Module 3: The Inquiry

Okay so here we are, module 3! I can't believe it! I have been putting it off for a couple of weeks and it really is time to get the ball rolling!

Since reviewing my feedback from Paula I have made a few changes to my plan:

Inquiry Title:
How does my professional musical theatre training and knowledge benefit curriculum and extra curriculum classes within primary education?

Previously I was focusing on primary and secondary education but I have decided to focus only on primary now as it is more specific and makes it easier for me when I am looking for literature and comparing the data I will collect.

Observations:
I had originally decided to focus on 3 different classes over a 3 week period. I am still sticking with this time scale but instead of observing the class as a whole I have decided to focus on 3 people from each of my classes this way it is easier for me to get more specific information from each of them and more able to compare their different behaviour and attitude towards me.

These classes are all different from each other; one is a street funk class, one is a glee club and one is a dance class in a special needs school.

I also plan to observe my work colleague, we team teach together once a week and during this lesson I want to observe how the students react to her in comparison to me. This will also give me a different view point as it allows me to step out of the teaching role and watch the class from a different role.

All of my observations will be in the form of notes in my journal as I believe that if I record the children they will act differently, also for ethical reasons I would need permission from each of the parents therefore I have decided against this.

Interviews
The people I have decided to interview are:

The owner of CEPD, the company I work for, I want to ask her why she created the company and the benefits of using professionals over non professionals in primary education

Teachers from the schools I teach at, I want to ask them their opinion on CEPD, whether they believe it is advantageous for the children and if they see improvements within curriculum learning

Fellow dance teachers for CEPD, I want to find out why they think it is beneficial for the children and what important aspects they can offer to the children

Literature:
Since making changes to my inquiry title and the data that I plan on gathering I now also need to make changes to the type of literature I want to find.

At first I found it really hard to find any literature related to my chosen topic then I had a breakthrough moment and found Ofsted reports on sports/dance coaching within primary education. This really got the ball rolling for me and was a great starting point for my research. I am currently trying to apply through sconul to gain access to my local universities library and once I am able to go there I believe I will find plenty of literature related to my inquiry.

Critical Reflection of Module 2

Working through parts 4 5 and 6 of Module 2 has provided me with the knowledge I need to conduct my inquiry.

Part 4: Developing lines of Professional Inquiry
During this part of the module, we were asked to begin to think about and develop our own line of inquiry that was specific to our own practice. I wanted to base my inquiry around teaching dance in schools so that's where I began (Appendix 1) these questions were very current at the time as I was just beginning to do some work experience and cover some classes by myself, therefore I found the answers to these questions (Appendix 2) inspiring to myself personally and also valid and helpful to my inquiry. Connecting with my SIG Dance Teacher Community enabled me to develop my line of inquiry and get support and advice from peers who were focusing on similar topics to myself.

In the final task, identifying pieces of literature that were suited to our line of inquiry was incredibly helpful and eye opening as it allowed me to research and find out things that I didn't already know about my chosen topic (Appendix 3). After researching 'How the arts benefits students' I realised just how much information there was out there and decided that it was the right subject for me to develop further.

Part 5: Professional Ethics
In Part 5 we were looking at ethics in the workplace, my first blog (Appendix 4) was my own personal ethical considerations, based on working in schools. I knew that there were lots of other considerations that I hadn't thought about so therefore in part 5b (Appendix 5) I did some research which broadened my knowledge and made me realise just how much there is to think about in terms of safeguarding children in a school environment. After completing this research I explored theoretical approaches to ethics (Appendix 6) which I found in Reader 5, they made me think about my own personal approach.

Part 6: Tools of Inquiry
In the final part of this module, we had to decide what tools we want to use to carry out research that is specific to our inquiry (Appendix 7) after doing some research I decided that I am going to use observations, surveys and interviews. In the next module I will be trailing these different tools and I will decide then whether they are suited to my own inquiry.

To conclude Module 2 has allowed me to discover literature related to my specific interests, explore and research the importance of ethics and helped me decide the most useful tools for my inquiry. All three tasks have enabled me to prepare for my final line of inquiry.

Task 6a: Tools of Inquiry

Before creating my inquiry plan, I need to think about what tools i am going to use to gather my information. I need to ensure that the tools I pick are suited to my inquiry.

Observations will be incredibly useful to me as I can observe the students as I teach them but also go along and watch my work colleagues teach and observe them as teachers.

