petition for creative subjects in ebacc

I think we are probably all keen to sign this petition!

http://www.baccforthefuture.com/sign-the-petition.html

Please sign to request an inquiry into the lack of creative subjects in the ebacc

Timeline

My mind is on red alert! Too many thoughts are zooming around so I have tried to get them down on paper. Following the thrid campus session on Wednesday, I have taken Paula's advice and created a sort of timeline to help me focus. I will also be creating a more refined list of 'things to do' just this week. I really recommend doing this - it definitely helps to 'sort' things in your head.

Interview technique

This week I conducted two of my interviews. One interview was with the Vice principal of the school I work in and the other was with a mother of a teenage girl. Something that I noticed and had no anticipated was how differently I had to conduct myself when interviewing two very different people. The interview with the Vice principal was much more formal. I read the questions from my sheet of paper and very much stuck to the wording I had prepared. I was quiet as he spoke with the occassional nod of interest and agreement. When interviewing the mother, I quickly found that the questions were too formal and I needed to differenciate them to suit her understanding. The Vice principal was obviously used to academic style questions and answered in a similar style. This was unsuitable to the mother. I found that I had to almost 'translate' the questions to an appropriate terminology. She also needed more promting to develop her answers through verbal encouragement such as 'yes/ I see what you mean/ can you explain a bit more'.
I found this very interesting as it was something that I have not heard anyone talk about and the experience, although quite obvious with hindsight, was not something Iwas prepared for. I felt pleased with myself that I was able to instantly adapt my technique. Has anyone else had this experience?

Goldsmiths open day

Today I went to Goldsmiths university open day to attend a talk on 'being a secondary school teacher'. The talk was conducted by Ruth Bailey who works at Goldsmiths and the people were there to find out about the PGCE course they offer. It was very eye opening to be told that Drama students are not offered any bussery funds for taking the course whereas students taking a Maths or Science PGCE are entitled to £20,000! This is a prime example of how the government favour these subjects and have no revere for Drama.

Here is the information table provided by the Department for Education. I asked Ruth if Drama came under the 'other priority' section but it doesn't.


Financial incentives for those who train in 2013/14

Training bursary 2013/14	ITT subject/phase
	Physics1, chemistry1, maths	Modern languages	Primary maths specialist2	Other priority secondary3 and primary
Trainee with first	£20,000	£20,000	£11,000	£9,000
2:1	£15,000	£15,000	£6,000	£4,000
2:2	£12,000	£12,000	£0	£0

Guardian article

An excellent article from today's 'Guardian'.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/nov/02/arts-leaders-concerns-ebacc-schools?commentpage=last#end-of-comments

Department of Educaiton - What is statutory?

Today I have been researching 'what is statutory?' in education from the Department of Education website. What I have discovered has shocked me. I had no idea that Dance and Drama are not even on the statutory curriculum list! I knew that they were not 'core' subjects but I had no idea that a school can actually choose not to teach them at all! See for yourselves, below:

About the school curriculum:
What is statutory?

Key Stage 1

The statutory subjects that all pupils must be taught at Key Stage 1 are: art and design, design and technology, English, geography, history, information and communication technology, mathematics, music, physical education and science. Religious education must also be provided.

Key Stage 2

The statutory subjects that all pupils must be taught at Key Stage 2 are: art and design, design and technology, English, geography, history, information and communication technology, mathematics, music, physical education and science. Religious education must also be provided.

Key Stage 3

The statutory subjects that all pupils must be taught at Key Stage 3 are: art and design, citizenship, design and technology, English, geography, history, information and communication technology, mathematics, modern foreign languages, music, physical education and science. The teaching of careers education, sex education and religious education is also statutory.

