Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

Studying module 2 has enabled me to learn many new skills. My computing ability has improved by implementing web 2.0 skills. I have also found Facebook particularly useful for this module because it has provided valuable feedback useful to critically analyse my methods and procedures as well as it supporting my progress through this module. Appendix A

My professional Facebook page has in particular been a positive experience, allowing me to network with peers on the course as well as professional colleagues. However I did not find my blogger account as useful, mainly because of difficulties posting blogs. This may be due to being dyslexic causing lack of confidence in using lengthier, more formal writing skills for blogs, compared to the single sentence posts I feel is more acceptable on Facebook. Appendix B

The first section of this module required me to think about questions of interest to me within the workplace as my role as Dance Ambassador for Matthew Bourne’s Lord of the Flies (LOTF). This was a challenge because of the different age groups I was working with and the diverse backgrounds and experience of the students. I knew from that I wanted to target the questions towards male dancers views and attitudes towards dance.

Module 2 has helped me understand the importance of asking open-ended research questions in order to attract interest and obtain unbiased substantiated responses. My original inquiry question was: Can a professional dancer make a good teacher? It was posted on my blog and I was disappointed to find it attracted a nil response. This lack of response made me consider if my inquiry question needed to be more detailed but open ended. I therefore changed the question to:

       “What makes a good dance teacher and what qualities should they have?”   

It was posted on Facebook and resulted in responses both from my peers and others who were interested in sharing their views. I was pleased with this outcome but it did also make me question the research value and popularity of using different types of social media especially when asking people to share opinions publicly.   Appendix C

Module 2 involved a literature research. This was very important in providing credibility with regards to my own points of view, to support emerging theories and opinions. Reading and referring to both published and unpublished work and media files not only provided strong evidence to support my line of inquiry and take a more analytical approach. It also helped me understand how to reference materials using the Harvard method, required for this degree. Appendix D

My role as Dance Ambassador has highlighted the importance of ethics in the work place.Appendix E

As the LOTF project involved a cast under the age of 18 I had to create a photo and filming consent form for all participants. Which had to be translated into Welsh another factor to be considered

It also meant that all participants under the age of 18 would need a chaperone and council permission to have time off school something I was unaware of before investigating ethics for my professional practice in my workplace. Appendix F

After considering various research methods along with discussions with course peers. I carried out a pilot interview involving one of my students. The outcome of this interview lead to further questions and resulted in the reason behind the specific line of inquiry selected.

The tools used will involve: Reviewing interview footage, the use of pre/post questionnaires as a means of improving teaching techniques. Observation and evaluation of other dance practitioner’s classes.

To conclude studying module 2 has enabled me to:

Explore the use of asking appropriate questions, which will help contribute towards my professional development in the workplace.

Research literature on my chosen topic to support my views, opinions and help me produce proposals and business plans for future projects.

Highlighted the importance of having an ethics policy for the protection and safety of all staff and students and experiment with different tools for use in my enquiry.

The learning outcomes achieved in this module have helped me prepare and plan for my final line of enquiry in module 3.

Bibliography.

Books.

Buckroyd, J. (2000) The Student Dancer, London: Dance Books Ltd

Websites

Cook, V. (2004) Dancing Inside http://www.article19.co.uk/feature/dancing_inside_pt_one.php

Gaustad, S. (2015) in http://danceplus.uk.com/the-role-and-value-of-dance-in-education/

Ethic's on my enquiry

Throughout my enquiry I aim to follow the correct company policies and procedures as set out in the initial Lord of the Flies project, such as adhering too health and safety, having public liability insurance, data protection a current DBS check and ensure anybody else who works alongside me is also covered. Ensuring equal opportunities, following the conduct set out in the ‘safe touch’ practice and addressing any other procedures that I may come across in the correct way.  I will also need to use both Welsh and English language on any literature that I give out with the use of a translator at the Wales Millennium Centre.

In terms of resources required to carry out my inquiry successfully, I will…

Use a dance space to deliver my workshops adhering to Health and Safety regulations, such as identifying fire exits and evacuation points.

I will ensure that every space chosen for any physical activity will meet to the correct room temperature between 21C and 24C as recommended.

I will not exceed the maximum capacity specified for each individual room.

I will adapt all sessions and the movements planned based on the specific dimensions and flooring of each space.

 I will ensure that a first aid kit is fully stocked and available at all times and that a first aider is located within the building.

I will carry out a health and safety assessment at the beginning of each new venue

I will visit and provide a health and safety contract to each venue similar to the LOTF form used. 

I will carry out a thorough warm up and cool down process at the beginning and end of each physical workshop to avoid injury.

I will handout consent forms to agree or disagree to the use of any photography or filming for all participants and any participant under the age of 18 must have a parental consent.

