Module 2 - Critical Reflection

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.”

GALLACHER. K. (2014) Task 5d Ethics [Online] 16^th April 2014. Available from: http://natalieamartin.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/task-5d-ethics.html . [Accessed: 10^th May 2014]

 

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:

4.1: MARSHALL. J. J. (2014) Starting Module 2. [Online] 15^th April 2014. Available from: http://jjmarshall.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/starting-module-2.html [Accessed: 13^th May 2014]

4.2: MARSHALL. J. J. (2014) Lines of Inquiry – Part 2. [Online] 17^th April 2014. Available from: http://jjmarshall.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/having-got-small-amount-of-feedback.html [Accessed: 13^th May 2014]

4.3: MARSHALL. J. J. (2014) Lines of Inquiry – Part 3. [Online] 19^th April 2014. Available from: http://jjmarshall.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/lines-of-inquiry-part-3.html 19th April 2014 [Accessed: 13^th May 2014]

4.4: MARSHALL. J. J. (2014) Task 4D – Literature Review – Book 1. [Online] 7^th May 2014. Available from: http://jjmarshall.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/looking-within-classes-of-which-dance.html [Accessed: 13^th May 2014]

5.1: MARSHALL. J. J. (2014) Professional Ethics – Task 5a [Online] 17^th April2014. Available from: http://jjmarshall.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/professional-ethics-task-5a.html [Accessed: 13^th May 2014]

5.2: MARSHALL. J. J. (2014) Professional Ethics – Task 5B. [Online] 5^th May 2014. Available from: http://jjmarshall.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/professional-ethics-task-5b.html [Accessed: 13^th May 2014]

6: MARSHALL. J. J. (2014) Task 6C – Award Title. [Online] 6^th May 2014. Available from: http://jjmarshall.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/task-6c-award-title.html [Accessed: 13^th May 2014]

 

Task 4D - Literature Review - Book 1

Looking within classes of which dance is taught, I must look firstly at the two things that must be in place for anything of this sort tow happen: somebody to learn from, and somebody to teach. However, with health and safety being my focus here, most of this responsibility is to be put upon the teacher, and I will therefore start with them:

 

 

 

As I wanted to set something out for each teacher, I must first look at how much sway is given for personality traits, and whether this is something that is taken into consideration. Therefore my first book is

“Personality and Intelligence at Work” by Adrian Furnham

So looking at the section on individual differences at work, it talks about differences in personalities, and whether this has any effect on their success within the workplace, neutral of the type of job:

 

Although I have not conducted a study myself, nor gathered secondary information, it does give theories that others have come up with.

 



 

This was not something that I wanted to go too deeply into, but was something that I felt needed to be addressed early on in my investigations. It may arise at some time, deeper into my inquiry when I open new paths to follow. However, from the findings here, I am quite happy to generalise my findings to all teachers, however I must pay attention to the external, situational factors and set things out in this way: If all teachers are expected to act upon the same morals, the action of the teacher is therefore dependent on the circumstances.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=y4KOAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR4&dq=978-1-84169-586-0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_GBpU_zDBMaJPa6fgJAF&ved=0CEUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=978-1-84169-586-0&f=false

Task 6C - Award Title

Looking at choosing my award title, I had quickly glanced over them and considered my options, as everybody had been given them same sheet, I posted this to my SIG for people to leave comments on. I had numbered them on the group page, but will name them here:

BA (Hons) Professional Practice…

(Dance): I feel that this is a little too general, and I feel that I have more to offer than just dance

(Performing Arts): Whilst this bears more depth I feel that I will more on from this one day and feel that a different title may encompass more of what I want to do a little further down the line.

(Musical Theatre): Now as much as musicals excite me, and I have no problem with the choreography, some of you have heard m sing, and rest assured, this is not something I feel I have the calibre to earn a degree in!

(Arts Management): This was something that stuck out for me. I am currently managing a large part of a dance organisation and feel that I am competent in such, and am always looking for ways of making the entire body of work better for everyone, and feel that this ties in somewhat with my inquiry. Although previously stated, I cannot sing, but I am a competent dress maker and have no problem with set design and have no fear in finding out who I may need to go to in order to get what is needed, and am very much aware of the legal traits behind things.

