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2015 – 2016
To find out all about the programme, click on the links below
How To Use This Handbook
Introducing the Department How we assess you Academic Calendar Assessment Welcome & Equality of Opportunity A Guide to Undergraduate Modular
Scheme Assessment The Department of Performing Arts Staff Profiles and Contacts Assessment Criteria
Grading Criteria Your Course
Course Summary Rules and Regulations Introduction Attendance Course Content Statements and Regulations
The Course What You Will Learn The Quality of Your Course Assuring the Quality of This Course
Your Modules Being a Student Rep How to Read a Module Outline Context 3 Support Systems Performance Compilation How We Support You Creativity and Devising 3 Professional Practice Final Major Project Careers This Programme Handbook was prepared in advance of the academic year. We have made every endeavour to ensure information is correct, but last minute amendments occur: for example, staffing or regulations. You should therefore always refer to the most recent academic regulations and the online version of the Programme Handbook.
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Welcome to Bath Spa University’s BA (HONS) Contemporary Circus with Physical Performance run by the partner institution, Circomedia. This is an intensive physical training in circus techniques and creative performance making supported by reflective, contextual and critical studies that runs over three years. This top-up programme, builds upon the successful Foundation degree that Circomedia have run since 2007 that, in turn, builds upon twenty-five years of conservatoire training for professional circus performers. In support of Bath Spa University’s status as a Platinum Ecocampus, this handbook is in electronic format. To navigate its pages, click on any of the hyperlinks throughout the text to read more about the course – some links take you to other pages of the handbook; others take you to relevant websites, external documentation or email addresses. We have developed the format of the handbook so that it falls into sections – each covering some aspect of your time while studying here. You can read it from cover to cover (please do) or you can dip in and out as and when you need to. The contents page, allows you to move freely about the book, and it indicates how each section is colour-coded for easier access. You can return to the contents page by clicking on ‘Go to Contents’ at the end of each section. We welcome you to the course and we hope you will enjoy your studies; feel challenged and inspired; and above all, grow in confidence and imagination. This document should be read in conjunction with BSU’s own Modular Scheme Handbook. It should also be read within the context of Bath Spa University Academic Regulations and General Regulations, all of which can be accessed here. Go to Contents
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Find out about:
The University’s structure
Where you will learn
The staff that will work with you This section welcomes you to your course and provides you with all the essential contacts you need. Think of these as the yellow pages! Most importantly of all, and so the dates are clear, here are the term dates for this academic year.
ACADEMIC CALENDAR 2015-2016
START DATE
END DATE
NOTES
3rd YEAR
Term 1 23/09/2015 18/12/2015 Half Term Dates:
Term 1: 9th-13th November 2015
Term 2: 15th-19th February 2016
Term 2 04/01/2016 25/03/2016
Term 3 11/04/2016 10/06/2016
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Welcome to BSU – Bath Spa University. We have been teaching at BSU for over 160 years and we became a university in 2005. As a university our vision is to be a leading educational institution in creativity, culture and enterprise. Through innovative teaching and research, the University will provide a high quality student experience.
BSU has 5 schools of which one is The School of Music and Performing Arts (SMPA) and it consists of two departments.
The department in which you will study is DoPA, the Department of Performing Arts, and you will be a student on one of 7 undergraduate or 3 postgraduate programmes. We deliver these programmes on the main BSU campus at Newton Park, or at Weston College or Circomedia.
The Wessex Academy of Performing Arts (WAPA) is a vibrant and exciting part of the Faculty of Creative Arts at Weston College. The department offers 2-year Foundation Degrees in Performing Arts and Musical Theatre and for each there is an optional 1-year BA (Hons) Top-up
route. The courses are practical in depth and professionally focussed, aiming to help students to realise their potential
and meet professional standards.
Circomedia is an internationally recognised centre for excellence in circus and physical performance training. Circomedia works with a
variety of core circus, performance arts and street theatre working groups that have been instrumental, both nationally
and internationally, in increasing the profile of the sector and lobbies on behalf of the circus arts and street
theatre industry.
Above all, equality and diversity are crucial to a department that places emphasis on
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celebrating the creativity of individuals working in companies, and you can read the University’s Equality and Diversity policy here. Weston College students can read the College’s Equality and Diversity Programme in the Appendices. Go to Contents
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DoPA currently has over 600 students studying courses in Acting, Contemporary Circus with Physical Performance, Dance, Drama, Musical Theatre, Performing Arts, Performing Shakespeare, Theatre for Young Audiences and Theatre Production. The Department is forever expanding its links with the industry: fostered through visiting practitioners; professionally-focused training courses; creative and educational opportunities with professional theatre and arts companies and professional practitioners from a range of disciplines. Bath and Bristol are a 90-minute train journey away from both London and Stratford-Upon-Avon. Weston-Super-Mare is about 30 minutes by train from Bristol. Wherever you study, you will have access to excellent specialist facilities. Students at Newton Park campus will study in a beautiful rural setting of historical significance and only minutes away from the ancient city of Bath. With the recent addition of the Commons building and new student accommodation, facilities and resources ensure that you have everything you need to support your studies. The University Theatre building includes a fully equipped theatre, and three rehearsal studios and students have access to black box theatre space, dance studio and fully equipped TV studio. Contemporary Circus and Physical Performance students have access to a range of excellent facilities and even though the Circomedia campus is in Bristol it is only about a 25 minute drive away from these facilities: The Department also uses Burdall’s Yard, its city centre arts centre/performance venue that includes a studio performance space, a small break-out studio and a seminar room. This is a great venue for the performance of cabaret, music, stand up and studio theatre work
Burdall’s Yard
Circomedia students study at the Kingswood Foundation, which includes 3 fully equipped aerial studios with an extensive range of aerial equipment; a gymnasium with wall bars, a mirrored wall and capacity for aerial equipment; a mirrored studio with a wide range of aerial equipment. There are additional dance and training studio spaces; a class room with IT facilities; a specialised library including books and videos; student rooms with TV, DVD and video and a meeting room for tutorial and feedback. All studios are equipped with a vast range of specialist equipment, stereos, matting and first aid kits. During teaching hours there is a qualified first aider on-site. There is a costume store, sound and lighting equipment, a digital video camera and a touring van for external productions. An important additional resource is Circomedia’s city centre site at St Paul’s Church, Portland Square, Bristol. This is a stunning Grade 1 listed 18th century building
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which retains many of its original features whilst being a fully equipped and modern training space. The church has a sprung dance floor and a custom-built flying trapeze rig, which is one of the only two permanent grande volante rigs in the country. Major performances are held in and around the St. Paul’s Church venue and/or another Bristol based performing space such as the Bristol Old Vic theatre. Smaller productions may be held in any of the studio spaces at the Kingswood site, as will most of the regular weekly presentations. Whichever campus you study on you will have access to the University Library at Newton Park. This holds books, journals, performance recordings, CDs, DVDs, student dissertations and provides access to electronic and on-line resources. Both Weston College and Circomedia also have their own libraries, so that wherever your study your course reading is available to you. Minerva, the University’s virtual learning environment, supports all courses as a repository for information, and as an interactive learning tool. You submit all written work on Minerva and staff will contact you using the noticeboard on the relevant Minerva page. When you enrol, you receive a Bath Spa University email account and you must check this several times a day for updated information. Go to Contents
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The quality of the teaching you receive while you study and the support we offer you centres on the staff that work with you. The tables below are a quick reference guide, you can click on any of the hyperlinks to find out more or contact the staff. Please remember that part-time or fractional staff might not be able to reply to you immediately, and permanent staff will not always be able to reply to you immediately, so please be patient with us. Circomedia has a small but dedicated staff of teachers and administrators. Most are part-time but will endeavour to respond to your queries as soon as they can. They are best contacted via email and all their details are below. You will probably meet most of them during you time here.
NAME ROLE EMAIL
Charles Wiffen Acting Dean of School of Music and Performing Arts
Mark Langley Head of Department [email protected]
As well as being Head of Department of Performing Arts at Bath Spa University, Mark is also the link tutor for the FdA Contemporary Circus with Physical Theatre and BA (Hons) Top-up. As link Tutor and Head of Department, Mark maintains regular contact with the staff team and students to support and encourage, where appropriate, regarding the quality and management of the course. The activities and responsibilities of the link tutor are in line with Bath Spa University’s documentation Collaborative Provision: Policy and Process for the approach of new providers and new courses (UK) (July 2012).
COURSE DIRECTOR
Dr. Bim Mason [email protected]
Bim has been a professional performer & director since 1978, having worked with pioneering circus-theatre groups Kaboodle and his own Mummer & Dada. He has also acted with the Bristol Old Vic Company and toured three solo physical comedy shows to events such as the London International Mime Festival. Of the many physical theatre shows he has directed, three have received Fringe First Awards at Edinburgh - with Talking Pictures (1989) and with Rejects Revenge (1995 & 1997). In 1999 he founded Dark Horse, which won the Herald Angel Award in 2000. He was one of the original teachers at Fool Time 1986-1993 and co-founder of Circomedia. Bim is one of Britain’s leading mask makers. His writing work includes the book Street Theatre (Routledge 1992), and the newly published Provocation in Popular Culture.
HEADS OF DEPARTMENT
Rod Laver Manipulation [email protected]
Rod has gained a reputation for being one of Europe’s most entertaining and innovative jugglers. Since the early 90’s he has been an important figure in the performance and teaching of juggling. He has appeared on TV and in circus, cabaret and variety throughout the world. Most recently breaking a Guinness world record in China. He was one of the few British jugglers to appear in the book “The Virtuosos of Juggling”, celebrating the world’s best jugglers. He has been a teacher at Circomedia since its beginning particularly
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specialising in club passing, Gentleman juggling and the performance of juggling. He splits his time with the National Centre of Circus Arts where he is also a juggling teacher as well as being overall Juggling Strand Manager.
