Danni Webber: Critical Reflection on professional practitioner inquiry.

Module two has provided me great opportunity for professional growth, both in understanding and practical skills. I now feel more professionally confident, and secure, providing me with direction for further development.

Developing lines of professional enquiry.

When searching for my line of inquiry, I struggled with finding the right questions to ask. Many topics really interested me. (Appendix 1). My initial questions were too broad and couldn’t pinpoint a direction. This prompted me to develop further questions related to a particular career transition (Appendix 2). These questions were answered immediately from by BAPP peers and therefore I realised this topic was too narrow. After further thought, setting up SIG, (Appendix 3) conversing with my peers and advisor and a particularly relevant work experience (Appendix 4) I settled on a theme of the benefits of dance. It was only after networking, relating my ideas to my practice, reflecting and considering the impact of this new knowledge was I able to discover what I really wanted to know. Asking the questions and developing them with support from others allowed me to discover in myself what is important and how I move forward. I feel more confident and secure as a professional having gained this insight and in developing a line of inquiry that I see as valuable for my continuing professional development.

Professional Ethics.

I had considered ethics a fairly simple topic; how I choose to live, work and behave are determined by my ethical code, I would not be willing to align myself with anything that does not parallel this. (Appendix 5).

In looking at the ethical codes of practice provided by my employers I found that I agreed with the guidance, and came to realise that if I did not then it wouldn’t be my professional field. I do what I do as I consider it valuable and important, not simply for my self but for others and therefore feel that ethics directly informs my employment.

The reader explained ethical frameworks, I was able to apply some of these more easily to my employment that others (Appendix 6) and realised that ways of viewing ethics can be complicated, there are different motivations, implication and even legislation plays can play a role but the overall message for me was to work in a way that causes least harm. This is what I will be constantly in mind of professionally and during inquiry. (Appendix 7)

Professional inquiry tools.

I developed a whole new set of skills in piloting inquiry tools. It allowed me to develop my line of professional inquiry further by ascertaining through trial and reflection which methods would best suit to gain the data that I required.

It also allowed me to gain professional confidence by trailing ideas with professional colleagues and creating new dialogues around my topic of interest. (Appendix 8)

I found further support in my literature reviews, (Appendix (9), (10) & (11) showing that there are publicly accepted ideas around my topic but also showing a niche for my specific area.

It will allow me to move forward not only with confidence in my methodology but also in the validity of my ideas.

References.

Middlesex University, (2012) (e) Reader 4 Developing Lines of Professional Inquiry, BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Arts WBS 3630.

Middlesex University, (2012) (f) Reader 5 Professional Ethics, BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Arts WBS 3630.

Middlesex University, (2012) (g) Reader 6 Tools of Professional Inquiry, BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Arts WBS 3630.

Oliver, P (2010) The Students Guide to research ethics. 2.ed Maidenhead: Open university press

Skoning, S. N. (2008). Movement in dance in the inclusive classroom. Teaching Exceptional Children Plus, [online] Wisconsin. Available from: http://journals.cec.sped.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1512&context=tecplus [Accessed 05/12/12]

Webber, D (2012) BA (Hons) Professional Practice Blog. [online] available from

http://danniwebber.blogspot.co.uk/

Appendix.

(1) http://danniwebber.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/module-2-task-4a-questions.html