Key Stage 4

Key stage 4 National Curriculum requirements are set out in section 85 of the Education Act 2002, as substituted. Students study a mix of compulsory subjects (core & foundation) and, if they so elect, a course of study in a subject within each of four ‘entitlement’ areas. The compulsory subjects (with statutory programmes of study) are:

Core	Mathematics
	English
	Science *
Foundation	ICT
	PE
	Citizenship

* In relation to science, students have a statutory entitlement to have access to a course of study leading to at least two science GCSEs. Schools have to offer all students access to either science GCSE and additional science GCSE or all three of physics, chemistry and biology GCSEs. Schools may choose to offer other combinations of qualifications, but these must be in addition to, rather than instead of, these combinations.
In addition to the core and foundation subjects, students may opt to follow a course of study in a subject within one or more of the four ‘entitlement areas’ as they may choose. These subjects do not have statutory programmes of study. The entitlement areas and subjects within each of them are:

Entitlement area	Subject
Arts	Art & Design Music Dance Drama Media arts
Design & Technology	Design & Technology
Humanities	Geography History
Modern foreign language (MFL)	Any modern foreign language specified in an order made by the Secretary of State – no such order has been made

The statutory requirements of the entitlement areas are:

• Schools must provide access to a minimum of one course in each of the four entitlement areas.
• Courses available under the entitlement areas must give students the opportunity to obtain a qualification approved by the Secretary of State for the purposes of section 96 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000.

Schools must also provide religious education, sex education and careers education.


Looking on the TES website, I looked in to how many hours in terms of timetabling, lessons should have. This is the Keystage 3 guide line (Years 7 and 8). Note that Drama and Dance are not even mentioned.

KS3 Curriculum Time

Subject	Recommended time per week*	Total hours over year	Percentage of a 21-hour teaching week
English	3 hours	108	12%
Mathematics	3 hours	108	12%
Science	3 hours	108	12%
ICT	1 hour	36	4%
D&T	1½ hours	54	6%
History	1¼ hours	45	5%
Geography	1¼ hours	45	5%
Modern Languages	2 hours	72	8%
Art & Design	1 hour	36	4%
Music	1 hour	36	4%
PE	1½ hours	54	6%
Citizenship	45 minutes	27	3%
RE	1¼ hours	45	5%
TOTAL	21½ hours	774 hours	86%

In my school, KS3 pupils have 18 hours of Maths, English and Science in a 6 week period. They have 2 hours of Drama and 0 hours of Dance in a 6 week period.

Is intelligence based on academic ability?

Today I had a conversation with a colleague of mine who is a Maths teacher. I asked her why she thought that Maths is given more timetable space than other subjects. She immediately informed me that in fact English is given an hour more a week than Maths and she couldn't understand why this was the case. She said that 'everybody can already speak English'. This made me giggle and of course, presumming you have been brought up in England, she was quite right.
I went on to say that I completely see that Maths is very important in day to day life and an education system without Maths, would be unthinkable. I explained my suggestion that education should differenciate between 'numeracy' and 'hardcore maths' more. Those that want to go in to a career where factorising quadratic equations are necessary should opt for 'Maths' and the rest of society can opt for 'numeracy' ( multiplication, graphs, adding and subtraction etc). I believe the same could apply for English. Those who see themselves heading towards a career in poetry, author, journalist, teacher etc, may need to understand personifciation, metaphors and hyperbole. Others, I  believe would benefit more from 'literacy' lessons where they learn spellings, grammar, punctuation and how to read. Believe me when I tell you, these basic skills are not being mastered at the moment in schools!
My colleague didn't agree with my suggestion and said that without the current timetable space for Maths and English, we would be left with an unintelligent society. This I thought was very interesting as she completely confirmed what Ken Robinson had said in his TED talk :
 Robinson talks about how our education system is based on a hierarchy wherein most uesful subjects for a job are considered to be the most important and academic ability has really come to dominate our view of intelligence because the universities designed the system in their image!

Making Mathematics Count article - What are your thought?

I have just read an article taken from a report called Making Mathematics Count, Smith, 2004. I wanted to find some information that explained why Maths is considered to be so important in education. There are many comments from the article that I agree with. I do think Maths is important. My question however, is whether it is more important than other subjects that are not considered 'core' subjects (Maths, Science and English). I would appreciate any thoughts and comments on the section below.

Mathematics is of central importance to modern society. It provides the vital underpinning of the knowledge economy. It is essential in the physical sciences, technology, business, financial services and many areas of ICT. It is also of growing importance in biology, medicine and many of the social sciences. Mathematics forms the basis of most scientific and industrial research and development. Increasingly, many complex systems and structures in the modern world can only be understood using mathematics and much of the design and control of high-technology systems depends on mathematical inputs and outputs. Mathematics provides a powerful universal language and intellectual toolkit for abstraction, generalisation and synthesis. It is the language of science and technology. It enables us to probe the natural universe and to develop new technologies that have helped us control and master our environment, and change societal expectations and standards of living. Mathematical skills are highly valued and sought after. Mathematical training disciplines the mind, develops logical and critical reasoning and develops analytical and problem-solving skills to a high degree. The acquisition of at least basic mathematical skills - commonly referred to as "numeracy"- is vital to the life opportunities and achievements of individual citizens. Research shows that problems with basic skills have a continuing adverse effect on people's lives and that problems with numeracy lead to the greatest disadvantages for the individual in the labour market and in terms of general social exclusion. Individuals with limited basic mathematical skills are less likely to be employed and, if they are employed, are less likely to have been promoted or to have received further training.

Sir Ken Robinson literature review

Sir Ken Robinson is an education and creativity expert. I have come accross a talk he did at the TED conference in 2006.

Are Schools Killing Creativity

In this talk, Robinson gives examples of children (under the age of 10) who, like most children, are artistic and learn through visual, auditory and kinesthetic means. These learning practices, such as drawing, dancing etc are encouraged at this young age but as the child matures, it is customary to discourage such learning measures in favour of an academic education. Robinson believes that this has a negative effect on people. Children slowly become more and more inhibited as their education progesses.
In all countries around the world, creative subjects are given the least learning space, in terms of the number of hours taught per week. Robinson says:

“My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.”

I agree with this statement. In my own place of work, I regulary see pupils who are not academically minded, flurishing in creative subjects. Robinson gives an example of how Gillian Lyn, choreographer of 'Cats', was taken to see a doctor during her school years as her mother thought that she may be ill. Lyn was 'unable to sit still'. These days she may have been diagnosed with ADHD, which medication is prescribed for. Luckily the doctor Lyn saw, performed a small experiment on her rather than medicating her. He left her in a room on her own and turned on the radio. Lyn immediately began to dance. This child was not ill. She had simply not yet found her true calling. She is now a millionaire, highly successful and regarded as one of the world's leading choreographers.

What I found so useful about Robinson's talk was that he understands and explains to the audience that success can not be solely recognised by academic achievment. What does success actually mean? To today's educational board, success means passing exams with an A*-C grade. Most importantly in English, Maths and Science. I myself had to re-take my GCSE science exam in 2010 at the age of 29 so I can go on to teach dance!!! Why is a C grade in science imperritive to a dance teacher?

Robinson also says:

 "our education system is predicated on the idea of academic ability". Yet there are so many highly successful individuals who are not academically capable. Or maybe they are, yet they do not consider academic areas to be of interest to them and have chosen a creative path.

I shall be using some of the quotes from Robinson's talk when carrying out questions to my interviewees and look forward to hearing their thoughts in return.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with Robinson that creative subjects should have as much timetable space as academic subjects?

Campus session 2, Module 3

Here is a summary of yesterday's campus session held by Paula and Adesola.

To start of the session, Paula briefly spoke about the literature that we are in the process of collecting. She encouraged us all to create a 'digital file' in which we keep all our sources of literature under. An obvious suggestion, though all of us admitted to having not done this! She also explained that literature can be used from previous references we have come accross during the course ie. Schon. 

Things to do

• For week 7-It is not long until we need to send your advisor a 1 page description of our artefact. This can be blogged but also send directly to your advisor.  
• On week 9, send your advisor your Critical Review draft for feedback. 
• Continue to blog about conversations you  are having about your inquiry at work.
• Watch Peter Thomas' 'writing' youtube clip from libguides
• Say what your action plan is. This will help to remind you what you have left to do and what stage you are up to.

Today we spoke about the Critical Review and then the Professional Artefact.