Lex Rooney Movement [email protected]
Lex trained at Swindon Dance and London Contemporary Dance School before going on to complete a BA(hons) in Dance at Bath Spa University and a Master’s Degree at Trinity Laban, specializing in European Dance Theatre Practice. Lex has taught in a variety of settings from Higher Education to youth and community projects including work with adults and young people with social, physical and learning difficulties. She has performed in Dance, Theatre and Film, in productions by Petite Mort, Protein Dance, Double Barrel Films, Strictly Visions, Catfight Productions, Cling Films, FallingWide, Kit & Kaboodle, The Invisible Circus, Sideways Arts and Swerve Dance Theatre Company. In 2010 she founded Crowded Mouth Productions, a short film, A Glutton for Love in collaboration with Jaime Bullock of Magic Torch Productions. Lex has provided choreography/movement direction for music videos by Bristol producers, C U T S /// and Typesun. She performs with The Bureau of Random Acts, and has also performed in Willi Dorner’s Bodies in Urban Spaces. Lex has recently joined the Mama Africa Project, working with Bristol primary schools, to develop and deliver a broader and richer curriculum of African history through dance, music, research, poetry and spoken word. In addition to her role at Circomedia, Lex is Acting Subject Leader and a Lecturer on the BA(hons) Dance at Bath Spa University, specializing in Choreography & Performance.
Lisa Whitmore Acrobatics [email protected]
Lisa gained a BSc in Sports and Exercise Science with business from Gloucestershire University before studying at Circomedia. She specialised in acrobatics and aerial gaining an OCR Diploma in Circus Skills and Physical Theatre, as well as Circomedia’s Teacher Training Certificate alongside the City and Guilds 7407 level 4 Teaching Adults in Further Education certificate. She has performed professionally throughout the world, from Istanbul to Israel, Ireland to Myanmar and Germany to the Czech Republic. Ranging from TV appearances, adverts and corporate events to festivals, galas. theatre and traditional circus.
Mike Wright Aerial [email protected]
Mike trained firstly as a classical ballet dancer in Cape Town gaining a Diploma in Dance before joining and touring with Cape Performing Arts Board's Ballet Company. His aerial career started in the late sixties when he studied flying under trapeze supremo Keith Anderson, and went onto tour internationally with companies such as Circus Benneweis (Denmark), Circo Cesare Togni (Italy) and Billy Smarts (UK). As well as running and performing in his own company “Above and Beyond”, Mike is also a successful producer and choreographer, whose credits including producing bungee trapeze acts for the Brit Awards in 1995; producing flying acts for Euro 96 and Simply Red; producing acts for Barnum & Bailey Circus, Circus Kröne and Circus Knie; he also acts as a consultant for the London International Mime Festival. Most recently, Mike has performed in the UK tour of Once Upon at Time, directed by Agnieszka Błońska and choreographed by Dan Canham.
PART-TIME LECTURERS
Cat Boot Physical Theatre [email protected]
Catherine trained in European Theatre Arts at Rose Bruford College, and subsequently worked as an actor for 9 years, before coming to Circomedia to learn about integrating circus and physical theatre as a director. Cat now teaches physical theatre, movement and reflective practice at Circomedia, and is Artistic Director of ‘Can’t Sit Still’, a physical and circus theatre company whose first show, ‘A Small Chance of Showers’, premiered in 2014. Movement direction and facilitation includes work for Hubbub Theatre, New Street Theatre
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and Travelling Light. She also works as a freelance Outdoor Arts producer for Devizes International Street Festival, PanGottic and Theatre Bristol.
Dannick Chollet Acrobatics [email protected]
Dannick graduated from the NICA (National Institute of Circus Arts, Australia) in 2007 where he trained in Duo Teeterboard under the tuition of Vasily Ivanov (ex- Moscow State Circus performer). In 2010 Dannick took 14 young performers for a 6 week performing tour of England and Germany, once they came to Bristol they never left. He has performed Teeterboard and acrobatics at various festivals and for the Invisible Circus. He is a specialist coach for the annual Edinburgh Acrobatics and Aerial Convention).
Wayne Clendennen Comic Improvisation [email protected]
Wayne began his performing career with the renowned ‘Fanzini Brothers’. Performing in the street show tradition for over 10 years, he left Ireland to study at Circomedia, where he was introduced to the world of contemporary clowning and the art of performance. He is a qualified teacher, and has studied with some of the great clowns/directors of this age, Sue Morrison, Bim Mason, Angela de Castro, Fraser Hooper, Mick Barnfather and Gerry Flanagan. With his enthusiastic affinity for clown and performance he continues to pursue his passion for the art form.
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Janine Mahon Aerial [email protected]
Janine Mahon is a multi-skilled aerialist who graduated from Circomedia in 2010 specialising in hoop and doubles swinging trapeze. She has since performed, trained and taught aerial skills internationally gaining a reputation for her strength, technique and motivational abilities. Janine has worked with many companies including Arcadia Spectacular, Above and beyond, Impact Artists, The Invisible Circus and is also a founding member of Boom! Circus Theatre. She works mostly with her aerial partner Helina Griffiths with their tipping hoop act, and they are currently the only tipping hoop duo in the UK. Janine has a strong passion for training and loves to push people out of their comfort zones in order to help them achieve their aerial goals.
Matt Pang Street Theatre [email protected]
Matt is a Circomedia graduate and Artistic Director of PanGottic, an award winning circus theatre company that tours nationally and internationally. Since 2009 PanGottic have appeared at street arts, comedy and theatre festivals in Holland, Latvia, France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Spain, Slovenia, South Korea, and across the UK. Matt also produces and compéres the regular variety Lansdown Cabaret, and recently performed in Beta Testing by Circus Geeks at London’s Udderbelly and on National tour.
Mark Parfitt Fitness and Conditioning
Mark has over nineteen years’ experience in the fitness industry, first training as a sports therapist and fitness instructor and then continuing onto advanced qualifications. In 2003 he qualified with Body Control Pilates (a world leading education provider for the Pilates Method) and became deeply committed to the method. He has continued with his development, passing Pilates equipment and Master qualifications with honours.
Rachel Pollard Devising and Physical Theatre
Rachel is the Artistic Director of Green Eyed Zero, physical theatre, contemporary circus and digital media performance company, where she tours to critical acclaim to venues including The National Theatre, Dartington Arts and The Lowry, receiving recognition as “one of the most challenging and innovative young companies around” (Gareth Lloyd Roberts, Wales Millennium Centre). She trained at Circomedia, graduating in 2006 where she co-founded Green Eyed Zero. Before Circomedia she was a First Class graduate from the University of Exeter, specialising in creative psychophysical performance and new media arts. Rachel also works internationally as a performer and creates bespoke designs under Generated Misfits.
Jonathan Priest Aerial Rope [email protected]
Jonathan has a BA Hons from Slade School of Fine Art and then went on to work in the stand-up, cabaret and live art scene in London during the 1980s and 1990s, running his own club and performing in touring shows. In 1995 he co-devised “Tim Vine Fiasco” which went on to win the Perrier Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Festival. After studying at Circomedia, Jonathan worked internationally as circus performer and teacher with Dark Horse, NoFitState Circus, Company FZ, Forkbeard Fantasy, Cirkus Cirkor, Marie-Louise Masraliez, Kompani Giraff, Kecca Rocca (Jeunes Talent Laureate) and his own company, Fan-atticks, based in Sweden. Since 2004 Fan-atticks have devised, produced and internationally toured four full-length shows. They continue to run a circus outreach project for homeless children in Senegal with the support of the Swedish Institute. Jonathan has been engaged as a teacher and artistic mentor for Cirkus Cirkor’s Piloterna and Gymnasiet
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programmes and the University of Dance and Circus in Stockholm since 2003. His students have gone on to win prizes at Les Pistes aux Espoires, Cirque du Demain and professional engagements with Cirque du Soleil. He continues to work there as guest aerial teacher and is currently engaged in one of their PhD programmes.
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Seb Valade Juggling [email protected]
Sebastien is a creative juggler from France specialising in ball and club juggling with an emphasis on movement, manipulations and multiplexes. He has performed internationally across the world and has collaborated with companies such as Gandini Juggling. He is also the co-founder of Green Eyed Zero a performance company fusing Physical Theatre, Contemporary Circus and Digital Media. Seb has a Masters in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science
Mish Weaver Aerial/Circus Theatre [email protected]
Mish Weaver is a Circus Director, Choreographer and Designer, who runs Stumble (danceCircus) making live performance and film. Productions with Stumble include An Evening of Instability, Bipolar Ringmaster, Box of Frogs and recently The Second Breath – an on-going circus conversation about how Climate Change is affecting individuals psychologically. Having originally trained in Fine Art Sculpture, Mish moved into Circus via Aerial and started a love affair with teaching around 1993. As a performer Mish specialised in Cloudswing and Doubles Trapeze, trained at Circus Space (now NCCA) as well as travelling to wherever she could find great teachers. Mish currently teaches part time at Circomedia on the Fda and BA courses in Circus, as well as continuing to make work and direct for other companies. She was once Head of Aerial at Circus Space, and has taught far and wide, most recently Nepal and Cambodia. Mish has an MA in Performance Studies (Choreography and Scenography).