Observing will allow me to analyse the student’s motivation throughout the class. I will be able to see the different teaching techniques teachers use to motivate their students. I plan to observe three classes a week, all different age ranges, abilities, genders and standards; I plan to do this over a six week period. I am very aware of the difference I am going to find when observing a class of 4 year olds, to a class of students at GCSE level but this is something I want to use and compare how the different ages act towards me as a professional as appose to their regular classroom teacher.
As well as written notes, I plan to record the observations this way I can see more clearly what is happening for example, how many times a particular behaviour happens.
Before I can observe anything, I must ensure I have gained consent from the necessary people. Firstly the gate-keeper and the teacher whom I plan to observe. I would also need consent from the students involved and although this is vital before I can begin my observations, I am worried that once the children know they are being observed or recorded then their behaviour might change and they may act up or behave better than usual therefore my research may not be accurate and genuine.

Interviews are a valuable method for me; I will be interviewing fellow dance teachers who have the most knowledge and experience about my specific topic.

I will need to ensure that the questions I ask are appropriate and specific to my inquiry. The method I will use will be a semi-structured interview 'which includes a set of questions or themes with the flexibility of following interesting or useful emerging issues' (Reader 6, Page 17) I believe this is appropriate for my research as I can ensure its specific to my inquiry but it also allows the person I am interviewing to be flexible in their answers.
I will also create another set of interview questions for my students to answer, this way I will be able to compare answers from both sides.

Surveys are another great way for me to gather information. I will create an online one (for my SIG to answer) but also printed ones that I can take into the schools for students and teachers to answer. Surveys differ from interviews as they are mostly yes/no answers therefore straight to the point, where as in an interview the questions allow the interviewee to go into more detail in their answers. Not everyone has time to sit down and go into detail and would prefer a yes/no survey. I believe I can still gather vital information for my surveys as long as I make the questions specific and straight to the point.

Task 5c: Theoretical Approaches to Ethics

ethics

ˈɛθɪks/

noun

plural noun: ethics; noun: ethics

1. 1.

   moral principles that govern a person's behaviour or the conducting of an activity.

   "medical ethics also enter into the question"

   synonyms:

   moral code, morals, morality, moral stand, moral principles, moral values, rights and wrongs, principles, ideals, creed, credo, ethos, rules of conduct, standards (of behaviour), virtues, dictates of conscience "the ethics of journalism"

2. 2.

   the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles.

   "neither metaphysics nor ethics is the home of religion

In Reader 5 we discover that there are 3 main contexts where ethics are considered; Personal, Professional and Organisational.

 

Personal ethics can come from many sources such as family values and religion. My own personal ethics come from my upbringing at home and experiences I've had, and are determined by the people or situations we deal with in every day life, these ethics have stayed with me through my life and have defined me as a person. Many people are guided by their religion and live their lived following that path.

 

Professional ethics have evolved over the years of a particular profession, in may case the teaching profession, they are a set of rules that an employee must adhere to in respect of their business. In most workplaces these ethics are in a 'code of conduct' and as i work in many different schoold i have to be sure i follow each schools ethics correctly.

Organisational ethics is the way a certain organisation creates their own guidelines and principles "how we do things around here" (Reader 5).


Reading through Reader 5 I have discovered that there are 3 different Theoretical Approached to Ethics; Consequentialism, Deontology and Virtue ethics.

The BBC website says this about concequentialism 'Consequentialism says that right or wrong depend on the consequences of an act, and that the more good consequences are produced, the better the act.'

Deontology is a compete contrast to concequentialism, it is 'duty-based'  and more concerened with what people do rether than the concequences of their actions.

Virtue ethics looks at the person carrying out the action rather than the action itself.


'The difference between these three approaches to morality tends to lie more in the way moral dilemmas are approached than in the moral conclusions reached. For example, a consequentialist may argue that lying is wrong because of the negative consequences produced by lying—though a consequentialist may allow that certain foreseeable consequences might make lying acceptable. A deontologist might argue that lying is always wrong, regardless of any potential "good" that might come from lying. A virtue ethicist, however, would focus less on lying in any particular instance and instead consider what a decision to tell a lie or not tell a lie said about one's character and moral'

This quote found on http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Consequentialism.html explains these 3 different approaches to lying. 

Award Title

Ba (Hons) Professional Practice (Dance)

This Award Title is specific to my knowledge and understanding of the subject. Gaining IDTA Intermediate grades in Ballet, Tap and Modern, and then in 2013 graduating from Bird College with a Level 6 Diploma in Professional Dance and Musical Theatre shows where my strengths lie.
Since leaving college I have chosen to go down path of teaching and in the past month I have been working with children from as young as 4 all the way up to GCSE level.
As I am new to the teaching world I believe BA (Hons) Professional Practice (Dance) is more specific to my own expertise at the moment, with this I hope to go on and gain more experience and develop my skills and qualifications in teaching dance and have a successful career.

