After my initial research into this module, I reflect on the summary which states us to devise a list of questions which we will put to our respective peers, students, co-workers etc in order to begin the road on developing my inquiry.
As previously mentioned, my professional practise relating to my BAPP's qualification is helping working alongside teachers in the state school St Peters in Bournemouth, and also helping out at the Pavilion Dance South West (PDSW) which is located in the town centre. I have touched briefly on what the Pavilion Dance offers, but wanted to outline in more detail having spent more time there.
It is a national dance development agency and so therefore supports all sections of the community to engage in dance through doing or watching it. They engage with very young children through the intensive holiday activities along with annual youth dance platforms and offers classes specifically for children. The Pavilion also offers over 40 classes a week for adults, some of which i have had the pleasure to enjoy. It attracts people who love to dance, ex professionals, and while including a class for the over 60's and a Parkinson's dance class it shows that sense of catering for everyone that wishes to be involved. They support local artist and practitioners who are also very valuable members of the community and have three programmed seasons professional public performances. They also work closely with associate schools - and funnily enough St Peters has just been one of there most recent recruits! Small world when you work in it i suppose, but this has also given me the opportunity to see how the operational systems work and how funding within the art is at risk. PDSW design a bespoke programme of annual activity in accordance to their specific needs, whether it be cross curricular or not. In addition to this they also offer teachers CPD (Continuing professional development) specifically for GCSE, BTEC & A Level Dance syllabus work which is fantastic to drive the current dance teachers out there to continue in their practise. Having spent more time with the staff I have come to realise the risk of school funding across the board and so PDSW is a work place that is always trying to endeavour to offer a wide variety of dance activity out side of school time and encourage those to keep engaging in it. A prime example of this would be the Creative Careers Fair destined especially for those who are thinking to pursue a career in dance.
As I reflect on this knowledge that I have recently gained from PDSW, it allows me to broaden my questions that I have to base my inquiry off. Because I feel the two work places are similar but at the same time totally different, I wanted to compose two sets of questions which I will put to the two respective people that I will use to represent. From this I will be able to compare answers and evaluate the comparisons which may lead into my final inquiry question.
St Peters School - Questions
1) Do you believe the syllabus provides the students with a broad enough knowledge on the subject, or is there restriction to their learning?
2) Do you find it difficult to engage enthusiasm from particular students who have picked dance as an 'easy subject' - does this cause frustration as a teacher?
3) Over time has there been a significant change in the way Dance is perceived as a subject? If so how and what support is needed from other departments within the school.
4) In comparison to other subjects, how do you think students engage in dance as apposed to maths or science? Is there a strategy to help them express themselves into the art?
5) What issues are there with funding within the dance department? Have they improved/not improved over the last year?
6) What do you think the benefits are of after school dance clubs and how do help facilitate the students who want to progress in the subject.
Pavilion Dance South West - Questions
1) Do you believe the structure of your organisation helps encourage students to pursue a career in dance? If so how?
2) How do you encourage engagement within the subject to children that may have been taken to you not out of their own choice, for example - summer schools etc
3) What skills and services do you provide to students who want to take Dance further into vocational training that my differ from an academic school?
4) How do you open opportunities to the public community? Are there risks to this? If so, what are they?
5) What issues are there with funding within your organisation? How have they improved / not improved over the last year?
6) What do you think the positives and negatives are of opening up your dance facility to all ages and abilities?
7) How do you believe you can help people within the community to relate to Dance as an art form?
As you can see I have some similar questions to both parties and I also have some different questions which relate to the particular practise.
I would love your feedback on my research into PDSW and also the questions that I have devised. A fellow blogger and BAPP's student Jessica Plant and I have discussed our similarities in our professional practise and know we are keen to relate and compare questions/answers that we have leading into our inquiry.
I should have the answers to these next week so keep checking my blog to find out what the outcome was!
Thanks
Steph X
Hi Steph,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention on your blog. It's good to see your questions after our discussions recently.
I think your questions 'Do you find it difficult to engage enthusiasm from particular students who have picked dance as an 'easy subject' - does this cause frustration as a teacher?' and 'How do you encourage engagement within the subject to children that may have been taken to you not out of their own choice, for example - summer schools etc' would be interesting lines of inquiry because you could highlight similarities, differences or even gaps in the way your different organisations engage students. For example, your mainstream education school might be engaging students in one way that aren't being used at the Pavilion Dance South West.
I find your question 'Over time has there been a significant change in the way Dance is perceived as a subject? If so how and what support is needed from other departments within the school' and 'What issues are there with funding within your organisation? How have they improved / not improved over the last year?' both link to government initiative. I think this could be a really interesting line of inquiry to see what impact government agendas and initiative are having on performing arts within both compulsory and independent organisations. I see you have started to look at literature into this. Do you think it will be difficult to find literature on this topic that isn't biased?
I found the reading from Reader 4: 'Denscombe, M. (2010) Ground Rules for Social Research - Guidelines for Good Practice 2nd Edition. New York: Open University Press' really useful when I wasn't sure how my questions could be possible lines on inquiry. I think you might find this useful when thinking about the purpose of your inquiry. I have also posted a blog on this which you might find useful.
Hope this is helpful,
Jess.
Hi jess,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for you're lovely comment.
I have been away with family commitments and then had a short break to amsterdam so feel i am playing major catch up!
I really have looked further into my questions and how my two areas will maybe conflict and compliment one another. I am still waiting upon my teacher at the school to provide me with answers to my questions so this is what I will hope to focus on in my next blog.
I do fear that biased opinions may shine out, but I have not reached the extent of my research yet so only time will tell.
I have just blogged about my SIG and have requested to join into yours. I will do some more background reading over the next day or so and hopefully feel caught up again within my work! Thank you for your suggestion of reading material, it is on my list to do and I will give you my thoughts and feedback as soon as.
Look forward to exploring more ideas with you.
Steph