Task 5a: Considering ethics within my workplace...

As my future lines of inquiry will lie within education, it is important to realise the important of ethics when working within such a regulated environment.  Not only this but my current practice and, more than likely, future practice will fall into the category of teaching children. This is a sensitive and vulnerable sector to work in when considering ethics.

As my current practice consists of teaching in both the private (dance schools) and public (primary schools), I wanted to consider different areas of ethics within both these areas.

Plagiarism

My understanding of plagiarism only seemed to spark the thoughts of written texts.  I would only connect this  to my practice within schools as within my company we use schemes of work.  These have either been devised by the company or adapted by myself.  Within the company we have collated a combination of other employees to devise schemes of work for half a term which can either be followed directly, adapted to suit your own needs or to create your own individual schemes.  I have done all three of these and even picked up some new ideas along the way.  Creating lesson plans is all about having a rough guide to work from and adapting this to fit in with timescales, abilities and teachers' requirements.  

As I have done work within schools outside the company, I have never directly used their schemes of work when not carrying out employment provided by them.  I have instead introduced dance schemes of ISTD and adapting modern and sometimes even tap syllabus to create fun classes.  

The other use of plagiarism within my practice would be teaching choreography and presenting it as my own.  This can be a fine line and I have previously taught choreography to my students which I have learnt from else where.  When doing this however, I have never claimed that I was the one who created it.

Protecting Data

As part of my dance school setting I have access to certain amounts of data about my students.  This data mainly comprises of important information about my students such as emergency contact numbers, date of birth, address and any health issues.  This information is essential for me to have and is kept within a folder that only myself and the dance school owner have access to.  I understand that this is private data and must not be shared with anyone.

Permission

With a closer look now at the way we are able to handle a child when teaching, the important thing to remember is whether a child needs a hands on correction.  I am aware that this should be minimal to avoid vulnerable situations and should only really be done when necessary and with permission.  However I think this will always be hard for a teacher involved in performing arts and sports.  As I am now involved in gymnastics also, there is even more reason to handle a child with the thought of safety.  Within certain movements, a gymnastics coach must be there to support a child in order to ensure a movement is completed in a safe way.  Whilst thinking about this it makes me think that maybe in dance we don't need this same approach as there are limited movements which could incur a safety issue.  

I think that it is sometimes best for a student to work out themselves where and what they may need to adjust their body and so is physical touch by a teacher necessary?  

In my current primary school I completed half a term of dance followed by gymnastics.  I used no physical corrections during dance, however with some of the more complex movements in gymnastics I felt it was vital to use physical support.  The way i handled this situation was to inform the class of the activity we were working on and why I may need to support them to make it safe.  I also asked if there was anyone who did not want the support but advised that in that case it would not be safe for them to participate in that particular activity.  

Was this the right thing to do?

Images and Photography

When working in schools, this is something which has never come about.  Any photography or filming has come from the teacher and not myself so has not been an issue.

In my dance school however, very often photography has been used for advertisement of the school, but this has not been a task taken out by myself and has been arranged by the manager of the school.  I know that when our students start they are required to sign a declaration to say that they are happy to allow their child to be filmed or photographed for promotion of the school. 


I know that there are many other areas of ethics and I am sure they will become clearer throughout this module.  The areas above are the ones which stand out to me.

Task 4c: Questionnaire

I wasn't sure which way to go with regards to asking questions that would relate to my inquiry.  I browsed through several blogs of other students on the programme to see if they would have any questions that inspired me.  After looking at Michelle Moriarty (Module 2), Rebecca Cox (Module 3) and Claire Radford (Module 3), they all had similar areas of interest to myself.  I used these ideas and set up my own questionnaire with questions I could ask several professionals outside the course.

Questionnaire to capture opinions within my chosen sector.

I have sent this questionnaire to multiple professionals in the hope that I will gain a varied set of opinions to help me towards creating an inquiry most suited to my progression. 