Critical Review: 
Paula explained to us some of the contents the Critical Review should contain.
In order to show what you have shared with SIGS, you can report any  actual conversations via your blog and/or journal (aswell as any on LinkedIn, Facebook etc).

Explain if/how your writing skills have been improved from doing this course.

Be sure to explain how you interpret certain words. Others may understand a word in a different way. For example, what does the word success mean to you? Financial stability? Fame? Respect? Full time work?

The Critical Review is a piece of writing which explian the journey you have encountered during this course.

This is also true of the Professional Artefact.

Professional Artefact:
Adesola explained to us what the intention of the Professional Artefact is. Just like the Critical Review, the Artefact is there to demonstrate your journey throughout this course. Academics like to see a 'report' in written form, however, as we all come from an artistic background, a written report may not be suitable in your line of work. Your artefact should be formed as a suitable 'language'  that your industry will understand. For example, if you work as a dancer, your artefact might be a dance. Both the Critical Review and the Artefact must show the journey, not the the outcome.

        Critical Review       +        Professional Artefact

 (written form)                     (non written form)

=Two form of explaining 

My lightbulb moment!!

During the session, Paula went round each of us, asking us to explain to the group one of our findings. This exercise was very beneficial to me because I realised that I have been trying to 'prove' that my way of thinking is right rather than acutally carrying out an inquiry. I actually feel that a lightbulb has been switched on in my brain! Up until now, I have been steering the outcome of my inquiry in the way I want it to. Adesola actually said to me ' but that's not an inquiry'. I now realise that it is impossible to know the outcome of an inquiry before you have finished it. Maybe my inquiry will show that dance and drama is not important in mainstream education. Just because I think it is, my finding may show otherwise. I feel very enlightened by this simple realisation. I felt quite embarrassed that I had been so slow to pick up on this, but also reassured when it turned out that other members of the group have been doing the same thing. I will be making sure that my literature resources are not one sided and there is a possibility that my sources of data/interviewees may also have to be reassessed. This is something that I can then reflect upon and talk about in my Critical Review. Adesola also warned us not to try to get your findings/data from your own experiences. You will endoubtedly be biassed!

Feedback Review

Today I have re-read my feedback from module WBS 3630 in order to clarify in my mind where I am and which areas need to be focussed on.
The working title of my inquiry is 'An exploration into the importance of Dance and Drama within education'. The overall intention of my inquiry was to evaluate whether subjects such as Dance and Drama have a place in today's educational system. I initially had grand ideas of putting my arguement across to the Principal of the secondary school I work in as a Teaching Assistant, and somehow re-molding the curriculum to incorporate more time to the creative subjects. Although I whole heartedly believe that this would be a massive leap in the right direction for the British education system, Paula's feedback made me realise that with the time frame I have and to be quite honest, the lack of authority I pocess, it would be too difficult to 'prove' that a creative curriculum should be adopted in my school. This could be regarded with a certain dispondency, but what Paula also highlighted to me was that although I can not necessarily change the teaching methods that the government have set in place, I can certainly use the valuable, creative teaching methods I have explored to improve my own teaching performance.
The literature I had read during Module WBS 3630 was appropriate to my inquiry and so the next step for me will be to find further resources which may also include educational policies and curriculum information.
Having realised that the initial question to my inquiry is too wide a topic area, I may benefit by concentrating on the sub-questions I had proposed in my Inquiry Plan. 1. Are creative subjects considered as important as academic subjects and why? 2. Should Dance and Drama be taught independently of governmnent run schools? Choosing just one of these avenues will allow my inquiry to be more specific and ultimately executed with more precision.
My feedback also encouraged me to take on some voluntary activities that could aid my inquiry. I recently directed the Shakespeare's school festival production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', which has enabled me to witness first hand, the growth in terms of confidence and ability, pupils' learn when taking part in creative projects. This has been as invaluable addition to my inquiry.

Time management....Failed?

