[Tango-L] Criteria for choosing teachers

[Tom Stermitz]

Political issues sometimes makes it hard for a community organization to make subjective judgements.

One objective criterion is the degree of professionalism offered by the teacher:

(1) Do they have regular, on-going, group classes? How many?
(2) Do they have a website, email, phone number?
(3) Do they have liability insurance (like a yoga teacher would!)?
(4) Do they have an actual resume and curriculum on file with the club?
(5) How many years have they been teaching?

One way to get past the political issues, is to have two tiers of teachers. You can list all the self-declared teachers who meet the minimum of being a member of the organization. 

But, only highlight as "Professional Teachers" those who meet a higher standard of professionalism according to objective criteria like those listed above. Maybe the enhanced listing on your website gets a picture, a link to their website, and the days & times of their classes. You can list the "Other Teachers" with less information. If one of the less-professional teachers upgrades their profile, then let them move to the highlighted tier.

I think the most important measure is whether the teacher offers ongoing classes. When a newcomer comes into the community, you want to refer them to teachers who can deliver a year of training. 

(Ballroom tango is not Argentine tango; that is not a hard boundary to enforce.)


On Jan 10, 2013, at 1:44 PM, Lois Donnay wrote:

> What do you think should be the criteria of the local tango club for the
> instructors that it chooses for their Argentine Tango instructor list?  The
> club wants to be fair, but is also aware that everyone who teaches
> Argentine Tango is not necessarily qualified to do so (If you ask any
> Arthur Murray franchise if they teach A. Tango, they will say yes despite
> having no knowledge of it.)
> 
> Lois
> Minneapolis

Tom Stermitz
c: 303-725-5963
http://www.tango.org
Denver, CO 80207