Kate Webb Teacher Training [email protected]
Kate trained at the Laban Centre and in aerial and physical theatre at Circomedia, before performing for companies such as Skinning The Cat, Roughhouse Theatre Company and Cirque Bijou. She established a reputation for using circus and performance in an educational context at Bristol and Weston Education Action Zones and ACTA Community Theatre Company prior to becoming a lecturer within performing arts at Weston College. In 2002 Kate became Artistic Director of Project Go, Circomedia's outreach programme, and then established Circomedia’s BTEC National Diploma in Performing Arts, working as Course Director from its inception until 2007. Kate returned to the BTEC and has been the BTEC Course Director since September 2009. Kate has a MA in Educational Research which culminated in a case study in teaching circus skills in a multi-ethnic urban setting and is a lead tutor on Circomedia’s Teacher Training Course. Kate is also a freelance director working with Cirque Bijou on Drawer of Dreams to celebrate the opening of the Colston Hall in 2009, she was lead artist for the West of England in the Battle of the Winds project to launch the sailing as part of the Olympics 2012, http://www.cirquebijou.co.uk/our-work/ she continues to work with Cirque Bijou on smaller projects. Kate also works as a performance director for Tumbellina http://www.tumbellina.com/
Gandini Juggling – Creative Manipulation Residency Richard Headon - Site Specific Alexandra Hofgartner – Burlesque Jon Aron – Kung Fu Fleur Hoefkens – Contact Improvisation David Zilkhe – Swing Dance
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SUPPORT STAFF
Ben Tansey Student Support Officer [email protected]
Heather Keskinen Admin Officer [email protected]
Rosie Ochola Finance Officer [email protected]
Joe Mapson Senior Technical &
Operations Manager [email protected]
Wayne Clendennen IT Officer [email protected]
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Find out about
Course summary
The course structure
What you will learn
Course aims
Course learning outcomes
The kind of teaching you will encounter This section tells you everything you need to know about your course of study. It explains a lot of the terminology used in HE (Higher Education), and gives an idea of what the course aims to do. We begin with a summary of the course and then progressively add layers of detail. Go to Contents
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Major, Joint or Minor Specialised Award
School Music and Performing Arts
Department Performing Arts
Campus Circomedia
Final award Bachelor of Arts (HONS) Contemporary Circus with Physical Performance
Intermediate awards available None
UCAS code W900
Details of professional body accreditation
None
Relevant QAA Benchmark statements Dance, Drama and Performance (2007)
Date specification last updated March 2014
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This circus theatre course is for students who want to integrate specialized circus techniques with theatrical performance. The aim of the course is to train creative artists who can draw on a variety of circus skills that they can apply in a portfolio career. A portfolio career is one where an individual has multiple strands of work rather than one job. In the case of students from Circomedia this can be a case of working for different circus or theatre companies at the same time as running their own and teaching workshops, for example. The course examines the history of circus in relation to other performance forms such as theatre and dance; it considers the processes and practitioners that inform a contemporary approach to performance making in broad terms and especially circus; it develops your physical and performance skills to professional pitch; and it engages you always with the ideas and concepts of physical performance, and the creative process of making work. The course’s professionally experienced staff foster creative approaches to performance making and encourage the development of entrepreneurialism to create work, not just seek it! Circomedia’s excellent teaching reputation guarantees rigorous practical training, balanced with research and analytical skills. Many industry links with companies - such as Ockham’s Razor and Cirque Bijou - embed industry practice and standards in all classes. Go to Contents
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The following guides you through your year of study and you will see that the course consists of the modules of study explained below. Detailed module handbooks will be made available to you during the course as will detailed assignment briefs for each assignment mentioned in the course outline. The academic year begins at the end of September and finishes at the end of June. The BA (HONS) Contemporary Circus and Physical Theatre is full-time only and lasts for one year, and three terms. You will receive term diaries during the course so that you can forward plan and see what is happening and when.
YEAR 3
LEVEL 6
Sept- Dec Term 1
Jan – March Term 2
April - June Term 3
Attendance throughout the year is a key requirement for passing the course. As you study, you gain credit. Credit is a means of quantifying and recognising learning, whenever and wherever you achieve it. All higher education courses are credit rated: within the UK, 1 credit represents 10 notional hours of learning, this doesn't just include formal classes, but estimates the amount of time you spend preparing for these classes, along with private or independent reading and study, plus revision and the completion of course-work required on the module. Please read the QAA guide on the Higher Education Credit Framework. The credit rating of this top-up year is 120 credits, so you work at least 1200 hours per academic year (equivalent to a job where you work 35 hours per week). Adding this BA top-up year means you add 120 credits to the 240 credits of your FdA, giving you the total 360 credits required of a BA (HONS).
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To be awarded a BA (HONS) you must achieve 360 credits over level 4, 5 and 6 of higher education study. In this BA top-up year you must obtain 120 credits in addition to the 240 you have already gained, and so
A minimum of 120 credits at Level 6
Your Bachelor of Arts award will derive solely from your assessment in this top-up year. The course is a specialised award; therefore, you do not choose modules of study. Instead, you follow a prescribed programme, although you will choose between circus techniques in order to focus your physical training. This helps you to adapt your learning journey to suit your particular needs and your tutors will give you advice about these options throughout the course. The diagram below illustrates the course structure: the numbers identify the credit rating of each module. YEAR 3
Autumn Term (12 weeks)
Spring Term (12 weeks)
Summer Term (12 weeks)
Context 3 – 20 credits
Performance Compilation - 40 credits
Creativity & Devising 3 – 20 credits
Final Major Project – 40 credits
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Higher education is part of a wider national framework that begins with further education and culminates at doctorate level. Within this framework, higher education begins at Level 4 with the first year of undergraduate study and the final year of undergraduate study is Level 6. Foundation Degree study concludes at Level 5 Chapter A1 of the UK Quality Code provides a nationally recognised definition of each level of higher education. Writing a programme against the level descriptors provided ensures that all higher education programmes are of the same standard. While it is worth reading, the essential thing to understand is that the two years of your foundation degree are progressive. Study at Level 5 is harder than study at Level 4. In very simple terms, Level 4 introduces you to your studies, Level 5 develops your understanding. If you chose to add a third top-up year at Level 6, then it will advance your work to date. This is a very simple definition indeed, but it puts the following descriptions in context. The idea of progression is important, because if your studies do not become increasingly harder, then your learning would not progress. In addition, your foundation degree also reflects the descriptions provided in the Foundation Degree Qualification Benchmark to ensure that your programme observes the distinctive features associated with a foundation degree. The third year of your studies on the BA (HONS) Contemporary Circus with Physical Performance is the year that enables you to synthesise and apply your learning to date at a deeper level. You will create a portfolio of work that has certain professional markets in mind and you will critically evaluate your work within this context. Year 3 (or Level 6) also places you in a professional environment where you work on a production that goes outside of the school that prepares you for life in the professional world. Your training in devising and creativity intensifies with the introduction of the performance lab, an environment that emphasizes the processes of making work over the product and holistically integrates your technical training and conditioning practice. This practice-as-research model is then applied to your final dissertation module where you are challenged to make a major piece of work for performance, document the process, write an extended critical commentary of the work and your process and speak about this in a viva voce examination. There are four modules in the year, which you can read by clicking below.
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LEVEL 6 MODULES
PA6901-20 Context 3
PA6902-40 Performance Compilation
PA6903-20 Creativity and Devising 3
PA6904-40 Final Major Project
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To maintain its industry focus, the course’s aims and learning outcomes interconnect with different sets of external criteria. In designing the course, the Department has considered the QAA Subject Benchmark Statement for Dance, Drama and Performance (2007) to align the course with all other degrees in the subject area. The aims of any HE course explain what the University, staff and course aim to do to enable your learning. This course aims to:
Engender an experimental approach to the practice of circus with physical performance and its interconnection with devising and creativity
Provide a learning experience that explores these practices through a range of practical and theoretical research methodologies
Foster the industry-specific knowledge of working with professional venues, required of circus artists and performance makers
Advance an awareness of the transferability of subject specific skills to other employment scenarios
On completion of this course, you will be able to demonstrate the acquisition of a range of advanced knowledge and skills (be they practical or cognitive). These are the ‘learning outcomes’ of the course, and you will pass the course if you are able to show you have attained all these outcomes at threshold level – i.e. you can just do them. If you can surpass the threshold level, you will receive higher grades for your work. The learning outcomes for your course are as follows, some outcomes are about your knowledge, some of them are about your skills and abilities and some of them are about skills that you can use in all walks of life (transferable skills). KNOWLEDGE AND THINKING SKILLS On completion of the course, students will:
Have a deep comprehension of the theoretical and cultural frameworks that surround, and have surrounded, contemporary circus and its allied industries
Employ critical and theoretical approaches to the creation and performance of practical work
Utilise a critically evaluative creative process when effecting the transition from stimulus to performance
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Recognise and respond appropriately to the differing demands of the variety of potential contexts for performance.
Gather, organise, synthesise and assimilate information from a variety of sources to fully inform their processes of research, self-evaluation and critical analysis
Maintain highly effective interpersonal and social skills to ensure excellent communication and maintain professional working relationships
Demonstrate the entrepreneurial and self-motivational skills required of a professional freelance career in circus related industries.
SUBJECT-BASED PRACTICAL SKILLS On completion of the course, students will:
Utilise an advanced understanding of performance and technical circus skills when realising a performance, whatever its form or medium
Maintain appropriate techniques to ensure that rehearsals, training, conditioning and performances function safely, creatively and professionally
Deliver work confidently to a wide range of audiences, be it in live performance, verbally or in electronic or written form
SKILLS FOR LIFE AND WORK (GENERAL SKILLS) On completion of the course, students will:
Have an advanced personal style of independent learning
Communicate ideas and experiments to others and to debate relevant issues
Demonstrate good IT skills
Demonstrate excellent communication skills
Be an excellent team member
Manage time effectively
Be confident Go to Contents
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The course encourages your learning through participation in a wide variety of activities including lectures, seminars, workshops, tutorials, peer and tutor feedback sessions, rehearsals, blogs and journals, group discussion and collaborative learning. Your course is hour intensive; over 70% of your 1200 hours are spent in class. You also need to do private study (research, practice, etc.) in-between sessions. You do much of your learning in class, supported by considerable research, reflection and evaluation away from class. The course requires considerable stamina and continued application. It is not easy. The following explains some of the key approaches to teaching on the course. Some classes may feature elements from several of the descriptions below. A lecturer presents large quantities of information to a large group. You should take your own notes: even if the lecturer provides notes, you should make your own to guide your reflection afterwards. Lecturers will often provide you with sources for the information they have used, but these are not an alternative for attending the lectures. Here you practically explore a specific area of study with the intent of developing your skills or approach to the work. Workshops move freely between tutor-led instruction, class discussion and practical exercises. A mixture of staff and student-led discussions usually held in smaller groups of 15-25 students. You prepare for these sessions and sometimes contribute personally to the selected theme. Importantly, these open discussions generate ideas for you to explore and embed elsewhere in your work.