(Performing Arts Management): This is also another title I feel that I would like to work towards, and actually one that my inquiry is probably better suited. However, to me, this implies the management of individuals, sending them to shows and getting people jobs: I believe I am capable of this, but my current job includes administration as well as teaching and ordering necessary items, and feel that I am better doing lots in one organisation, rather than the same thing for many different organisations.

(Theatre Arts): I do not have much experience in Theatre arts, per say. I have a diploma that is primarily in dance, and I don’t believe that GCSE drama will get me very far in this.

(Dance Teaching): This does somewhat apply to me, as I do do a fair amount of teaching, however, this is not the only route I wish to go down. This is does however apply to my inquiry, but I believe that the subject of my inquiry could benefit more than just myself, teaching.

(Graphic Design): Erm, being honest… definitely not my field!

 

Having spoken with my SIG they agree that one of the ‘Management’ titles best suits me, or at least at the moment. One person who had known me before I started the BAPP course said that she thought of me when she first read the ‘Arts Management’ title!

 

Now, trying to write a rationale for such.

 

I feel that BA (Hons) Professional Practice (Arts Management) is best suited to me: I currently work with a dance organisation, organising teacher’s timetables, sorting auditions, writing terms & conditions and liaising with parents about classes and general feedback, sorting registers and residential training sessions, handling merchandise orders, whilst teaching and staying aware of any opportunities that may arise for both myself or the dancers I teach. I wish to dance with a professional company in the near future, but have had some time off due to injury, which is where I first started looking at teaching, however, not being able to dance, teaching proved hard, and I started to take on some administrative tasks. It was during this time I became aware that the dance world is not just physical body movements, and the hiring and firing of dancers, walking in and out of the doors as if nothing had happened, and when I realised how unprepared I was for the business that I was about to go into! This is where I started picking up more tasks and getting more involved with things, when I discovered a real passion for the wellbeing of everyone is the organisation, not only the dancers, but the teachers and parents too, and I relish in finding ways in which to make things run smoothly, always with the thought, communication is key! This is why I have chosen to take my inquiry into health and safety, looking at how each group of people can benefit from this and making the organisation a more comfortable place to be in and for those involved to thrive. This in itself should produce a higher standard of work, both inside the organisation which I work, and for those outside, allowing for more opportunities in the future!

Professional Ethics - Task 5B

Having been sent the ONLY policy that we have, I am surprised to find out, that according to the NSPCC and Sport Education everything is completely legal! We only have a safeguarding policy; however this covers everything from data protection, to grievance, to personal relations, and include all the extra sections for children.

I do notice that the policy often says to not ‘engage in inappropriate behaviour’. It does, in some cases state the types of inappropriate behaviour, but not its actual limitations. It is to be understood that each situation is different, but it is not shown where a line is to be crossed.

The use of social media sites is actually recognised in the policy, with regard to photographs and videos of dancers being used, however, the staff use of social media sites is touched on.

Confidentiality is very much stressed in the policy, even within the organisation itself. If an allegation is being made, the person that the allegation is being made against may not know at the start. This is something that I had forgotten, and now sit here hoping that I haven’t done anything to anger anybody in any way!

“Every effort will be made to ensure that confidentiality is maintained for all concerned. Information will be handled and disseminated on a need to know basis only. This includes the following people:

·         The Director

·         The parents of the person who is alleged to have been abused

·         The person making the allegation

·         Social services/police

The organisation will seek social services advice on who should approach the alleged abuser (or parents if the alleged abuser is a child).”

It states that each employee must be interviewed and trained in areas that they seem to be lacking. And as previously stated, all employees need a DBS check, and are covered by the organisation’s liability policy, however, they are to be made aware that they are not covered elsewhere!



The organisation also has a guidance booklet for all dancers and parents (which I wrote, and definitely know what is in such), giving them an idea of what is expected of them, and what they can expect from us for the next year. They are also given terms and conditions that they are to sign: this is for us to be abe to pull people up on things if we feel that they are in breach of these, however, in this it is stated that they are able to see our policy and they will not be frowned upon if they ask for a copy of it, and are completely within their rights to say if they feel as though they have been treated inappropriately.

 

I was very surprised to find out that we only have one policy, and was convinced that we had more, even from when I had read ‘them’ before, but I was obviously given all the documents that are given and it was my fault, and misunderstanding that these were the policies. With all this being said, I do believe that our policy could be split up into small ones, as it is very long as it covers everything, and could be taken down into smaller chunks that can be more easily digested.