Module 2 ‘Professional Practitioner Inquiry’ was something
that I got quite excited about when I read through the Handbook, but it wasn’t
until the first campus session that I really got involved in the work.
I very much wanted to improve on Module 1 as I was
disappointed in myself and the work I had put in, so I tried to remedy this, only
to realise, halfway through the second module, through one of the members in my
SIG that my blog had been hacked and was not visible to the public. At this
time I got a little despondent, but soon pulled my socks up and got back on
track.
The difficulty I had at the start of this module was simply
the topic of my inquiry. I first veered towards the generic psychological
aspects of the dance world, but decided very early on that this was very
generic, and decided instead to section every aspect that I could have looked
at as I was still so undecided in which topic to choose (see Appendix 4.1)
This is when I had to look at myself. At this time I was,
and still am in a state of transition: I had been injured for a long period of
time, however, at this stage, my injury has healed to the point where I can now
properly dance on it. It still causes problems at times, but I am usually able
to get through the whole of a class. With this in mind, I did not know whether
I would be going out and auditioning for performance work and therefore did not
know which question route to follow. Thankfully, this is where I embarked on
the wonder that be the SIG. I told them my situation, and they help me to get
my questions down to only 2, (see Appendix 4.2) They advised that I could use
everything I knew from my past in a vocational school, or that I could branch
out into what I currently do now, and reminded me that I am likely to one day
come back to what I am currently doing and that I am in the right position and know
the right people to do enough research for the inquiry. They also pointed out how
much I seem to enjoy what I am currently doing: managing a large part of a
dance organisation, and that I am likely to enjoy the inquiry more if I am more
passionate about it. This was the deciding factor for me. My inquiry then
became “Health and Safety in Dance Training: Help or Hindrance?” (see Appendix
4.3)
My starting in the research to this may not actually have
seemed related to my inquiry, but I felt that I had to check whether I may
assume that all dance teachers can be treated as equals, even though they are
individually assessing a situation, guided by their own opinions and morals
(see Appendix 4.4)
Ethics was
something that I enjoyed, but the results shocked me! Being honest, I did this
alongside my researching in Section 4, so was not completely aware of all of
the ethical issues that should be involved in the workplace: I had morals, and
knew loosely about the legal side of things, so the generic thing of policies
came to mind, but I don’t think I could have named (under a legitimate heading)
anything else that was supposed to be in place. Therefore, in my head, I had to
go through the introduction I had when I first started my term of employment,
or at least what I thought had happened! (see Appendix 5.1) Task B was the
thing that really did shock me. I expected to have missed out many policies
that my place of work had, and when I found out that there was only one in
place I went into a state of panic! I wholly believed that this would be
unlawful, and spent a long time doing research, scared of asking my SIG whether
they had any better insight than I about this. I found on Dance UK (2011) that
organisations are to have the following policies in place, as appropriate to
their practice.
·
Child protection.
·
Disability including reference
to disabled dancers in a company.
·
Equal opportunities.
·
Health and Safety – general.
·
Injury prevention and
management.
·
Eating disorders
This, definitely showing more than one policy, still scared
me. So I decided to do some more digging, and spoke directly to the NSPCC and
to the department of Sport Education, on the premise that I was to start a
dance organisation, with exactly the same credentials as the one I currently
work, and yes, as long as everything is covered in the policy, the single
policy was fine. (see Appendix 5.2)
Having been so surprised about the little I knew about the
ethical issues in one task; when my topic of inquiry is so heavily based on
such, I needed to make sure that everything was in order for my inquiry. And
got to working on my ethics form with the help of the reader. I was very happy
with such until I came across a comment on a blog, regarding the anonymity of
children in the inquiry, and very much agreed with this. Even though the quote
was with regard to very young children, I thought that it was a very good idea
to keep the identity of any minor hidden, and have chosen to follow this in my
own inquiry.
“For my inquiry I hope to give interviews,
observations, basic surveys and internet research for biographies, but when it
comes to the face to face stuff, I've decided to ask permission for the
teachers I would interview whether or not they want to be made anonymous or
not, but to put a strict rule to keeping the mentioned children anonymous full
stop.”
As I felt that I needed to further integrate ethics into my
work, I decided to carry out informal trials before presenting the support form
to my employer. This was something I greatly enjoyed, and was excited to see
how passionate people were about my choice of topic: When I first sent out my
survey, I didn’t expect anyone to reply! I found it more difficult when leading
a focus group to not taint people’s answers as a small difference in tone of
voice can hold completely different connotations! I realised at this point,
that there must be a lot of hypothetical research in my chosen topic, as I will
be working with uncomfortable issues for some, but I quickly realised that this
will not impact too heavily on my inquiry. For example, I can simply point to a
place on a child’s body, rather than actually touch it, and all will know where
I am talking about. In this case, the physical contact is not necessary. This
is when I decided to approach my employer with my form, and I am glad for
waiting, as she did ask many questions and how it may impact.
I wanted to keep my collation of information open, as I see
a need for 3 of the tools to address my questions. For children and parents I
feel that a focus group is best: to be able to get the opinions of many
together and to enhance confidence. For teachers that I am not in close contact
with, or those who may be less experienced: a survey sits best. And for those
who I believe to have the best knowledge of the subject from all 3 perspectives,
and also now including dance training boards: a separate interview provides the
most in depth and interpersonal response.
My award title, I feel, reflects my endeavours for the
betterment of my workplace for all. I organise all student data and timetables
for both students and teachers, and the curriculum they are to cover in
lessons. I also take part in the choreographic elements that they are to be
involved in, and help to decide who may be in a performance if there is on to
be staged. I always want to find better ways to do all of this, whilst looking
out for the dancers’ well-being and trying to dramatically improve their dance
ability as I feel that some people have just got into a habit of going to a
syllabus class, repeating the same thing each week and becoming complacent. I
want to be able to push people and to see quicker improvements in people. I
also believe that this is something that builds the confidence in the dancer,
and I feel that the entire workplace could benefit from my inquiry, therefore I
feel it plays a hand under the banner of Arts Management (see Appendix 6).
Overall, I can say that Module 2 has expanded my ability in
how to research a topic, through different leads and different devices and that
I must be aware of the ethical issues before I do anything in my line of work
(not just for this inquiry). I am much more aware of the effect that something
I do or say may have on others and now know what to consider, and how to
control these situations, thus I now feel prepared for my inquiry.
Appendices: