Although I have found that writing up the critical review has been, and still is a difficult challenge I am pleased to say that getting on actually putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys) has helped me to iron out any difficulties I had with my thinking.
I had blogged a couple of times about the issues I was having with my data, how I felt that I wasn't seeing what I expected or that perhaps I wasn't having the revelations that I hoped I would through undertaking the inquiry, I actually felt that once I started putting everything together through the process of writing up that my thinking became much clearer. When it came to writing up the inquiry and being forced to look for and write the relationships between the plan, the actual process, the data collected and the literature I found that I had a lot more to say that I had initially thought, in fact a little too much to say as I am now editing and trying to control my word count. I wonder if anyone else has found that actually the process of being forced to write things up has enabled them to order their thinking and make sense of the data to be able to draw better conclusions?
Still as in my previous blog I am worrying that controlling the word count and re-arranging things will mean that I start taking out things of value, my thinking is more together through the process of writing up but now I need to be able to communicate this effectively.
The biggest things that writing up and completing more literature reviews, along with talking to other practitioners both on the blogs and within my working environment, helped me to clear up were my concerns relating to discrimination. I was concerned that undermining the aim of my inquiry by drawing the conclusion that fully inclusive classes were not necessarily the best way to go, meant that I was coming to conclusions that would in fact lead to discrimination.
I have spend a lot of time looking at my data and reading around this subject and found that my thinking is mirrored by other practitioners out there, and in fact by disabled dancers themselves who acknowledge that often although teacher think they are providing an inclusive approach they are not, and that we need to be honest about whether we can achieve equal results for all students in the class, and if not then maybe we should look again at our approach and what is realistically achievable.
Students should be able to learn where they feel comfortable, it may be that appropriate adaptations can be made for some students with learning disabilities to be able to attend mainstream classes without effecting the overall content of the lesson, some LD students may thrive in this environment, if this is the case then this can and should be done. But it also may be the fact that the level is too high, that the student doesn't enjoy this and that by trying to adjust the teaching all students are disadvantaged by trying to accommodate too many differing needs.
There is nothing discriminatory about offering classes that fill a specific need, and there is a need for classes that are designed for particular groups of people to enable them to enjoy and learn at their own pace. Discrimination is about excluding people, offering more is not excluding people, it is just giving them more options. And inclusion can always be achievable within this, coming together of groups for workshops and performances and in appreciating dance. Inclusion is important and possible but of equal importance is knowing and teaching the people in-front of you. Being mindful of their needs and meeting these in the most appropriate way for them to enjoy and achieve.
It is the process of undertaking the inquiry, reading literature reviews, looking at data, talking to people and finally trying to put all of this together into a written piece that has allowed me to develop my thinking, panic that I am wrong, be determined that I am write, be challenged, think again, and to draw conclusions that I am not 100% sure are correct but that give me a platform to move forward with my practice and discover a bit more....
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