Monday, 19 November 2012

Reviewing Section 4 with reference to the Professional Enquiry reader



The process of Inquiry; “investigate, explore, evaluate and understand your professional practice.” This is the opening statement from the professional inquiry reader, and the reason that we have undertaken the tasks in part 4. To develop questions by looking at our practice and the practice of others, further develop them by conversing with peers, professional colleagues, SIG groups, using reflection and networking skills learned in module one. The purpose of which is to become more educated and rounded professionals by knowing what we need to investigate, understand and change in order to plan a meaningful and useful enquiry.

I wanted to take this opportunity, now that I have a better idea of my questioning and the direction of my enquiry and look back over the reader and reflect on whether I am using the ideas, explanations and concepts and how they relate to my inquiry and the work I have been doing.

Kahn and Rouke (2004) describe inquiry based learning as requiring the learner to
“engage with relevant problems and scenarios, draw on existing
knowledge, seek out new evidence and analyse and present
that evidence in appropriate ways.”
In developing the questions for this enquiry I have undertaken the first part of this, I have looked into my areas of practice and considered the problems that are encountered, I have also questioned peers in order to evaluate whether they share similar concerns. I have considered my existing knowledge in terms of dance education, working within mainstream and special needs to ascertain the difficulties and benefits and used particular scenarios to develop my lines of questioning.
I am hoping that through these lines of questioning I will be able to undertake the second part of the quote. To seek out new evidence by further investigate what is already being done in terms of inclusive dance education, dance therapies and the benefits, potentially apply this to my own practice and to analyse whether an integrated approach could be developed to use in all inclusive dance education.

The concept of “Learning organisations” Senges (1994) could be potentially relevant when an individual undertakes a professional enquiry within the work place. Learning organisiations can be defined by dividing it into five points.
·         Systems Thinking – Understanding how things influence one another as part of a whole. In terms of my inquiry line this is relevant, understanding how the teaching of dance influences the student from a holistic view point. Then using this to influence my practice and potentially the practice of my colleagues within our organization, setting new best practice ideas and techniques.
·         Personal Mastery – “commitment of the individual to the process of learning”. I am committed to learning in order to improve my practice and pass on development to my colleagues.
·         Mental Models = Assumptions, we assume we know how or why we are doing specific things, often to bring about meaningful change and growth these models need to be challenged. For my inquiry I am interested in challenging traditional teaching methods in order to see if alternative methods might be appropriate.
·         Shared vision - This is an important motivation. If undertaking enquiry in the work place it is essential to know that this information will be listened to and taken into account in order for there to be a drive to complete and a benefit for the organisation.
·         Team learning – An individual piece of work or enquiry that is shared with the whole staff has the potential to strengthen the team as a whole, enabling everyone to benefit and possibly change widly used practices.

I understand then that being part of a learning organisation hold benefits, as there is a potential to learn from many sources, if more than one individual engages in individual learning as it will strengthen a team, it allows rigid ideas and models to be challenged enabling the a systems thinking approach allowing the change of one element to influence the whole.

This I think relates directly to Argyris and Schons double loop learning. Rather than detecting an error, correcting it and maintaining the outcome or strategy, it is the strategy itself that is questioned and modified, changing the way consequences are seen. Reflection is then aimed at making the strategy more effective, I think this is the motivation for my enquiry. I understand my teaching techniques are sound at achieving the outcome required – improved technique. I wish to push this further by adjusting the required outcome, in order to achieve greater benefit by including social and emotional growth, I then hope that this will have a secondary effect of improving the original goal of technique. By adjusting strategy and challenging original ideas I hope that it might be possible to gain greater results.

Kreber (2009) Talks about Transdisciplinary Knowledge and describes it as
“a lense or framework through which to explore,
understand and act upon the world.”
For me again this is where I have found the motivation for ideas behind my enquiry. I work in three main areas, as a ballet teacher for young adults and teenager, within adult social care, working with adults with learning disabilities to lead fulfilling lives, and supporting workshops for those with special educational needs. It is the combination of these factors that have given me a different perspective on what I wish to achieve as a dance teacher. For me looking at a student in terms of technique is not simply enough, I have learned that personal fulfilment is vital for wellbeing through working in social care, and I have also learned that expressive arts can have a massive impact on this. In addition I have witnessed that people excel at what they enjoy, I hope to find that there is a way to combine all three aspects in a method that includes additional benefits, creative therapies and technique teaching to create a much more dynamic and valuable teaching environment. It is transdisciplinary knowledge that is informing the direction I wish to move in as a professional practitioner and is the entire basis for my enquiry.

Eraut (1994) discusses professional knowledge and how it is achieved,
“professional knowledge is constructed through experience, and its nature depends
 on a cumulative acquisition, selection and interpretation of that experience.”
This directly supports the notion of professional enquiry as it gives the learner the opportunity to create new experiences, acquire the skills to undertake the experience and then the opportunity to interpret of reflect on that experience, to form knowledge, not unlike the ideas put forward in module one of Kolb’s learning cycle.
Eraut also discussed that the dual qualification system, that is undertaking academic education followed by apprenticeship may be inferior to a more integrated approach, and suggests that is the integration of both experiences simultaneously such as that achieved by part time study linked to regular employment could potentially achieve greater and more applied professional knowledge.  

It is through thinking about these concepts and theories that I have a greater understanding of the purpose if the professional enquiry, and also now I have begun to develop the ideas for my enquiry topic that I can see how it relates specifically to me. I now feel that this I am in a good position to move on to considering the Ethical issues that are presented in reader 5 and how this will apply to me as I move forward with my planning.


1 comment:

  1. This is a good start in developing the questions you want to develop for your inquiry - there is evidence of thinking around the theoretical approaches - now it's time to focus on the questions you want answers to and looking at some literature around these kinds of questions

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