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These classes embed consistent physical behaviour, by using repetition of physical action; they are of particular use in the training of the body and its movement (somatics). Technical classes are a part of the process of embedding correct physical actions so that they become habitual. These are opportunities to discuss your personal progress, usually in one-to-one or small group sessions of 10-30 minutes duration. Tutorials are very time consuming for staff and are not optional: failing to attend a tutorial counts as an absence.
Here you will work on solo or group projects. These may be self-directed, ensemble collaborations, led by a member of staff or an external professional. You draw on the knowledge and skills you acquire in other areas and bring them to bear on an idea or stimulus. You approach rehearsals in a professional manner. Go to Contents
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It is important that all your written work conforms to the approved academic formats. Staging, choreographing, devising, designing, rehearsing, managing and performing are all fundamental activities, but thinking about your subject needs language to communicate an intelligent personal response and, of course, writing is central to clear and objective criticism and discussion. This section is not a guide to researching, planning or writing essays; rather, it gives the correct academic format for all essay and dissertation work. You must adhere to the presentational academic conventions. Think of your essays as potential articles for scholarly publication. You should not write in the style of popular journalism or in a familiar, chatty way: you are writing for an academic readership. Always read and research widely around your topic and support arguments with quotations from journals, books and internet sources. Written work must follow the following conventions and house-style:
All written work must be word-processed with Arial font size 12
Use double spaced lines
Give wide, clear margins
All pages must be numbered
The essay title must be written in full at the top of page 1
All essays must contain a bibliography
The bibliography and references must use the approved format
Go to Contents
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Find out more about
How to read a module outline And each of the 12 modules you will take over the three years
Context 3
Performance Compilation
Creativity and Devising 3
Final Major Project This section tells you everything you need to know about the different modules of your course of study. The modules are the next layer of detail and the next layer below the outlines are the module handbooks. These are on the relevant courses on Minerva, and to which your tutors will direct you. Each module outline details the aims, intended learning outcomes, methods of teaching and learning and assessment tasks and criteria for each module of the programme. The University’s Academic Quality and Standards Committee have approved these outlines and no change can be made to them without the approval of the Music and Performing Arts School Board. In line with the University’s quality assurance processes, any such modifications only happen after a process of review and consultation. Again there is a lot of terminology involved so there is an explanation of how to read a module outline. It is worth looking at the module diagram in the previous section as this helps to show roughly where in the year these modules take place. THESE ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PAGES IN THE HANDBOOK, SO PLEASE
READ THEM OFTEN AND CAREFULLY Go to Contents
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All the module outlines for the entire course are, by design, academic texts, but to maximise your studies you need to read them in close detail and understand them. The following guide helps you to do so. First, the header block – this is really the information needed for University systems, but it works as follows:
Code
This is the unique reference number for the module
PA is the course identification, PA for Performing Arts, the area in which the course sits.
The first number identifies the level of study (Level 4, 5, 6 or 7 – see ‘Level’ below)
The remaining three numbers identity the module number
The number after the hyphen indicates the credit value of the module
Title The module name
Programme The programme title – in this case, BA (Hons) Contemporary Circus with Physical Performance
Level
This indicates the year in which the module runs
Level 4 is 1st year FdA or BA undergraduate
Level 5 is 2nd year FdA or BA undergraduate
Level 6 is 3rd year BA undergraduate
Credits The credit value of the module – see Credit Rating above
ECTS The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System, correlates a UK course with other European Higher Education courses, for more information click here
Contact time This is the total of tutor-led teaching/contact you receive while studying the module
Acceptable for Because this is a specialised award, the modules are only acceptable for the BA (Hons) Contemporary Circus with Physical Performance
Excluded combinations
This is relevant only for modular scheme awards
Core/Optional For this specialised award all modules are core
Module Co-ordinator
The tutor responsible for managing the module and the tutors who teach on it
The remainder of the outline details the module content.
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Description and Aims
A thumbnail sketch introduces the module concept and the list of aims defines how the module enables your learning.
Outline Syllabus & Teaching & Learning Methods
A narrative explanation describes the module syllabus and indicates how staff deliver it and the activities they set to assess your learning.
Learning Resources
A brief description of the different teaching spaces, resources, library or IT facilities the University provides to support you throughout the module.
Intended Learning Outcomes
If you successfully complete a module, you attain its Intended Learning Outcomes (or ILOs). These are subject-specific skills, abilities or bodies of knowledge and transferable skills. For example, in a Context module, you study circus history, which is specific to circus performance, but you also learn how to research, which is a transferable skill. ILOs are pivotal to a module, everything the module aims to do is to enable you to attain them, and the way tutors assess you measures that attainment.
Assessment Scheme Weighting %
Tutors devise assessment tasks carefully to measure your attainment of the ILOs. The Assessment Scheme lists the tasks for the module, but the tasks may consist of several activities – module handbooks provide more detail.
This indicates each task’s percentage weighting within the module.
Assessment Criteria
Assessment criteria are measurable qualities that reflect your attainment of the ILOs as well as your understanding of how the ILOs interconnect. It is impossible to quantify how much skill, ability or knowledge you have (the ILOs), but a well-designed assessment task requires you to demonstrate qualities commensurate with the ILOs. By measuring the qualities you demonstrate, tutors measure your learning.
Reading Lists/Key Texts & Websites
Tutors list these books, articles and electronic resources to support your study. Students familiar with all the items on the list will understand more about the subject, and get more out of their study. The more you study, the more you learn.
The individual module outlines for your course now follow. Go to Contents
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Code PA6901-20
Title Context 3 (Showcase)
Subject area Music and Performing Arts
Pathway n/a
Level 6
Credits 20
ECTS 10
Contact time 50 hours
Acceptable for BA (Hons) Contemporary Circus with Physical Performance
Excluded combinations n/a
Core/Optional Core
Module Co-ordinator Cat Boot
Description & Aims
This module provides the opportunity to polish work to perform in a professional context. This module aims to:
Promote deeper understanding of the current performance context
Offer the opportunity to put on a professional show in a specific context
Provide experience of touring to professional venues
Provide an advanced-level opportunity to continue to develop the ensemble work
Outline Syllabus & Teaching & Learning Methods
This module builds upon the work done in the Ensemble module from year two and provides the opportunity to develop work to present to a broad audience at a range of professional events. There are also opportunities to network with relevant people in the contemporary circus industry and see a range of professional work. This module is taught through intensive workshops and rehearsals with a tutor in order to finesse the work to a high professional standard. This work showcases the Circomedia approach to performance making. The experience of touring professional standard work to different contexts provides a valuable learning opportunity. Formative assessments are on work-in-progress showings to tutors and peers. Summative assessments are on the performance itself and students’ professional conduct and communication.
Intended Learning Outcomes How assessed
On successful completion of this module, you will be able to:
1. Operate and communicate effectively in a professional context
2. Produce a highly professional standard of physical performance
3. Demonstrate a deeper understanding of how you relate to the current circus context
Showcase Essay
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Assessment Scheme Weighting %
FORMATIVE
Work-in-progress showings SUMMATIVE
Showcase
Reflective essay
70% 30%
Assessment Criteria
Professionalism of conduct
Consistency of visual, oral or written communication
Rigour of reflection
Depth of understanding of the professional context
Strength of group performance
Reading Lists/Key Texts & Websites
Bond, Daniel (1997) Stage management, A Gentle Art London, A&C Black.
Campbell, Drew. (2004) Technical theater for nontechnical people New York, Allworth Press
Equity - http://www.equity.org.uk/home/
FEDEC Circle DVDs (available in the library)
Higgs, Chris (2008) An Introduction to Rigging in the Entertainment Industry Entertainment Technology Press.
Hors Les Murs (2004) Street Arts and Circus Arts Festivals Circostrada
Sawyer, Gina (2005) The Performance Dictionary Backstage Coach Productions.
Toolkit for Outdoor Artists - http://prezi.com/vt6n0hz5euvf/a-toolkit-for-outdoor-artists/
Walters, Graham (1997) Stage Lighting Step-by-step London, A&C Black.
White, Chistine A. (2001) Technical theatre: a practical introduction. London, Arnold.
Learning Resources
Students have access to a fully equipped aerial, acrobatic and performance studios.
Experienced teaching staff with specialist technical/performance/ producing
knowledge. Classroom for seminars in technical aspects of module.
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Code PA6902-40
Title Performance Compilation
Subject area Music and Performing Arts
Pathway n/a
Level 6
Credits 40
ECTS 20
Contact time 100 hours
Acceptable for BA (Hons) Contemporary Circus with Physical Performance
Excluded combinations n/a
Core/Optional Core
Module Co-ordinator Bim Mason
Description & Aims
This module provides the opportunity to create a compilation of acts. This module aims to:
Provide the opportunity to create a range of work for different audiences, contexts and markets
Encourage the development of ‘acts’ for use in a professional career
Embed and build on performance contexts explored at Level 5
Outline Syllabus & Teaching & Learning Methods
This module builds on Creativity and Devising 2 to provide the opportunity to advance the work informed by different stylistic forms into a collection of four polished, innovative ‘acts’ for a variety of different audiences and/or markets. These acts form the basis for the professional compilation of work that, on completion of the course, will enable students to enter into the working world of the professional performer. This module will be taught through a series of informal showings of compilation pieces to tutors and peers. The development of these work-in-progress pieces into polished work is supported through constructive feedback from a range of tutors. Students will experience classes on scenography, lighting design, prop construction and puppetry. Students also have the opportunity to film their work and gain basic editing skills to support the creation of a professional showreel. Formative assessment is through in-class showings of work in progress and demonstration of supporting skills. Summative assessment is the compilation of work.
