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.