All participants must be prepared for physical activity and dressed in suitable attire for movement.

As a professional dance practitioner I will arrive on site 20 minutes before any workshops commence as a means of setting up and organising the space to avoid any late starts or errors that may have an impact on the session.

I will provide any musical accompaniment for each session if required and that all electrical equipment has been PAT tested and stamped with a current date for evidence.

I will not allow any participants to leave the workshop without being met by parents and or guardians.

I will ensure that I have specific equipment to document my workshops such as camera, I phone as a means for reflection and evaluation.

Ethics in my workplace.

I have found my place of work (Wales Millennium Centre) code of conduct to be very general. http://www.wmc.org.uk/technical/123886/ I feel this is primarily due to it being a theatre venue and not a school where by it might be more detailed. I am employed as a freelance Dance Ambassador teaching and working with children so ensuring I follow correct ethical procedures is essential. 

For the Lord of the Flies project myself and colleague Sian Rowland created a ‘Codes and Conduct’ contract for all participants to sign. This allowed us as Dance Ambassadors to set the rules at the beginning of rehearsals and protect ourselves for any issues that may have occurred during the project.  Please see below:

After some further research into ethics I came across a resource pack identifying do’s and don’ts as a facilitator. I found this to be a very good guidance of how to deal with situations that might arise in a dance workshop. 

Artswork Training – Behaviour Management and Youth Arts resource pack (Page 3)

Task 4d: Literature

Literature review

An interesting chapter that I read in Julia Buckroyd’s book ‘The Student Dancer’ (Dance Books 2000) highlighting many of the main issues that many trainee male dancers often face. I read this book prior to me undertaking any teaching throughout my time as dance ambassador for Matthew Bourne’s Lord of the Flies, as a means of gaining a better understanding when teaching young males students, many of whom had never participated in a dance class before. I also reflected back on my own experiences when I was a dance student. I was often subjected to negative comments from my peers because I attended dance classes, although these comments were nothing more than narrow –minded, immature remarks, at a vulnerable age of ten I often questioned if dancing was wrong for a boy to participate in and I decided to keep my dance training a secret. This particular extract taken from the book highlights the situation I experienced during my early training days and throughout my experience working with the dancers during LOTF I can safely say that it still exists today…

“ They described a wide range of ways of dealing with the reactions met. The commonest had been, and continued to be in some cases, to ‘keep it a secret’, ‘keep it quiet’. One boy described how when it became knownat a new school that he did dance, he was subjected to a campaign of mockery and bullying to such an extent that he gave up dance for a number of years and had since been very careful about who he told’ ( Buckroyd 2000: 133)

This chapter also acts as a support to my question “Is there a stigma attached to young male dancers?” as a large part of this chapter focuses on the prejudices and stereotypes that many male dancers are expected to be homosexual. As stated..

“ A great deal of the verbal abuse had been to label the boy a sissy,like a girl, and therefore homosexual. The boys reported that theyhad been called a 'wuss' ( current abusive term in Britain for homosexual male), 'poofs', 'poofter'. 'twinkletoes', 'gay'. They quoted explicitly comments such as 'you're a girl, you do ballet', 'if you do ballet, you're a wuss'. (Buckroyd 2000:132)

 Another article that I read is called “Dancing Inside”. It is written by dancer Vanessa Cook and she talks about her experience of working with inmates at HMP Dovegate Prison. I am interested in this particular article as I believe it interlinks with my experience of working with the male dancers in Matthew Bourne's LOTF and the idea of bringing dance to those males who had never experienced dance or participated in a dance class before. This is a specific interest of mine, and something that I would like to develop throughout my career as a way of breaking down the stigma attached to male dancers and introduce more males to dance. I can also relate to Cooks way of inspiring and motivating the dancers by disguising traditional dance movements with sport influenced movement. By using imagery from sports such as football, table tennis and basketball we were able to breakaway from traditional dance movement and encourage movement and confidence within the group. By using sport related stimulus, we were able to keep the movement 'masculine' and associate it with their everyday lives. It is a really uplifting article to read and it coincides with both of my questions, I have found it to be the most useful when researching my question “ How do you inspire and motivate young males to dance?” see the full article below....

http://www.article19.co.uk/feature/dancing_inside_pt_one.php

In relation to my third question and “ Can dance be used to develop academic performance?” I bring your attention to the following article http://danceplus.uk.com/the-role-and-value-of-dance-in-education.

This article highlights the importance of dance within the national curriculum and identifies the benefits physically, academically and socially that dance can encourage. The article discusses the idea that dance should be a core subject within itself and not purely looked upon as an extended version of physical education. This is something that I agree with as I believe that my own experiences with Matthew Bournes LOTF introduced new concepts of teaching as we took a traditional novel and taught it through the language of dance outside the conventional classroom environment.