Intended Learning Outcomes How Assessed
On successful completion of this module, you will be able to:
1. Engage with performance styles at an advanced level
2. Maintain a professional approach in all performance activities
3. Apply your understanding of the requirements of different markets to your self-promotion
Performance Compilation
Assessment Scheme Weighting %
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FORMATIVE
In-class showings of work in progress SUMMATIVE
Performance Compilation
100%
Assessment Criteria
Responsiveness to diverse market demands
Creative application of performance styles
Professionalism of conduct
Strength of performances
Reading Lists/Key Texts & Websites
Due to the variety of areas you will choose to cover your tutors will be able to support you with individually tailored resources for your needs. However these are some indicative texts:
Bennett, Susan (1990) Theatre Audiences. London & New York: Routledge
Fiske, John (1989) Understanding Popular Culture. London & New York: Routledge
Total Theatre Magazine: www.totaltheatre.org.uk
Zarrilli, Phillip (1995) Acting Re- Considered. London & New York: Routledge. .
Learning Resources
Students have access to a fully equipped aerial, acrobatic and performance studios. Experienced teaching staff with specialist knowledge. Specialist library resources at Circomedia.
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Code PA6903-20
Title Creativity and Devising 3
Subject area Music and Performing Arts
Pathway n/a
Level 6
Credits 20
ECTS 10
Contact time 66 hours
Acceptable for BA (Hons) Contemporary Circus with Physical Performance
Excluded combinations n/a
Core/Optional Core
Module Co-ordinator Jonathan Priest
Description & Aims
This module introduces students to practice-as-research in circus performance. This module aims to:
Provide the opportunity to experiment with approaches to performance creation
Engender a deep, personal understanding of devising and creative praxis
Broaden knowledge and understanding of performance practitioner working methods
Outline Syllabus & Teaching & Learning Methods
Utilising a methodology of Practice-as-research, this module provides the opportunity for students to explore their own creative voice in performance through a process of research and development over the whole year. Students are exposed to a variety of different approaches to creating performance work. They are encouraged to discover and develop their own methods of performance practice and creation. The module allows for the creation of a solid foundation of performance material to develop for the Final Major Project. Students are taught through one-to-one workshops with core teachers and group classes with knowledgeable and experienced practitioners. Students create work in a laboratory setting with this variety of approaches to performance-making. Students are encouraged and empowered to find their creative voices and reflect upon their own practice. The emphasis will be on experimentation and work-in-progress rather than finished and polished work. In class feedback on performance experiments will supply continuous formative assessment from both tutors and peers. Students are summatively assessed on their engagement with the exploratory process and their documentation of this as practice-as-research.
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Intended Learning Outcomes How Assessed
On successful completion of this module, you will be able to:
Show knowledge of a wide range of approaches to making performance and the practitioners who pioneer and utilise them
Apply a methodology of practice-as-research
Show the ability to work with uncertainty and experimentation to challenge yourself creatively
Performance Lab work and
documentation
Assessment Scheme Weighting %
FORMATIVE
Feedback on performance experiments SUMMATIVE
Performance lab work and documentation
100%
Assessment Criteria
Depth of research process
Thoroughness of documentation
Breadth of creative practice experimentation
Reading Lists/Key Texts & Websites
Agiss, Liz, Cowie, Billy and Bramley, Ian Ed.s (2006) Anarchic Dance London & New York: Routledge
Burt, Ramsay (2004) The Male Dancer London & New York: Routledge
Claid, Emilyn (2006) Yes? No! Maybe London & New York: Routledge
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1975) Beyond Boredom and Anxiety. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers
Fiske, John (1989) Reading The Popular. London: Unwin Hyman
Goulish, Mathew (2002) 39 Microlectures London & New York: Routledge
McKenzie, Jon (2001) Perform Or Else. London & New York: Routledge
Nelson, R. (2013) Practice as Research in the Arts: Principles, protocols, pedagogies, resistances Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
North, Marion (1972) Personality Assessment Through Movement London, MacDonald & Evans.
Peacock, Louise ( 2009) Serious Play Bristol & Chicago: Intellect Books
Oddey, Allison (1994) Devising Theatre London & New York: Routledge
Smith, Hazel & Roger T Dean (2009) Practice-led Research, Research-led Practice in the Creative Arts Edinburgh University Press.
Tufnell, Miranda (1990) Body Space Image Bodmin, Cornwall: Hartnolls
Learning Resources
Students have access to a fully equipped aerial, acrobatic and performance studios. Experienced teaching staff with specialist knowledge. Conditioning room and equipment, specialist teaching staff, access0 to fully qualified physiotherapist with experience of injury specific to circus performers and specialist library resources at Circomedia.
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Code PA6904-40
Title Final Major Project
Subject area Music and Performing Arts
Pathway n/a
Level 6
Credits 40
ECTS 20
Contact time 200 hours
Acceptable for BA (Hons) Contemporary Circus with Physical Performance
Excluded combinations n/a
Core/Optional Core
Module Co-ordinator Lex Rooney
Description & Aims
This module provides the opportunity to create a major piece of performance work, and communicate approaches to this work and its context both orally and visually. This module aims to:
Integrate all the prior learning into one professional performance project
Synthesise context, skills and creativity
Engender confidence in discussion of students’ own work
Outline Syllabus & Teaching & Learning Methods
This module aims to synthesise the learning experienced throughout the degree into one highly professional final performance that is documented and critically commented upon to show advanced development in performance making and criticality. This module is self-directed in collaboration with a personal tutor. Through studio practice, reflective journaling and contextual studies students create a major performance piece for public presentation. Students are also required to record and reflect upon their process and to discuss and articulate the thinking behind their performance piece. Students work in partnership with tutors to formatively assess work during the development process. Summative assessment is on the final performance piece, accompanying critical documentation and a viva voce where students formally discuss the work with a panel of tutors.
Intended Learning Outcomes How assessed
On successful completion of this module, you will be able to:
1. Demonstrate advanced ability to analyse your work critically, in relation to relevant artistic and sociocultural contexts.
2. Sustain an investigative, interrogative creative development process
3. Produce a highly skilled, creative and well-informed piece of performance work.
Written/viva Written/viva Practical Practical
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Assesment Scheme Weighting %
FORMATIVE
Work-in-progress showings with tutorial feedback SUMMATIVE
Performance piece (20 minutes)
Viva Voce – oral Examination (20 minutes)
Written Evaluation – 1000 words.
50% 35% 15%
Assessment Criteria
Performance:
Realisation of concept.
Effectiveness of integration of skills & techniques into a theatrical
performance.
Clarity of physical communication of creative ideas.
Creativeness of the production
Creative Documentation/Viva:
Effectiveness of application of research process
Depth of critical analysis
Clarity of written, oral, or visual communication
Reading Lists/Key Texts & Websites
You will devise your own reading and resource list in collaboration with you tutor that is wholly relevant to your project.
Harradine, D & Behrndt, S. (2011) Invisible Things: Documents from a Devising Process London, Feverend Sleep/University of Winchester.
Moon, Jennifer A. 2004. Learning Journals, A Handbook of reflective Practice. Abingdon & New York: Routledge Falmer
Progoff, Ira. 1975. At a Journal workshop. New York: Penguin Putnam Inc.
Learning Resources
Access to fully equipped aerial, acrobatic and rehearsal studios with year-round support from specialist tutors in these areas.
Students are allocated a project tutor with whom they will meet for weekly tutorial support throughout the duration of the devising process.
Training, advice and support from specialists in the technical aspects of performance, including rigging, lighting, sound -operation and editing and use of video recording equipment.
Classroom sessions in essay writing.
IT Facilities for online research and preparation of written assignments
Access to Circomedia & BSU libraries for research and reference
Go to Contents
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Find out more about
The kinds of assessment activity involved on the course
Degree classifications
How the assessment criteria for the programme work
How the assessment criteria for you programme help you learn
How we grade your work This section provides an overview of assessment on the course. As ever, the more you engage with the course, the more detail you will receive, so for each assessment activity you do, you will receive an assignment brief that details exactly what you need to do. All of this information is on the relevant section of Minerva and your tutors will direct you towards this and go through the briefs with you. Here we explain how assessment works in general. Assessment is something about which students constantly ask questions, this section will answer many of these questions, so you really need to read it in detail. Go to Contents
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C
Assessment is how your tutors measure your learning: your final degree result reflects those judgements. This process is therefore very important and one that tutors consider very carefully to ensure fairness and accuracy. For more information about how the university manages assessment see here. The section on How to Read a Module Outline, explains how assessment fits into your learning process. Here we explain the assessment tasks themselves. This Handbook tells you much of what you need to know in general about assessments but you will also receive individual module handbooks at the beginning of each module with specific detailed information e.g. weekly schedules, reading/listening lists, essay questions and topics, and specific assessment criteria for each assignment. All your work, whether essays, performances, rehearsals or portfolios of tasks, is marked by your class tutor and moderated / second marked by another academic tutor. Student work and grades are also regularly moderated by the external examiner. Due dates for assignments, presentations and performances are strictly adhered to. Each module has its own specific assessment tasks designed to examine your learning specific to that module. These increase their level of challenge, mirroring the development of the programme. The tasks correspond with the course’s strands of study as shown:
Module Assessment Type of assessment Percentage of Module
Context 3 Showcase Piece Performance 70%
Reflection PDP 30%
Performance Portfolio
Performance Portfolio
Performance 100%
Creativity and Devising 3
Performance lab work and documentation
Practice as research 100%
Final Major Project
Performance Piece Performance 50%
Viva Voce Presentation 35%
Written Evaluation Essay 15%
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All these assessment tasks comprise of a series of activities, which collectively require you to:
Reflect on one activity before completing the next
Synthesise your learning This process of reflection and synthesis is the key to the way you progress developmentally throughout each module, and therefore the whole course. In simple terms, the more you reflect on what you do in one assessment activity, and then build on that for the next one, the more you will develop. With this in mind, the staff set a combination of the activities within each assessment task to measure your learning accurately, but also to encourage your process of reflection and synthesis. The assessment tasks and order of assessment activities within them encourage you to engage in the necessary reflection. You must therefore keep some kind of journal. You will receive more guidance on this in class.
