A Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry. First Draft.

In this Module, I have explored the concept of a professional enquiry as a way of further enhancing my professional practice.

In part one of the module I began with exploring lines of professional inquiry. I started this process by creating a diagram of “where I was” professionally and where I wanted to be, hoping that a set of questions would emerge that would aid me in getting there. They did, and my first set of questions covered a vast range of topics. (Appendix A) At this stage my line of enquiry had no real direction other than I wanted it to be beneficial to my career.

I then spent some time researching and read a piece of literature (P.Brinson (1991), Dance as Education: Towards a National Dance Culture, Routledge Falmer) which inspired my line of enquiry to take new focus and direction towards dance within secondary education. (Appendix B)

I created an SIG on LinkedIn which sparked a discussion focusing on the different qualification routes you can take within dance education and training. (Appendix C) In exploring my lines of enquiry, and setting up an SIG, I had already learnt a lot about the process of becoming qualified to teach dance in the public sector. This highlighted to me the importance of the process of exploring potential lines of enquiry and how much I could learn from it.

As well as creating my own SIG, I joined a number of others created by fellow BAPP students that were relevant to my topic area. In one particular SIG I was involved in a discussion about the importance of children accessing creative subjects as well as academic (Appendix D). I was surprised by my level of passion on the subject; it was clear was a topic area of great interest to me and it fitted in well along side the other topic areas I had been considering.

I explored my existing professional network. I had a meeting with one of my employers and had an open discussion about what I had explored so far, and conversation turned to the comparative benefits of public and private dance education. The conversation developed, and moved on to discussing the general benefits of dance education and training. This helped to create a more focused (yet still quite broad) line of enquiry. I then used the advice given via comments on my blog and a discussion with my Advisor to further tune my enquiry (Appendix E).

In part two I explored ethics within my professional practice, beginning with reviewing my own instinctive ethical rules (Appendix F). I then compared these with actual codes of conduct found within my profession (Appendix G). This helped me to appreciate the importance of ethical awareness when conducting my enquiry.

In part three I explored the tools I would use when conducting my inquiry. I piloted a survey and reviewed the usefulness of this tool via blog comments (Appendix H). Helping another student construct her survey also helped me realise the importance of clarity (Appendix I). I also piloted an interview, discussing the positives and negatives (Appendix J).

Literature was another tool I explored, discovering many pieces of literature relevant to my enquiry. I chose two and conducted literature reviews (Appendix K & Appendix L). Discovering the abundance of literature was encouraging, as referring to these while conducting my enquiry will add depth to my findings.

In conclusion, this module has enabled me to develop my initial lines of inquiry by focusing them and developing them using literature, SIG discussions and discussions with other members of my professional network. I have explored my own ethical guidelines and as well the ones generally used in my professional field, and this has opened my eyes to the ethical considerations I will need to take when conducting my inquiry. I have experimented with different tools of inquiry which has helped me shape my enquiry plan, and led me to consider the ways in which I will analyse the data I gather. I feel that my professional enquiry is gaining real shape and focus now, and that it promises to be an extremely useful and insightful process, aiding in the development of my professional practice.

Pilot Interview

As part of planning my professional enquiry I conducted a very short interview in order to review the benefits and draw backs of using this tool to gather data for my inquiry. I interviewed a woman in her early twenties who has been dancing since she was 3:

1.       Why did you start attending dance class?

Because my mum took me. I was only tiny, but then I liked it.

What do you remember liking about it?

Not much really. Just remember getting excited to go dancing. It was fun getting dressed up for it and going to see my friends.

2.       Was discipline one of the things you learnt about when attending dance class as a child?

Yeah I think so. Our teacher was always quite strict and because we were so young when we started it kind of stuck with us when we got older and went to school.

3.       Do you believe dancing influenced your personality?

Yeah I think so...it made me more confident.

And did that confidence transfer into other aspects of your life?

Yeah a little bit...but im a shy person anyway.

4.       How do you feel your dancing has benefitted  you?

Its improved my fitness and kept me slim my whole life. And its given me a purpose and something to be good at, cos i wasn’t good at any other subjects at school.

5.       Do you think what you learnt in dance classes helped you with any other subjects?

Yeah P.E, and drama.

In what way?

Cos i was already fit from my dancing for P.E, and drama cos I was already used to performing.

Upon reflection I think I may have kept the questions a bit too open, as I don't feel I achieved the answers I was looking for. I think when I come to plan my interviews for my enquiry I will be able to use the data gathered from the surveys to inform what questions I ask and how I structure the questions.

Another point worth making is that I think the participants shyness effected the quality of the responses. This is something I will need to address, as it is likely that a lot of my participants, being aged 14-18, will also be shy. I need to find a way to relax them in order to get more in depth responses. This of course is also reliant on the structure of my questions.

Literature Review 2

Here is my 2nd Literature Review on an article I found called "Dancing Thought: An examination of children's cognition and creative process in dance." This article presents a study which produces results that suggest that not only does dance develop children emotionally and physically, but that dance can in its own right can aid a childs cognitive development.

Literature Review 2

Literature Review 1

This piece is reviewing an article by a Professor of dance education about defining the term "Dance Education" and what the benefits would be of dance becoming a part of school curriculum throughout primary and secondary education. It is extremely relevant to my enquiry, and she makes some very interesting points.

A review of the article "Toward a definition of Dance Education"

Pilot Survey to be completed by anybody that has ever attended dance classes

Hi everybody! I know I'm a bit late with trying out a survey, but please please complete it and let me know what you think! It's only tiny!

Pilot Survey

Task 5b: What existing Codes of Practice steer my professional work?

In my previous blog I reviewed my own personal and professional ethical guidelines, which I established had been built up through common sense and from picking up good practice from my own teachers when training.

Following this blog, I then went on to researching the actual Codes of Conduct that exist within my professional community. Although I am not a member of the ISTD (Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing), their website was the first place I went to look, as I am quite heavily involved with an ISTD school. I therefore feel like I am a part of this particular organisation, or at the very least I feel I am held by the same standards as any fully qualified ISTD teacher by my employer.

It turns out that the ISTD use the Code of Conduct published by the CDET (Council for Dance Education and Training), which I was advised to look at prior to this by one of my employers along with a few BAPP students. This can be found here: CDET Code of Conduct

Reading through the Code of Conduct, I can honestly say that I knew and currently practice all of it, having never before seen it. This just shows that I have picked up excellent work ethics from the teachers that trained me and the people I work for, and I feel very lucky!

The RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) is other prominent organisation in my area, and so I found their Code of Practice as well in order to compare. RAD have a much more breif and condensed Code, but essentially it covers the same ground as the CDET.

So it seems that in the world of Private dance education the CDET Code of Conduct is a great guideline to follow for any dance teacher. They also recommend a book called Dance Teaching Essentials which is available from Dance UK which I have ordered. Will it simply be a more in depth version of the Code of Conduct, or take a more advisory role? We shall see!

I have also contacted another of my employers, ERYD (East Riding Youth Dance). This is a council funded organisation that provides weekly dance workshops and termly performances. It is of course Public, and therefore it will be interesting to see how a dance teachers Code of Conduct in the Public sector differs from that of the Private Sector. (Read part two of this blog to find out!!)