Moving on!

Well today I thought I would sit down and spend a couple of hours reading through the Handbook for Module 3 and reader 7 to give me some sort of insight into what we are expected to produce and the timescales to work at. However, although I am able to read through, until I get the feedback from my module 2 submissions, I cannot start the work required for Module 3, so instead I am going to continue trying to find the most relevant pieces of literature for my inquiry. Onwards and upwards!!

Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

My initial  thoughts on Module 2 were not very positive. I read the Handbook and read through the first reader and was stumped. I had to take a step back and think about a set of questions that were relevant to my practice. I started looking at other people's Blogs and commenting on their questions (Appendix 1). We also started a Facebook group for all the Module 2 students to chat with each other and talk about any issues, which was a nice tool just for a little moral support! (Appendix 2).

Once I had taken some time to think about an inquiry that would be of some benefit to my professional development, I came up with some initial questions which I posted on my Blog to see what people thought of them (Appendix 3). I was quite pleased with the comments that were posted in response to my initial questions as it made me realise that this could be quite a relevant line of inquiry to all dance teachers regardless of which sector they worked in. However they were quite broad and I had think about how to direct the questions so that I was able to come to a final question for my inquiry.

I created a SIG on Facebook which was a closed group to which I invited friends who are dance teachers of all different ages and also based in different countries to  post some responses to some questions  to see what sort of response I would get. (Appendix 4). Unfortunately, this did not produce much response from anyone, so I thought that I would look at a different line of inquiry (Appendix 5), but after some consideration, I felt that I was probably thinking of changing direction to make it easier for me as there are many inquiries about boys in dance as well as pieces of literature. Having researched into literature relative to my topic I have found several articles relating to females and ageing in the workplace as well as ageing dancers(Appendix 6) My feelings were that my initial inquiry was more relevant to my and my development. My approach to task 6a  was to conduct in informal trial by conducting a survey through www.surveymonkey.com which would require straight forward answers. (Appendix 7). This did produce some responses and although my choice of answers was quite limited, the respondent's answers did vary and I found some of the data quite interesting.

Once I had decided on my path of inquiry, I made the decision to think about using observations and a focus group for my research tools for the actual inquiry.(Appendix 8) Although data collection of any type involves a set of ethical considerations, observations need to be approached very carefully. I anticipate using observations overtly with the teachers taking the classes and covertly with the students that are participating in the lessons as I did not want to force any behaviour that would not naturally occur. My initial thoughts on ethical considerations were based on what I know as a teacher is the ethical way to carry out my responsibilities,(Appendix 9) however, it is evident once you start to research your ethical considerations there are many things that you have to ensure are covered in order to protect your participants and the data that you collect.

Bibliography :-

Middlesex University, Reader 4, 2013. BA(Hons) Professional Practice Module 2 Developing Lines of Professional Inquiry (Online) Link to Reader

Middlesex University, Reader 5, 2013 BA(Hons) Professional Practice Module 2 Principles of Professional Inquiry (Online)Link to Reader

Middlesex University, Reader 6, 2013. BA(Hons)Professional Practice Module 2 Principles of Professional Inquiry (Online)Link to Reader

Walton, Kym (2013), Kym Walton's Blog (online) Link to Blog

Task 6C - my award title

I have looked at the list of proposed award titles and also thought about whether or not there was a need for me to create my own title. As I am a dance teacher and my intention is to continue teaching for the foreseeable future I have chosen the title BA (Hons) Professional Practice (Dance teaching).
My inquiry for module 2 is directly linked to dance teaching and I am anticipating that once I have completed my research that I will be able to produce  a piece of work which will help teachers as they progress through their careers.