Assess your ability to do the job of a performer of contemporary circus and/or theatre
Assesses how you utilise all the elements of your training to underpin your performance work
The activities in this task are incremental: they move from presenting in class, through workshop presentations to public performances and performances in ‘real-world’ professional contexts
Assess your ability to self-evaluate, analyse, identify strengths and weaknesses and plan strategies to focus your development
In year 1 the activities are built around journaling and reflection.
These ask you to consider how you learn and how you can improve your ability to learn
In year 2, the activity is a professional dossier that focuses on the tools and planning for a professional career.
In year 3 the focus is on personal development planning as an artist through the methodology of practice-as-research
PDP type assessments draw on the contents of your journaling in whatever
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form that takes
The PDP reflects university and QAA guidelines These types of assessment:
Assess your academic development through various written pieces
Culminates in an extended practice-as-research essay in year 3 that combines documentary evidence and critical commentary
Develop the academic skills you require to produce your personal development planning assessment activities
Develops the knowledge and cognitive skills you require to underpin your studies
These types of assessment:
In year 1 test your knowledge, understanding and learning of an area of performance research
In year 2 tests your ability to critically discuss, with your peers, the process of ensemble devising
In year 3 the VIVA VOCE presentation requires you to show the synthesis of your knowledge and understanding gained on the course with reference to your final major piece of performance work, its inspiration, process and product.
These types of assessment:
In year 1 demonstrate your ability to keep a personal record of your progress in the areas of conditioning, technique and creativity to support your Personal development planning tasks
In year 2 show your understanding of the different stylistic forms you are exposed to and how you have applied them to your performance work
In year 3 you will show the practical application of film documentation of your work as you edit it into a showreel
Also in year 3 you synthesise PDP, documentation, performance and Essay into the methodology of practice-as-research
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This is an advanced type of assessment activity that appears in year 3
This tests your ability to consciously capture your learning and development and apply this learning to the next task whether that is the next performance making task or the next task within the devising process for a particular performance.
This is a research methodology that allows you to synthesis your critical, artistic and reflective abilities that you have gained through your course of study.
There are no examinations on this course, but performances and presentations serve the same function. They require you to demonstrate your knowledge and skills in a ‘pressurised’ environment. While tutors consider your work throughout the rehearsal process, this counts for nothing if in the moment of performance you forget everything you have discovered and developed. Performance activities therefore simulate professional practice. The assessment activities require you to bring together all the various skills, processes and ideas you have studied. This is a professional training: you have to be able to meet professional demands and the course will develop your ability to do so. The assessment tasks described above are summative assessments, meaning the grades you receive contribute to your final award: the grades are a judgment about your learning; they are not a judgment about you. In designing the course, tutors have scheduled the moments of summative assessment to avoid over-burdening you and to allow you to develop your practice, based on the feedback you receive. Individual module handbooks explain the timings of each activity. For each activity, tutors provide summative feedback explaining the grades they give you, but this also helps you prepare for the next activity: the feedback is therefore formative as well. Formative feedback is advice about how to improve the way you work and tutors provide this throughout your studies. Sometimes tutors give you a notional grade for any formative assignments they set, this is to prepare you for your summative assessments, these formative ‘marks’ do not contribute to your degree, but help you to prepare you for those activities that do.
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On this course – where you rehearse, present work or receive technique tuition daily – your tutors give you constant verbal feedback, suggesting different approaches, or things you need to do to improve. This is all formative feedback, which you should record in your journal, because on such an intensive course it is simply not possible for staff to record every bit of formative feedback they give to you. Staff do provide written formative feedback at key points: for example, during tutorials, following a summative assessment activity. If the staff set a formative assignment they will give you feedback in the format they will use for the summative activity – regard this as a ‘dry run’ or like a ‘mock exam.’ The University has a policy of marking all student work anonymously, unless the nature of the work makes this impossible. As mentioned when discussing learning outcomes, if you demonstrate you have attained the outcomes at a basic level then you pass. But the more you demonstrate you have surpassed that threshold, the more your tutors will reflect this in the grades they award you. We therefore ‘classify’ your degree by using different letters or classifications. The following table indicates the grading bands for your degree and the corresponding classifications.
BA DEGREE CLASSIFICATIONS
% GRADE LETTER CLASSIFICATION
69.5 -100% A 1st – First
60-69.49% B 2:1 – Upper Second
50-59.49% C 2:2 – Lower Second
40-49.49% D 3rd – Third
0-39% F F – Fail
All assignments must be submitted by the due date. Failure to meet the deadline could result in you receiving a maximum mark of 40%. Published deadlines are just that. They refer equally to submissions of written coursework, presentations, tutor/student demonstration of work and performances. If you do not meet this deadline your work is late. Work submitted within one week of published deadlines is marked, but the grade is
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capped at 40%. Staff will not receive work beyond this period. Staff may grant extensions of up to one week to students who can demonstrate a need based on disability, illness, bereavement or other serious and documented situations that prevent submission. This does not usually include what are considered ‘normal life challenges’ to which we are all subject for much of the time. This should be made to the tutors who deliver the module(s), even though the Programme Co-ordinator may be aware of an issue. This must be sought in advance of the submission deadline and confirmed by email to support any later claim. We will always be as responsive as possible where there are mitigating circumstances to consider alongside assessment or non-submission, for example illness or bereavement. For all courses validated by BSU, if you wish to have mitigating circumstances considered you must apply direct to the Director of Student Services and Registrar, Mr Christopher Ellicott. He must be informed in writing, and third party evidence (e.g. medical certificate) produced. Your teaching staff play no part in the process of determining if you are granted mitigating circumstances. Circomedia staff are not involved in this adjudication process, but if you apply for mitigating circumstances, we advise you to ensure that you inform Carly Darnel ([email protected]) to ensure that the process is mapped between Circomedia and the University.
Assessment tasks presume you work steadily at improving your practical skills and that you work closely and consistently with your group. Poor attendance therefore has a direct impact on several areas of assessment as follows.
HEALTH AND SAFETY – Missing practical classes raises health and safety issues, both in terms of your personal practice and your work with others. If you do not attend enough classes in preparation for an assessment activity,
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staff must consider if you can perform the activities safely. They reserve the right to withdraw you from an assessment task because you fail to meet that basic requirement.
PROFESSIONALISM – Some tasks assess your understanding of, and responsiveness to, professional etiquette. For example, performers often perform 8 times a week: they cannot be absent or late. If anybody is late on a film set, it costs tens of thousands of pounds for every minute wasted. The industry demands good timekeeping and reliability. Some tasks assess how reliable you are. Again, if you fail to meet such professional standards (for example in a production module) the director/choreographer will re-cast you or the production manager replace will you.
COLLABORATIVE WORKING – Some tasks assess the way you work with others. If you are working on a group project, your poor attendance prevents others from working effectively. This not only means you fail to fulfil the assessment criteria, but if your failure has a negative impact on the others in your team, staff reserve the right to withdraw you from an assessment task to ensure your colleagues’ assessment is not jeopardised.
The following table explains how attendance and professional discipline issues influence assessment. It matches professional practice against the required academic practice and identifies the action staff will take if you fail to achieve the required standards.
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WITHDRAWAL FROM ASSESSMENT
ISSUE PROFESSIONAL EXPECTATION
ACADEMIC EQUIVALENT
ACTION TAKEN
LATENESS
The industry expectation is that you will arrive 30 minutes before rehearsals begin to allow time for personal preparation
If you arrive after the tutor calls the register for class, you are late.
The tutor will mark this as an unauthorised absence
INSUFFICIENT ATTENDANCE
or
FAILURE TO MEET
PRODUCTION TARGETS
Whether absence is authorised or not, employers reserve the right to remove you from a project if they believe your absence is having a detrimental effect on the production and/or cast morale. Similarly, if you fail to learn lines/routines, endanger others or fail to behave responsibly, producers will re-cast you or remove you from the project.
If you are absent 3 times from a group project – whether the absence is authorised or not. **
The tutor will withdraw you from the relevant group or modular assessment activities. This will lead to a mark of zero for those activities. Should you successfully apply for mitigating circumstances, you can re-take the activities and receive the full mark. If you have not made an application for mitigating circumstances or if your application is unsuccessful, you will have the chance to re-sit the activity. However, if you pass at this attempt, your overall module grade will be capped at 40%.
If your absence in any
aspect of a module of
study (for example
technical classes or
production rehearsals)
falls below a level where
your practice is no
longer safe or reliable.
** You will receive a warning after 2 absences (be these lateness or non-attendance) Go to Contents
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Your work will be marked according to clearly published assessment criteria specific to each assignment brief. In addition to these there is a general framework of criteria that help describe the grading of submissions across your programme. You should note that this is intended to describe the range of criteria that are assessed rather than to suggest a way of ‘assessing by numbers’. As training as a creative performer is necessarily a holistic experience, rather than one that can be easily compartmentalised, a lot of the work you do across all your classes will necessarily blur these distinctions. Go to Contents
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Grading criteria explian how lecturers quantify your achievement. In marking an assessment activity, staff look at the work you produce and the assessment criteria against which they judge the quality of that work. So if you submit an essay and one of the criteria is the clarity of your writing, then the staff use the grading criteria to detemrine how clear your writing is. In simple terms assessment criteria define the quality the work should demonstrate, the grading criteria define how your tutors quantify that quality.