Task 4b: Special Interest Group

Reading up to this task my area of interest is becoming much clearer.  What I realised when looking at other groups that have been formed is that I could relate to a small group who are already looking towards the same area as myself.  

I came across Emma Corboz's SIG which she has created on Google + as a community and immediately saw similar interests by everyone who has interacted within the group.  Some of the discussions that have already been set up have already got me thinking and I think this will be a great way to help me develop an inquiry that will benefit my future practice.

If any one else has a similar interest you can request to join Emma's community and expand our pool of thoughts:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/115388313863291261435

Task 4a: Knowledge

I recently look back at Task 2d to see what other questions emerged from Module 1.  The one which stood out for me that would be most relevant to my current practice would be:

How can dance develop life skills?

I suppose a better way to word this would be:

Can dance develop life skills?

Because I would like to continue using Dance as my tool for a future career I think it would be beneficial to understand how dance could have a positive impact on your life.  Is there an angle we should use to keep Dance within the curriculum of all schools?


Identifying Knowledge and Skills in the Workplace

I believe that my current knowledge is a key factor to explore to help develop my personal goals.  My knowledge and skills come from a variety of experiences within the performing arts world and I think that this will help and aid me within this module.  

As Eraut described, knowledge can come in 'different forms'. (1994, P.16).  The idea of breaking knowledge up into different concepts fits well with the information I have accumulated over the different areas of dance.  

I looked at 'The Theory of Knowledge' to gain a better understanding of the types of knowledge known.

Procedural knowledge would be the knowledge of knowing how to do something.  So relating to my current practice would be how I teach a certain exercise, position or movement.  What is interesting about this type of knowledge that Eraut describes is that for me this can be a trial and error process.  What might work for one would not necessarily work for another and therefore I am constantly trying to find new ways of doing things.  This varies upon several factors such as the level and standard of my students, the age and the environment in which they are being taught.

Propositional knowledge would be the facts linked with the procedural knowledge.  This is probably the type of knowledge I would need to focus on in order to ensure my practice is ethical.  When teaching someone you are indeed teaching them your knowledge but of course you need to ensure that the knowledge you are relaying is correct first.  As I progress into the next step of my career I would need to develop my knowledge further and ensure my propositional knowledge is accurate.

My practical knowledge is the form of knowledge that I would class as the most valuable.  This is the knowledge I have gained from my experiences which I would describe as very varied and therefore creating a wider spectrum to learn from.

After looking up a definition of tacit knowledge, it appears to me that this is a complex form of knowledge which requires knowing multiple forms of knowledge to gain the full understanding of this.  For example, to be able to dance something accurately you would need to have the knowledge of the style, musicality, body awareness, technique, performance and much more.  

How many teachers of dance in secondary education have tacit knowledge?  How much practical knowledge do they have?  

My knowledge within the dance sector has allowed me to understand dance within the performance and a small area of education whilst in primary schools.  As there is more than one discipline which I use to contribute towards my knowledge I would describe this as having an 'inter-disciplinary' approach to my knowledge.

This article gave an interesting insight on how an inter-disciplinary approach to teaching can benefit a students learning.

http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/interdisciplinary/why.html

I read through the extract from Eraut (1991) where he discusses his thoughts on the process of giving information.  One thing that stood out for me was the need between a professional and a student to be able to listen and translate information into a form that can be understood.  This is described as being 'most developed in teachers, because teachers need to both understand children's conceptions and ways of thinking and to develop a repertoire of possible representations of every aspect of their subject' (Sigrun Gudmundsdottir, 1989; McNamara, 1991)

What this means to me is having the knowledge to be able to understand the many ways in which things can be understood.  As a teacher I know that one student may interpret something in one way and therefore understand the concept, however another may not and that means that I need to draw from my existing knowledge to enable that other student to understand but in a different way.

This has led me possibly focus on the area of teaching dance within education and what already exists...