Campus session

In November I was able to attend my first campus session. I found this day useful, not just for my work but also to be able to vocalise my thoughts about my progress as well as hearing others thoughts on their progress. It was also good to meet our tutors in person as I find that it becomes easier to communicate electronically to someone you have met. The session started with us looking at words and thinking about how they related to us as individuals, to our direct contacts and then externally. It was interesting to think about these words and how relevant they were to us.
We then worked with the Module one students and talked about their and our progress and also discussed our thoughts at that stage on our Module 2 inquiries. It was interesting again to see people's immediate reactions and responses to our proposed inquiries and how relevant people thought they were to us as individuals as well as to our working community.

All in all, although it is difficult for me to attend the sessions, I am pleased that I have been able to attend one at this stage and I am hopeful that I shall be able to attend one next term for Module 3 as I think they help just to settle any doubts that you may have.

6b -Critical reflection on the four tools of inquiry

I have read through the reader and looked at the merits of all four tools of inquiry and also looked at their relativity to my inquiry.
The first method, interview, is a good way of obtaining information or data relating to someone's actual activities or their thoughts on a topic. It is interpersonal and can lead to many things being uncovered. It is possibly quite a time consuming method of collecting data but would be very useful if working in a specific environment as you can interview an individual in their workplace and record their answers. However, for my topic I do not think it is necessarily one of the best methods. I would think that on a one to one basis you may not always get an honest answer to your questions as the participant may feel uncomfortable doing so.
I used the second method for my informal trial as I was interested to see if people answered honestly if they were acting anonymously. However, what I have found, is that because it is anonymous I was not getting any answers! I have prompted my SIG to take my survey to see the response and managed to get a little more response. Was this because they felt they had nothing to say on the topic, were my questions not really effective, did the respondents not feel that the questions were not relevant? A survey could be a very useful research tool if the answers are limited or if the content of an answer is relatively succinct, but I suspect that if a person feels that they have a lot to say for an answer that they may not feel that this is the right place to put it.
The third method of a focus group is one that I feel would be useful to my inquiry. If there is a group of people in a room answering questions about my topic then I feel it will encourage people to openly discuss their feelings and their thoughts on the subject. My only concern would be if anyone felt that they did not wish to say something that may offend someone in the room? However, I think that people would speak objectively and I am hoping that if I conduct my Focus Group over Skype then that possible issue may not arise as I find that people speak more freely over Skype.
The fourth method for me is the most important tool for my inquiry as you can physically see if there is a palpable difference in the reactions and responses of the children as they are being taught by different teachers. I can see that for some inquiries it may not be the best method as you need to question people to establish their answers as they may not be any physical demonstration that would be relevant.

Therefore , in conclusion, my two methods will be observation and a focus group.

Task 5b

In the previous task, I have talked about the professional codes of conduct and the various legislations that are in place that affect my job as a teacher. Working in a private school made me wonder if the school had any policies in place that would be different to those you expect to find in a state school. I have enquired at the school about any codes of conduct or ethics that the school set out for teaching staff when they start working there. There were a few minor differences, mostly based on the fact that it is a boarding school, so the expectation of pastoral care is slightly different to the normal school situation. As part of the peripatetic team of staff, it could be quite easy to ignore this sort of ethical responsibility, but I think that dance is an emotive subject and often the students will find it easier to tell me about their issues or problems than maybe another member of staff.
There are  differing regulations regarding health and safety due to the  amount of freedom that the children are given about the school grounds outside of normal school hours. There are also rules and regulations relating to behaviour,for the older children who are allowed offsite in the evenings.

Talking is good!

Very positive group Skype call today with Adesola. Group consisted of myself, Natalie Kirk also from Module 2 and Georgie Bird who is on Module 3. Both Natalie and I were struggling with the Ethics part of Module 2 but I now have a much better understanding of what is required for this topic. I am not sure how much help we were to Georgie, but she was certainly a help to us. As I have said in the past, it sometimes helps to talk through your problems and listen to other people talk through their problems and their solutions. I recommend that anyone having any sort of doubt or if you feel that you have hit a brick wall, these chats really help! It has also helped me understand the difference between doing this preparatory work in Module 2 to eventually carry out your inquiry in Module 3.

Another one tonight at 8.45pm so get on line and talk it through!