FIRST CLASS CATEGORY – 1st
90% +
THE WORK WILL DEMONSTRATE
An exceptionally high level of application and self-management
Outstanding analysis/interpretation and command of subject/skills
Performance or presentation hallmarked by outstanding research and professionalism
96 - 100 Exemplary professional work with immaculate presentation and independent preparation of relevant materials with accurate realisation 93 - 95 Professional work, virtually flawless with outstanding presentation 90 - 92 Professional work, free from errors with outstanding presentation
80% +
THE WORK WILL DEMONSTRATE
An excellent level of application and self-management
Excellent analysis and command of subject
Performance or presentation hallmarked by excellent research, and professionalism
86 - 89 Excellent professional work and free from errors in almost all respects 83 - 85 Excellent professional work and virtually free from errors with excellent presentation 80 - 82 Excellent professional work and free from errors in most respects.
70% +
THE WORK WILL DEMONSTRATE
A very good level of application and self-management
Very good analysis and command of subject
Performance or presentation hallmarked by very good research, and professionalism
76 - 79 Professional work with excellent presentation 73 - 75 Very strong work of professional standard with excellent presentation 70 - 72 Very strong work up to professional standard with excellent presentation
UPPER SECOND CLASS CATEGORY – 2:1
60% +
THE WORK WILL DEMONSTRATE
A good level of application and self-management
Good analysis and grasp of subject
Performance or presentation hallmarked by focussed research and professionalism professional
66 - 69 Strong submission with very good overall presentation in all aspects 63 - 65 Strong submission and good or very good presentation 60 - 62 Strong submission with good presentation
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LOWER SECOND CLASS CATEGORY – 2:2
50% +
THE WORK WILL DEMONSTRATE
A competent level of application and self-management
Convincing analysis and grasp of subject
Performance or presentation demonstrating competent research and professionalism
56 - 59 A competent submission with good presentation 53 - 55 A competent submission 50 - 52 A competent submission with some errors, though not enough to damage the overall effect
THIRD CLASS CATEGORY – 3rd
40% +
THE WORK WILL DEMONSTRATE
An acceptable level of application and self-management
Acceptable analysis and grasp of subject
Performance or presentation demonstrating minimal research and professionalism
46 - 49 An adequate submission of appropriate material 43 - 45 An acceptable submission 40 - 42 Acceptable work which, though lacklustre, contains no serious weaknesses
FAIL CATEGORY
30% +
THE WORK WILL DEMONSTRATE
Weak application and self-management
Poor analysis and understanding of subject
Performance or presentation demonstrating unconvincing research, referencing and citation or professionalism
36 - 39 Errors may detract from the argument/discussion or poor/inappropriate material may form the bulk of the presented work 33 - 35 Weak and faulted submission or unconvincing presentation 30 - 32 Barely acceptable submission due to errors and under prepared presentation
FAIL CATEGORY
20% +
THE WORK WILL DEMONSTRATE
Assignment barely completed
Inadequate analysis and understanding
Performance or presentation demonstrating minimal research, and professionalism
Material inappropriate, irrelevant or incorrect
26 - 29 Poor or irrelevant presentation with little evidence of understanding what was required 23 - 25 Badly prepared or completed work with minimal evidence of comprehension of set task 20 - 22 Inappropriate or incoherent submission, little understanding of set task
10% +
THE WORK WILL DEMONSTRATE
Uncompleted assignment
Weak all round with few positive elements
Minimal evidence of preparation
Inappropriate material
16 - 19 Little evidence of preparation and commitment to project with inappropriate work 13 - 15 Unconvincing commitment to project with inappropriate materials and submissions 10 - 12 Some preparation but minimal engagement and effort to submit work
1% +
THE WORK WILL DEMONSTRATE
Uncompleted assignment
No positive elements
Serious deficiencies and weak all round
6 - 9 Some engagement but no work submitted 3 - 5 No attempt to submit work 0 - 2 No attempt to tackle or submit work
50
No evidence of preparation
0% Failure to submit work
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Find out more about
The Attendance Policy
Referencing
Plagiarism
Mitigating Circumstances To treat everybody on the course fairly and equally there have to be rules and regulations. Some of these are University-wide and others are specific to this course. Our aim is not to be difficult, but to ensure your training prepares you for the realities of the professional environment. This section introduces you to the key policies and regulations that govern your time here at university. Some of them you will need to know intimately, others you will only need to refer to from time to time. In such a large institution there are many policies and procedures, all of which you will find online here, but the ones here are the critical ones that you really must know like the back of your hand. Go to Contents
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Bath Spa University regulations on attendance state:
Students will be regarded as in attendance at the University whether they are present within the University buildings or engaged elsewhere on some legitimate activity pursuant to the programme (e.g. attending a field course), always provided that they maintain regular academic contact with tutors and adhere satisfactorily to the programme for which they are registered.
We do not assess your attendance, but because all DoPA courses involve some practical element, poor attendance will have a negative impact on your grades.
If you are not in class, you will not learn! Students who fail to attend class soon fall behind in their studies. Unlike other subjects, you cannot cram or revise physical training. Once you fall behind in a practical subject, it is impossible to catch up. The University term times are listed in this handbook. It is your responsibility to make sure you record these accurately and do not arrange any holiday leave during published term times or reading weeks. Staff will record any such absence as unauthorised, and the penalty for unauthorised or unreported absence will apply. We strongly advise you to make sure your family and friends know these dates too, so that they don’t book any surprise trips during term times. In our experience some family and friends with the best of intentions will book birthday or Christmas treats for you, but not check your term dates first. We don’t want to spoil anybody’s fun (especially a surprise trip), but ends of terms are usually major assessment points, which you have to attend. Go to Contents
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To read Bath Spa University’s Academic Regulations click here Bath Spa University has adopted two alternative house styles: these are Harvard and Numeric. The Department of Performing Arts has adopted the Harvard (or ‘Author-date’ system) as its house style so all written work should conform to this. You must use the following format that is accepted in academic writing and publishing. Further details of the Harvard system are available here. You must present your own words, your own analysis and your own argument. It is acceptable to use the work of others to support arguments and analysis, and tutors will inform you as to what constitutes good practice and give you help with areas such as referencing and the provision of footnotes. If you are in any doubt about what constitutes good practice rather than plagiarism, consult your tutors for advice. Plagiarism (presenting the ideas or words of others as if they were your own) is a serious academic offence; if your tutors suspect this, they will report it to the Unfair Practice Subcommittee.
Plagiarism could cost you your degree. Remember you need to acknowledge the source of your ideas and information as well as direct quotations. If in doubt, always include a reference. This applies whether you are quoting directly or not.
The use of someone else’s ideas, unless referenced, is plagiarism. Look at how authors reference their books and articles. Ask if you are unsure - especially if lecturers have noted inadequate referencing in your coursework. Be particularly careful about your use of the internet. You must reference material from the internet and it is very easy for lecturers to detect its usage. Do not attempt to get away with plagiarising and remember that academic staff read widely and are familiar with stylistic variations. You will not be penalised for copious referencing, though this should be relevant to your topic and you should use it to justify your argument rather than simply to add to your word count. Remember that plagiarism is an offence wherever it occurs in written assignment, course notes or actor’s
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logbooks. Mitigating circumstances is the method through which you can formally tell the University that you are experiencing problems outside of your control that are affecting your studies. Mitigating circumstances are unforeseen, unpreventable circumstances such as an illness affecting you, a serious illness affecting a close family member, unanticipated or unavoidable events or bereavement that significantly disrupts your academic performance. To verify mitigating circumstances, you must provide independent documentary evidence, such as medical certificates or supporting letters from your GP. Sections 6.10 to 6.12 of the Undergraduate Modular Scheme: Guide for Students explain how to report mitigating circumstances, how cases are considered and what action might be taken should your circumstances be accepted. You can download the official form for submitting a mitigating circumstances claim. If you have any questions about the mitigating circumstances process please contact Student Services at [email protected] For more information about the examination board process please read here Should you wish to appeal against an examination board decision please read here. Should you wish to make a complaint, please read here If you are student at either Weston College or Circomedia then you should follow your institution’s complaints process. Only when you complete that process should you bring a complaint to the University. Weston Student can see a copy of the College’s complain procedure in Appendix 3
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For any further information about University policies and procedures, click here. Go to Contents
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Find out more about
What quality means in an academic context
About being a student rep This section explains the University systems for maintaining the quality of the programme. The staff all take quality very seriously and spend much of their meeting time ensuring that everything is done correctly. This is to ensure that you can trust the marks you get for your work and that staff respond to your suggestions and those of people like the external examiner. Go to Contents
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The course went through several processes to assure the University that its standards were of the highest quality. Those processes are on-going, and the team and the subject leader monitor the course throughout the academic year. They will ask you to contribute to that process in several ways. This section outlines the key quality processes used to create this course and used to monitor it through each academic year. If you wish to read further, go to the Academic Office pages on the University’s website. Before the course started, the University checked that
There would be enough qualified staff to teach the course
Adequate resources were in place
The overall aims and objectives were appropriate
The content of the course met national benchmark requirements
The course met any professional/statutory body requirements
The proposal met other internal quality criteria covering a range of issues such as admissions policies, teaching, learning and assessment strategies and student support mechanisms.
The University did this by consulting academic experts, including subject specialists from other institutions – both academic and professional. The University did this by consulting academic experts, including subject specialists from other institutions – both academic and professional. These included, Mark Langley, Head of Department at Bath Spa University, our external examiner – Dr Ana Sanchez-Colberg. This course has a course committee comprising all relevant teaching staff, student representatives and others who make a contribution towards the effective operation of the course (e.g. library/technician staff). The committee has responsibilities for the quality of the course. The course committee plays a critical role in the University’s quality assurance procedures. For more information about being a student rep, see the next section.