References:
Eraut, Michael (1994) Developing Professional Knowledge and Competence, Abingdon: RoutledgeFalmer.

Pedagogy In Action: The SERC Portal for Educators. Why Teach with an Interdisciplinary Approach? http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/interdisciplinary/why.html (Accessed 8th March 2015).

Task 4a: Thoughts linked to Reader 4

To help develop my thought and ideas for my inquiry I decided to work through Reader 4 and pick out the questions which could be answered...

Links to Work Based Learning

I have recently been thinking into where I would like to take my career, and although I already had a pretty good idea of the area I would like to progress to, I decided that the more experience I have now the better prepared I will be.

I teach in multiple places, as it always has been, and the timescale varies depending on the contract I may have within a school or if I decide to utilise another opportunity.  At this stage in my life I think it is important to grab any opportunities thrown my way.  

My teaching experience currently spans across dance schools and primary education so after researching into my chosen field of progression I realised that I had no direct experience of teaching within the secondary or further education sector.  Using a contact of mine I got in touch with a local secondary school and met with the dance teacher there.  She has kindly agreed to allow me to come into the school for half a term and observe and even teach part of the lessons.  This new experience with support my learning and help develop my knowledge of my chosen field.

Possible lines of inquiry:

• What is the transition of dance from primary to secondary education?
• Is the amount of dance that is introduced into secondary education efficient for a student to progress towards becoming a professional dancer?
• How different is the dance training in secondary education to further education?
• What are the benefits of learning the theory behind dance?
• Why is dance not available in every secondary school establishment?

Single and Double Loop Learning

I read through reader 4 to try to find theories which will help explore and support my chosen inquiry.  What I found is that I couldn't quite grasp the understanding in the same context that I needed.  Whilst browsing through other blogs I came across Lynn Terry's, who seemed to have a similar problem and in doing so found diagrams to create a clear interpretation.  I used this idea to find my own diagram of single and double loop learning which as shown below demonstrates questions and descriptions to show what this theory is introducing.

Single and Double Loop Learning

I tried to apply this learning cycle within my own current practice...

WHY?

At the start of the Spring term I had planned a dance scheme of work based on a 6 week term for a year 2 class.  My aim of this and WHY I was doing this was to achieve a greater sense of rhythm and coordination.  

HOW?

I decided to introduce ISTD Primary Modern exercises as a basis to progress throughout the term.  This is a solid and gentle introduction to dance with fun and energetic exercises that teach coordination and the ability to listen and respond to music.  This was HOW I was going to reach my final product.

RESULTS

The result was that the students were able to effectively recall up to four exercises after four weeks.  The negative of this was that it was almost as though they had reached their maximum capacity of knowledge, focus was lost and behaviour worsened.  

As a single loop learning cycle...

How can we make our work more efficient?

I decided that to try and increase focus and therefore productivity I needed to have better class control.  To do this I used a one-minute silence to enforce the idea of concentration and to explain that this is the forfeit of bad behaviour.

My aim was to do things right by continuing with my original plan but to reach my goal.  I was learning to solve the problem but ignoring the question of why it arose in the first place.

As a double loop learning cycle...

Is this way of working most effective towards our goals?

The answer to this was no.  I still could not progress with my class and the focus was still being lost.  Plus the fact that I couldn't get anything done because we would sit in silence for so long.  So based on that I decided to take a completely new route and scrapped all the exercises other than the warm-up and worked on letting them create the movements rather than me teaching them.  This worked a lot better and with the help of my guidance on the movements they were able to create work that showed improved co-ordination and rhythm.  With this theory I was doing the right things which showed a more successful goal.

Possible lines of inquiry...

• Which methods of teaching within dance create the best outcome?
• Is dance within education hindered by the use of discipline?

Right now I am still unsure on my exact line of inquiry but I know that it will probably lay within the idea of teaching dance within education and private dance schools and the difference between those.  I still need to work through reader 4 to progress my thoughts more.