Teaching Diplomas: Evidence of Pedagogy
The teaching diplomas, DipLCM through FLCM, assess whether you can teach rather than whether you can play. Typical evidence is a portfolio of teaching materials and lesson plans, video of real lessons, a written assignment on pedagogy, and a viva with the examiner. The candidate is judged on diagnosis, planning and reflection.
What is being marked
- Diagnosis: hearing a problem and naming its cause - tension, weak pulse, misread rhythm, poor posture.
- Progression: a lesson plan that produces measurable change by the end of the lesson.
- Communication: language pitched to the pupil’s age, demonstration, questioning rather than telling.
- Professional practice: safe studio set-up, safeguarding awareness, realistic expectations, record keeping.
- Reflection: what you would do differently and why.
Worked example
A video shows a Grade 3 pupil stumbling over a dotted rhythm. The candidate claps it, the pupil copies, and the passage improves. Reasoning: the modelling is good, but the reflection must note that the pupil still cannot count the rhythm independently, so the next lesson isolates it inside a different piece - otherwise the fix is context-bound and will not transfer.
Traps
Staging a polished lesson with a pupil who never errs, when examiners want to see diagnosis; essays summarising famous method books without applying them to a named pupil; no differentiation between abilities; ignoring safeguarding and studio-policy questions in the viva.