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At Circomedia you are also represented on the FdA Performing Arts Staff/Student Liaison Committee (SSLC). You choose your representatives at the beginning of the year. These committees meet termly and it is vital that you feed ideas into ‘management’ and be a part of the running of the course. At the end of each module there is a short student evaluation form where you can make more detailed comments on individual modules. This course has an SSLC comprising all teaching staff, student representatives and others who make a contribution towards the operation of the course (e.g. library/technician staff). The committee has responsibilities for the quality of the course and plays a critical role in the College’s quality assurance procedures. An external examiner monitors the standard of this course, currently this is Dr Ana Sanchez-Colberg. External examiners have two primary responsibilities:
To ensure the standard of the course
To ensure that justice is done to individual students. The External Examiner verifies grades, ensures they are consistent, meets students and sees your work.
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As the diagram above explains, each year, the University monitors the quality of this course by evaluating a range of information that we use to develop the course for the next year:
External examiner reports (considering quality and standards)
Statistical information (considering issues such as the pass rate)
Student feedback (module evaluation questionnaires)
Reports generated by the Course Committee and the Steering Committee. Drawing on this and other information, the course team undertake annual monitoring and the University's Quality and Standards Committee monitors this process. Once, every six years, a panel (including at least two external subject specialists) undertakes an in-depth review of the whole area. The panel considers documents, looks at student work, speaks to current and former students and speaks to staff before drawing its conclusions. The result is a report highlighting good practice and identifying areas for action.
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The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) upholds quality and standards in UK universities and colleges. It guides and checks the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in UK higher education, because it wants every student to have the best possible learning experience. QAA reviews all higher education provision on a regular basis to assure the government and its funding body that every higher education institution meets those standards. QAA often recruits students to be a part of its review teams, and if you wish to be involved in that process then you can read more here. The course uses the following methods for gaining student feedback:
Module evaluations
Student Representatives attending course level and departmental meetings
Personal Tutor
Module Leaders
Nation Student Survey results When we take action based on something you have said, we will notify through:
Your Student Representatives
Meetings with Staff
Notice boards on Minerva
Facebook pages We also seek the views of other interested parties, which include:
Feedback from former students
Academic advisors
Employers and industry specialists Go to Contents
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Part of the way the course team listens to students is through the student rep system. As a group, you elect a student to represent you at all course committees and other meetings. We expect there to be between 2 or 3 reps in each year, and usually we hope you will elect at least one male and one female student. However we leave the choice to you. Student reps need to be communicators, people who will listen to your views as a group and be willing to talk to key staff to make sure they know what the students think as a body (be it bad, or indeed good – we hope we get things right more often than not). Likewise, the staff might ask you to talk to students about certain issues, dates, or ask you to gather information. On a more formal basis each term, student reps attend a department staff and student meeting (see below) and usually one or more meetings with the subject leader. The role of the committees is so that if things require a resolution, you can formally raise these and through the committee process track their successful completion. You will also have the opportunity talk to other reps on other courses and in other years. Further to this, there are School Student Rep meetings where music and DoPA reps meet with the Dean of School. All of these processes are there to ensure that if you raise an issue it is dealt with at the right level, but also to assure you that every issue you raise is followed through.
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Go to Contents
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Find out more about
How to raise issues about your course
Your personal tutor
Student support
The professional focus of the course
The kinds of careers you might consider This section highlights some of the many services or additional aspects of the department that exist to enhance your studies, but also to help you if you are struggling, need help, counselling or advice. Go to Contents
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Three years of intense study are not easy and you will struggle more than once. You are only human. Your tutors know this, and although they will push you, make demands of you and not let you take the easy options, they are there to support you, to encourage you, to help you when things go wrong and to congratulate you when you get things right. Given the nature of the course, you will have constant contact with many of the staff. They will clarify any issues or questions you may have about the course. Many of the staff are permanent full-time members of the team, while some are part-time specialists. Because they work in other institutions or on other courses, they might not always be able to respond instantly, so we do ask you to be patient. However, if matters require urgent attention, another member of staff will help you to deal with things in the short-term. Bim Mason is the Course Director for the course, but different members of staff coordinate the individual modules. Likewise, different members of staff support the module coordinators in the delivery of each module (see the relevant module handbook). If you have any issues about the delivery of the course then you should: It is vital you follow this sequence, because staff need to follow it to ensure they resolve your issue. If you jump a stage, tutors will ask you to complete that stage first. However, if your issue is an emergency, then any member of staff will help you to find a short-term solution and then get the sequence ‘back on track.’ Other members of staff lead individual modules – these are the module co-ordinators, whose names appear in the module outlines. In turn, different members of staff support the module co-ordinators in the delivery of each module (see the relevant module handbook).
1st Speak to the tutor delivering the class where the issue arises – s/he
is the person most likely to be able to help
2nd If this does not resolve the matter, speak to the module
coordinator – s/he will try to find a solution
3rd If this does not resolve the matter, speak to the Course Director
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Undergraduate students meet their Personal Tutor during the induction week. This member of the academic staff is there to ensure you receive adequate academic guidance and pastoral care. If you have an issue not related to the delivery of your course then your Personal Tutor is your first port of call. If they are not available as our staff are mostly part-time then Carly Darnell, the student administration manager is available for pastoral meetings between 1-2pm daily. You can book an appointment by emailing her at [email protected] or you can use the sign-up board outside the meeting room. Personal Tutors and the Courses Manager encounter a wide range of issues, including problems with study skills, anxiety about finances, the need for guidance on progress and achievement, advice on changing courses, career issues and personal issues that impact on learning. Sometimes this support will take the form of direct personal advice; but in some instances, arrangements will be made for you to access appropriate help from Student Support. You will have progress focused tutorials with your personal tutor every half term.
Similarly, tutors might want to contact you and it is therefore essential that you check your Bath Spa University email account throughout the day. You will receive your email address when you enrol. Again, if there is an emergency, any member of staff will help you in the short term until you can talk to your personal tutor. The diagram below explains the support system.
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Student Services is based in the Main House and provides a wide range of services covering student applications and admissions through to students’ on-course administration. They co-ordinate the timetabling of courses and booking of teaching rooms and provide advice and guidance on a wide range of welfare matters including money matters as well as providing disability support. Student Support Services offer help and advice you on many issues, including health and well-being, as well as any disability needs. Both Student Support Services and your Personal Tutor act in total confidence, but if you feel you would rather go directly to Student Support Services and not talk to your Personal Tutor, please do so, safe in the knowledge that none of your tutors will know about the issue.
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Student housing services are here to support you with your accommodation needs and to help to provide you with housing options. Find out all the information you need about grants, loans, bursaries and any other financial matters here. The Writing and Learning Centre is a service for the whole Bath Spa University community. It aims to improve student learning, enhance the student experience, and help you reach your potential during your degree. No matter how old you are, what kind of grades you're getting, what you're studying, or what your background is, it can help. For more information read here. Students with dyslexia or other specific learning needs are welcome to use our services, but should also contact Student Support on [email protected]
The Students' Union is run by the students, for the students - you automatically become a member for free. Should you wish not to be a member, you can opt-out as part of the annual registration process and you can still use all the facilities, services and activities including joining clubs and societies, but you will not be able to take part in the democratic processes of the Union. Find out more about the Student Union here. Go to Contents
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A portfolio career is one where you work on many different projects to create a full and varied freelance career. You will always draw on your skills as a circus performer, but use them in different ways to reach different audiences. Performers are great communicators, they work well with people, they think ‘outside the box’ and you can use all of these skills, not just to perform, but in many other ways too. Course graduates therefore take various career routes. Many become performers, theatre practitioners, street artists or teachers and establish practice in places like London, Edinburgh and the South West, especially Bristol. Some graduates move on to further academic study. Other graduates enter teaching; others work in the arts as promoters, arts officers or administrators. Above all, most graduates recognise that as a freelance practitioner they work in all of these areas and many others too. This is a portfolio career and throughout your studies, tutors will constantly remind you of the need to think of your training as an opportunity to develop a toolkit of skills and knowledge that you can use in many different ways. Circomedia students also produce work for festivals such as Glastonbury or the Bath Fringe Festival, not only as staged performances but also as circle shows and walkabouts. Site-specific work will also be devised and performed in situ. Due to the vocational nature of the curriculum, other collaborations or placement projects may be assessed off-campus at appropriate venues or locations. Bath Spa Careers offers free information, advice and guidance designed to help you acquire essential personal and professional skills whilst at university and equip you with the tools for lifelong career management. We can help you develop your career in the following ways: Helping you find a wide range of part-time jobs in the local area and on
campus via the Bath Spa Job Shop Offering 1:1 careers advice on everything from module choice and skills
development to choosing a career Access to our services in person, on the phone, via email, skype or live chat A comprehensive careers workshop programme covering spicing up your
graduate CV, interview skills, business start-up, and opportunities abroad Helping you to network with employers through our mentoring programme
and industry insights events Inviting employers to our campuses to promote their opportunities to you
direct Access to the careers resource library (LY G03, Newton Park Library) and our
wide range of online resources Work placements tailored to your needs Signposting you to advertised graduate level opportunities and keeping you
up-to-date with trends in the job market
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Advising on further study, including guidance on personal statements Contact us by email: Ask a Question on CareerHub or by telephone on 01225 875525 Many students wish to further their studies on a BA (HONS) top-up course either at Bath Spa University or at Circomedia, or another suitable course at a university of their choice. The introduction of the BA (HONS) Top-up at Circomedia (validated by Bath Spa University) is designed to respond to demand. The course widens the opportunities for continuity and progression for current students and builds on a well-established partnership with BSU. Go to Contents
