Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

I have found the process of choosing my line of inquiry very helpful. When I first started I had so many questions that all led off in so many different directions, As you can see from my post “question time” (http://eloiseaharris.blogspot.com/2012/03/question-time.html). I didn’t know what I wanted to do my inquiry about as so many different aspects of my teaching career are important to me and I struggled to clarify initially what would be most helpful for me and my career and also relevant. In hindsight my initial questions were either not focused enough and so broad it would have been nearly impossible to do and inquiry on, or they would not actually help my career in anyway so there seemed little point in doing them as if it was a matter of personal interest I could just research it. After discussing it with my tutor we agreed that it would be an opportunity missed not to do it on my time teaching in the UAE so I decided on ‘ How does my dance teaching practice in the UK compare to my dance teaching practice in the UAE?’

After deciding my title I then moved on to the ethics tasks of section 5.  I had recently had a couple of meetings at work about the ethics expected in our profession so I was already aware of the professional codes of practice that we followed. (http://eloiseaharris.blogspot.com/2012/05/ethics.html)  However know that I knew what my inquiry was about it helped me to think about the ethics involved in my inquiry. My inquiry is to be self-reflective and no children will be interviewed, videoed or named throughout the process so there are no ethical issues there. I did however know I wanted a second opinion within my inquiry to help me form opinion better. Whilst my opinion and views will ultimately shape my inquiry I want to make sure I don’t make any sweeping statements etc. 

When deciding on what method to use to extract information from other dance teachers in my position I tried three different options; a survey, a interview and a focus group. ( http://eloiseaharris.blogspot.com/2012/05/research-tools-evaluation.html) Before I even started I thought the focus group would be most helpful, as it would allow discussions to evolve between the teachers. As mentioned in my ‘Research Tools Evaluation’ I would have like to of done a class observation but it would just not be feasible. I did find the process helpful as after doing the interview I had an idea of what questions helped the candidates give the most amount of information so then I used these questions when holding my focus group. I did post my survey within my SIG ‘ teaching dance to young children’ however I didn’t get any response as I wanted only people that had taught both in the UK and abroad to fill it in. I asked other professionals I know that have, but as mentioned in my evaluation I didn’t find the survey overly helpful. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HP2FYZ5.

Over all I have found the development process I have gone through very helpful. Deciding my line of inquiry early on was excellent as it allowed me to have a focus in mind when going through the different stages of both the ethics section and inquiry tools. Without having gone through these stages I do not feel my plan for my inquiry would be as focused. 

Research Tools Evaluation

Having chosen to do my inquiry about teaching abroad I did a questionnaire for different professionals in the industry I know that have taught abroad, just to find out if many other people experienced differences like I have when they moved abroad. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HP2FYZ5. I didn’t find the survey overly helpful as whilst it did help me collect data and surveymonkey was brilliant for condensing all my responses and making my data very clear, I found I didn’t collect as many details as I was hoping to.

I did a pilot interview on a colleague who is currently teaching out here in the UAE and whilst I found I gained a lot more information from this source than from my survey I did feel like there was still more to give.

I then conducted a short pilot focus group and my colleague that did the pilot interview along with other dance teachers I know out here agreed to participate. I found that a lot more information was gathered, even in the short amount of time that I had them talking. My colleague that had done the interview opened up a lot more when with other people. I found that when they were talking altogether it helped remind them of situations that they had also experienced that they may not have remembered on their own.

It was not possible to do a pilot observation as it would require me to go to the UK and observe a teacher there and then observe the same teacher in the UAE to do a fair comparison. Whilst this would actually be a very effective and informative piece of research as I would be a third party observer being able to take an unbiased view the logistics of it are unreasonable.

For that reason I have found that a focus group is the most effective way of drawing out the most amount of information from the people I am questioning. I only have a small handful of people that I have access to that I can ask to answer my questions so the more information gathered from each individual the more it will help me. 

Ethics

Ethics – Code of practice.

In January as part of our work training and continual professional development we had to review the ethics and child safety procedures of where I work so I already ready know them so can’t really go wholly on my thoughts as I am recently informed on them. I remember at the time though that most were as I expected but I think that my training had prepared me well for what the expectations are of a teacher and children’s safety. I remember that I was impressed and pleased to see that the R.A.D have within their Code of Conduct and Professional Practice that teachers must maintain ‘up-to-date subject knowledge and understanding’. I personally think that sometimes it is under estimated how important it is to review your knowledge of the syllabus as a teacher as it is only fair to the children you are teaching to provide them with the best possible education you can provide.