At last it is half term and I have dedicated this week to uni work. At the beginning of every module, I try to stick to the weekly guides given to us in the handbook so as to stay on track but due to the fact that I work full time and have a second job, it is virtually impossible. This has upset me in the past but due to the nature of the course (work based), I have realised that although it is not ideal, it is possible for me to work in heavy doses when time allows rather than evenly spread out, as I would prefer. As the course is specifically created to teach us how to cope in a professional world, I have also realised that in Education, this is how the profession exists - during term time, there is virtually no room for extracurricular activities. The job is far too demanding. Anything 'extra' can really only be done during school holidays, which can often take away any connotations of 'holiday' ie. fun, lie-ins, lazy days!
A week of unpaid work that I sincerely hope will one day 'pay off', here I come!

Shakespeare schools festival

Well the performance went really well! I'm astonished because I was pulling my hair out just the day before the show. I'm so proud of the pupils. The time and effort they put in was amazing.
I found directing to be a very strange experience. I've only ever been on stage myself before which obviously involves being involved right up until the appaulse at the end. It was odd having to hand that over to other people and not being able to participate in the very final moments. All I could do was watch and hope things went smoothly. We had a few 'moments'  - lines being forgotten, one pupil vomiting backstage and one of the teacher's sons having to go on instead and me having to whisk my top off to provide a 'shawl' as a prop that went walkies!
The experience has defintiely left me wanting more in terms of producing and directing and it has also made me realise how much I miss being on stage myself.

My first professional directorial role!

Tomorrow will be my first ever performance that I have directed and been paid for! A cast of 20 secondary school pupils will be at the Greenwich theatre, London in the Shakespeare school festival, performing 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. It has been a very difficult experience, mostly due to such a lack of support from the school, but here we are...on with the show! I will blog my experiences in due course!

As usual, no support when it comes to Drama lessons

Today I experienced a classic example of how unimportant drama is considered in my place of work (secondary school). On Thursday this week, my pupils will be performing 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' at the Greenwich Shakespeare school's festival. We were having a rehearsal in an allocated room when a pupil who is not involved with the performance came in to the room. I explained that there was a rehearsal taking place, to which she informed me that she was feeling ill and had been told by one of the senior staff to leave her lesson and sit in the drama room. I can only imagine how a teacher would complain if I had sent one of my pupils, feeling ill, to sit in on one of their lessons! Obviously this member of staff, and unfortunately many like her, don't see that a rehearsal taking place two days before the performance, does not welcome random 'ill' people to sit in on! This is something I experience on a daily basis. Earlier this morning I had the father of one cast member call me to say that his daughter would be dropping out...with two days notice. He said that we would have to find someone else. Easy as that. Unbelievable.

Module 3, campus session 1

For those of you who could not make the campus session today, here is a summary of what was discussed.

First of all Paula spoke to us about the importance of stress management. Knowing in advance that this is going to be an intence period for us, means that we can prepare ourselves. She suggested that we all make ourselves an artificial deadline so that we have further time should an event cause our schedule to be interuppted.

Ways to beat stress: Breathe
                               Exercise
                               Make a plan of action
                               Make time to socialise
                               Get with nature (a walk in the woods/ spend time with your pet)
                               Do the action plan

Don't be caught out by technology....SAVE YOUR WORK! Technology will, at some point inevitibly let you down. Use multiple USB sticks and paper coppies.

We then started looking at the criteria of module 3:
                                                                              Part 1 - Critical Review
                                                                              Part 2 - Professional Artefact
                                                                              Part 3 - Oral Presentation

Part 1 & 2 will be marked before we do part 3. The deadline for parts 1 & 2 is 7th January 2013. The preliminary date of the Oral Presentation is 24th Janurary 2013.

The following information can be found in the handbook.
 We then looked at the 5 stages of work that will take us through module 3. Paula asked us to take the time to see which stage we are currently at and what needs to be done next.

Stage 1
Write and post to Paula a written review of your feedback from your inquiry plan. Do you understand what you have done so far? Is it understandable? What does your feedback tell you you need to do to improve?

Stage 2
carry out your literature review. You can use up to 20 sources of literature. Whose previous work/literature has influenced you? Find some really good sources.