Task 5b: Ethics/Code of coduct in my workplace

In the last task I blogged my own thoughts about ethical considerations that I believe have to be taken into account when teaching, I am now going to blog about the codes of conduct I have to follow when I am going into different schools and how one schools regulations may differ from another.

All of the statements I made in task 5a are still correct but there is a lot of things that I didn't consider that I have found since researching.

I found the code of conduct for one of the schools I work at on their website named 'Safeguarding - Child Protection Policy'

Here are a few quotes I found relevant to this task
Found on http://www.queens.cheshire.sch.uk/Mainfolder/Safeguarding-Policy-Sep-2014.pdf

'We understand that children cannot learn effectively unless they feel secure and we recognise our responsibility to provide a school environment that promotes self-esteem and self-worth, where children are respected and valued and are confident that their concerns will be listened to and acted upon. We are alert to the signs of abuse and neglect and follow our procedures to ensure that children receive effective support, protection and justice.'

'School safeguarding/ child protection aims
-To ensure that all staff are aware of their safeguarding responsibilities, are familiar with the school’s policy and are adequately trained in safeguarding procedures.
-To maintain a safe and caring environment in which our pupils can develop academically and socially; an environment where pupils know that they can talk to someone they trust, be listened to and be given appropriate support in any sensitive situation.
 -To use curricular and extra-curricular opportunities to equip pupils with the knowledge and skills they need to stay safe from abuse and to develop realistic attitudes to the responsibilities of adult life.'

These 2 quotes highlight just how important it is for the children to feel protected and safe in order for the pupils to develop.

'Types of abuse To ensure that our pupils are protected from harm, we need to understand what types of behaviour constitute abuse and neglect.
Abuse and neglect are forms of maltreatment. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm, for example by hitting them, or by failing to act to prevent harm, for example by leaving a small child home alone, or leaving knives or matches within reach of an unattended toddler.
Abuse may be committed by adult men or women and by other children and young people.
There are four categories of abuse: physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect.' 

The policy mentions different types of abuse (physical, emotional, sexual, neglect, bullying) and how to ensure that the pupils are protected from harm everybody needs to understand what types of behaviour constitutes abuse and neglect.

'Safer Recruitment
Our school endeavours to ensure that we do our utmost to employ ‘safe’ staff by following the guidance in Keeping Children Safe in Education (2014) together with the LSCB and the school’s individual procedures.

Safer recruitment means that all applicants will:

-complete an application form which includes their employment history
-provide two referees, including at least one who has recent experience of the applicant working with children and who can comment on the applicant’s suitability to work with children
-provide evidence of identity and qualifications
-be checked in accordance with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) regulations as appropriate to their role
-provide evidence of their right to work in the UK
-be interviewed.'

This shows just how important it is to employ safe and trusting staff and all the procedures they must go through so the school can be sure that they are employing the right people.
After reading through the policy I realised just how much there is to think about in terms of ethics when teaching young children, there is so much to take into consideration and although different schools policies may differ they all want the same outcome; the safety of the children and all members of staff.
  

  

Task 5a: Ethics in the Workplace

In my place of work (Dance teaching in primary and secondary schools) I believe there are many ethical considerations to take into account to ensure a safe  and secure environment for all individuals involved, Here are a few things that I think are important to my specific work place.

It is compulsory to have a DBS/CRB check to ensure that the employer meets the standards required to work with children. We as teachers are responsible for keeping the children safe and it is important that the parent/guardian knows that their child is in a safe environment.

It is incredibly important to make sure that as teachers we ensure that school policies and procedures are in place and practiced by not only ourselves, but also by the students. We have to teach the children how to stay safe in an active dance class and make sure that the studio/classroom is a safe environment.

Teaching and performing dancing is hands on, it is a physical class and often requires contact between student and teacher. I think it is important to be physical with the students, in the correct way (non-sexual) to help with corrections and allow them to improve and progress.

Student confidentiality is so important in my profession. It is vital to ensure that we do not pass on any information about any students without their permission.

It is important for the teacher to respect the students just as much as the students should respect the teachers. Reminding and encouraging students to treat each other with respect and showing them the importance of listening and watching one another will create a respectful environment.

'Reward & Punishment' As teachers we must praise the children for good work/behaviour but also make them aware of when they are doing wrong and ensure that they are punished in the correct way.

Children pick things up so quickly at a young age so it is important to be the best role models we can for example always arriving on time with a lesson plan prepared in advance.