, due to lack of academic credits; others pointed out that all have to start somewhere but perhaps what is needed is some mechanism for ensuring best practice so that we do no harm in our teaching

And two people I’d like to quote verbatim because – for me – these observations encapsulate the current challenge, and how we might navigate it.

Vocal Process Registered Teacher Franka van Essen @voice2blossom

“Overall such an interesting question: how to move away from the Western Lyric hierarchy paradigm to a place where singing is a birthright for every human being, taught by compassionate, competent and curious teachers”

And these thoughts re-iterated by @kevinmichaelcripps

“The beautiful thing about us as a community of singing teachers is that we come to teaching from different backgrounds with different tools to offer… and a range of ideologies and ethos. We need to take on the responsibility of upgrading our knowledge and skills, our community engagement and networking, and seek out support and advice from our peers when we need it. It’s on our shoulders to do so” 

What is your perspective on singing teaching being an unregulated profession – do you agree?

How might regulation of singing teachers include or exclude more diverse educators?

Should we all be teaching the same things in the same way?

 

Click here for part 9 of Gillyanne’s AOTOS Keynote – The Power of Collaborative Working: Building a community of enquiry in singing

Click here for part 11 of Gillyanne’s AOTOS Keynote – Mind The Gap – Vocal Health Care in Singing Education

 

If you’d like to see the diversity of teacher backgrounds and specialities in our own Registered Teacher community, head to our Meet The Team page

Or check out our interviews with members of Cohorts 21 and 22 on the YouTube channel here

And feel free to contact Gillyanne for a Discovery call to find out more about our next Accreditation cohort here