Stage 3
Carry out your inquiry. Make sure you do the things you have said you are going to do. Explain why, if there is a reason that you cannot include something you have said you are going to do in your inquiry plan.

Stage 4
Analyse your findings to show that your understanding

Stage 5
Complete the assessment using part 1, part 2 and part 3 (See above). Although this will be hard work, it should ultimately be something you are very proud of! :-)

Use your academic advisor. Email questions, skype, text and call.
Keep your subject/topic alive on daily basis. Talk to other people about what you are doing.

Next we discussed the Critical Review in more detail. Paula reminded us that it must be written formally. Peter Thomas will be holding an academic writing session on 23rd October 10am-2pm for extra help. (See home page on libguide). Explain how you have used it to improve your learning. What have you learnt? How? Why? Make sure you explain the outcome of your inquiry at the beginnning. Say any significant outcomes straight away. Don't leave it till the end.

During the session, we were given two exercises to do. The first was to answer a series of questions which will help you to start module 3 and recognise which stage you are at. This was fairly hard to do when put on the spot and with no prompts to help you to remember!

1. What research have you done so far?
2. What is you working title?
3. What are the ethical issues of your inquiry?
4. What are your literature research sources?
5. What data have you gathered?

The second exercise was to write down your action plans. Mine are:
* To schedule my interviews
* To leave a month for analyisis
* To create a university timetable using the suggested weekly feedback guides found in the handbook
* To arrange dates and time to do the interviews
* To read my literature
* To do the interviews
* To collect a portfolio of literature sources and quotes

Lastly, Paula encouraged us to continue blogging and communicating within our SIGS. All of us agreed that one of the biggest challenges is finding the time to blog as well as keep on top of the work to be assessed. We all thought that shorter but more regular blogs and also making your blog page a 'favourites tab' (up by the tool bar - easy access) can contribute to an increase in blogging. 

I hope this summary gives a brief idea of what was discussed today. Any questions, feel free to ask.
Sarah

Time management - Stage 1

Throughout the last two modules, I have definitely had timing issues. Even though my intentions have been good, I have realised that I have left things far too late resulting in very hectic deadlines! I have promised myself that this will not happen the third time round. Easily said! I am so very busy at work it is becomming increasingly difficult to find any spare time and with week one drawing to a close, I have already found myself falling behind the schedule. Tomorrow is the first campus session and I am relieved that I have been given permission by work to attend it. In preperation, I am trying to read the handbook and criteria for module 3. Unfortunately, I will not be able to write my review of module 2 in time for tomorrow. I have however found the information in the handbook about the five stages of the Professional Inquiry very useful. I agree that by modifying the task into 5 stages, it becomes much more manageable. This is something that I often suggest to GCSE pupils when tackling coursework.
So at the moment I am in the process of getting through stage 1, which will now merge in to week 2!
Does anybody else find one of the most challenging aspects of the course is simply managing time? How do you overcome these difficuties when trying to juggle full time (or in my case, two) jobs?
Looking forward to seeing those of you who can make it, tomorrow.

Module 3

I can't believe that I'm already on my final module. It feels good but very scary. Although I am very pleased that I have done well in the previous modules, I feel that I am rather out of my depth! I have never worked to such a high academic level before and am sometimes surpised at my own ability. This work doesn't come easily to me at all, so the next 12 weeks feel somewhat daunting. I am very goal orientated though, and am determined to achieve!

Since the end of module 2, I have undergone a massive upheaval at work. My school has been completely re-built as part of a multi million pound project. It has been in the process for two years but this summer, we actually moved out of the old building and in to the new one. Coming back in September was extremely stressful with both staff and pupils having no idea where anything or anywhere was and having to spend over a week merely unpacking. Due to these circumstances, it has been impossible for me to conduct any of the interviews needed for module 3 which means that I already feel that I am behind shcedule.

 On top of this, due to financial reasons, I have also had to take on a second job in the evenings for 3 days a week which means I am very pushed for time. Before starting this course, I'm pretty certain I would have caved in and would not have managed with so much on my plate. However, I have learnt that it is possible to time-manage effectively and have therefore set myself a timetable to follow in order to fit in my two jobs, university time and be able to still clean my house!

I'm looking forward to seeing those of you who can make it to the first campus session on Wednesday and also commenting on each other's blogs and SIG boards.

Sarah

Survey Monkey

A research tool I used was a survey which I created on Survey Monkey. I think the concept is really fantastic - that you can create a survey so easily and it can instantly reach so many people. The limitations I came across however, were that simply not enough people completed the survey to make it a fair representation of what the majority think or do. 9 people answered my survey for me. I actually found that the questions that I had left a comment box available were much more beneficial than the ones where they ticked a box. I think that on a wider scale, this could have shown me some clearer information, but as it was, the statistcis didn't really show any obvious answers. If I use this tool again, it needs to be done on a much wider scale and I think I will use more comment boxes. I acutally received comments on my blog and facebook page (for those I sent the survey to who are not on the BAPP course), saying they would have like to have been able to explain more in their answers

Focus Group

I conducted a small focus group using an open telephone conversation (every one was on speaker phone and could therefore hear each other's comments). I spoke to two former language teachers, Mr Alistair Pearson and Mrs Lesley Pearson. I wanted an unbiased opinion and therefore settled on teachers who did not teach any of the core subjects - Maths, Enlgish or Science, or the creative subject - Dance or Drama.
The question I put to them was 'why are academic subjects favoured in education?'. Alistair Pearson responded by saying that maths and English are transferable subjects that are used as everyday life skills. Both, however agreed that what is necessary as a life skill, is not what is being taught. Pupils who do not intend to pursue further education or a career in Maths or English literature, are currently spending up to eight hours a week, being taught information they are unlikely to ever have to access. This conversation has lead me to propose that pupils should be given the option to choose whether to study Maths and English as they currently stand, or a 'life skills' based syllabus of 'Arithmetics' and 'Literacy'. These lessons would concentrate on areas such as multiplication, addition, grammer, spellings, punctuation and writing skills. This would then free up timetable space for pupils who wish to concentrate on other areas more frequently.

Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

 So as to introduce myself to the concept of evaluating and exploring an area within my professional practice, I have studied three areas which will ultimately lead me to produce my own inquiry during module three. 

Developing Lines of Professional Inquiry

 I began researching a set of questions that related to my profession (Appendix A). The questions veered towards a topic I had already considered during module 1, ‘The importance of the Arts in education’. I discussed these questions with another practitioner and recorded their responses (Appendix B). In order to evaluate these areas of inquiry with fellow students who had similar interests, I created a Special Interest Group (SIG) on ‘LinkedIn’ entitled ‘arts in education’ (Appendix C). This enabled me to debate the topic, also participating in other SIGs too (Appendix E).

 I looked in to finding some literature associated with my developing line of inquiry. I read the book Hanna, J.L, 2000 ‘Partnering dance and education: Intelligent moves for changing times’, which displayed studies into areas I was witnessing as a teaching assistant, such as pupils who do drama, displaying more confidence in academic subjects such as English. I realised that in order for the inquiry to not be perceived as biased, I would have to research the benefits of academic subjects within education, as well as the creative (Appendix F).

 In order to narrow my inquiry, I decided to specify which area of the arts I wanted to study and changed my title to ‘The importance of dance and drama in education’. (Appendix G)

Professional Ethics

When conducting research, it is imperative to acknowledge and adhere to all professional ethics concerned. Initially, I was unaware of the ethical procedures so I acquired the ‘codes of conduct’ from my place of work (Appendix H). I discussed in my blog how ‘ethics’ are really only what one perceives as right and wrong (Appendix I). This can be seen by differing schools having different codes of conduct, though many are found to be generic. I then proceeded to read the ‘Data Protection Act 1998’, in order to familiarise myself with what is lawfully acceptable when using personal information acquired through research (Appendix J).

Tools of Professional Inquiry

During module 3, I will be using certain tools in order to collect data and information. In order to use the tools best suited to my inquiry, I conducted ‘pilot’ versions of surveys, interviews and focus groups. I concluded that the most beneficial tool for my inquiry was the interview format. I conducted two differing interviews – the first via email and the second by telephone (Appendix K) (Appendix Kb).  I also used ‘Survey Monkey’ in order to gather data and a focus group using open line telephone. I have become aware of how to use the tools when conducting my professional inquiry and one of these has been finding appropriate literature. I have found that reading reviews, sources and opinions of others highly beneficial, often provoking further questions to research (Appendix L).

Whilst working through this module, I have gained insight into how an inquiry can be conducted and both the ethical and lawful procedures one must follow for protection. It has become apparent to me that by producing this inquiry, I can potentially educate both myself and others to improve the education of the future generation.

New inquiry title

Having spoken to Paula today, I have come to the conclusion that my line of inquiry title is too broad. Previously it was ' The importance of the arts in education'. Due to the fact that 'the arts' would include subject areas such as drama, theatre studies, dance, music and art, I have decided to narrow the inquiry down to 'The importance of dance and drama in education'. This is more specific and concentrates on the two subject areas that my expertise lie in. I have realsied that by using the term 'the arts', and therefore including all areas of this subject, I would be making my inquiry very difficult to research within the time scale. I have personally never studied music or art in a the public education sector, and feel that this makes it an area which I should not be researching.

Critical Links

I have come accross a wonderful piece of literature entitled 'Critical links: Learning in the arts and student academic and social development' by the Arts Education Partnership.

http://www.aep-arts.org/files/publications/CriticalLinks.pdf

The Arts Education Partnership are an American based coalition that promotes the Arts in America's schools. They undergo studies to prove that the use of the Arts increases the learning and development of school children.
One of the results of these studies was written by Ann Podlozny and published by the Journal of Aesthetic Education, Fall 2000, 34(3-4): 239-276, in which the following question was asked:

"Does classroom drama help students develop verbal ability?"

Podlozny set seven different areas in which she would study, including story understanding (oral measures), story understanding (written measures), reading achievement, reading readiness, oral language development, vocabulary, and writing. The results of the studies undertaken showed that there is a possitive correlation between drama instruction and verbal ability, prompting the Arts Education Partnership to encourage drama to be included in the classroom.

6c - Literature Reviews

Here are three pieces of literature that I have come across and have found useful in planning my inquiry. I have added some sources of interest on our Linkedin SIG groups 'arts in education' and 'Dance within secondary education'. Looking forward to seeing what others in the group have come up with too!

1. Partnering Dance and Education: Intelligent moves for changing times
    Judith Lynne Hanna 2000

2. Einstein on Creative Thinking: Music and the Intuitive Art of scientific Imagination
    Michele and Robert Root-Bernstein in Imagine That!

3. Does dance and education help academic achievement?
    Judith Lynne Hanna in Dance Magazine 2001

Review

1. In this book, Hanna explores the ways in which dance can actually be beneficial to learning in other areas such as citizenship, business creativity, social skills and personal development. She examines ways in which children learn and goes on to suggest reasons why dance should be taught within secondary educatoin. Hanna is the senior research schloar in the Department of Dance at the University of Maryland. She provides research evidence in her book and looks in to how history has shown us the potential of dance education. I have found this book to be invaluable throughout my research as Hanna provides much of the evidence I require for my inquiry, having actually undergone certain studies.

2. Michele and Robert Root-Bernstein are lecturers and authors. I found their literature on their website 'Psychology Today'. Robert studies scientific creativity and although his article is aimed at scientists, it was actually very relevent to me, looking in to the importance of the arts in education. Root-Bernstein speaks about Albert Einstein and how he, someone who is so famously known as a physicist, frequently praised his scientific attributes wholey on his creative abilities. Einstein played the piano and violin and insisted that 'personal creativity provided the kind of recreation that enables professional innovation' (Root- Bernstein, 2010). I think this article will help me to put my point across well. Einstein is well respected and for him to insist that one needs creativity in ones life in order to excell in other fields, I think others will find my arguement more credible.

3. This is an article that I came across during my research in to Judith Lynne Hanna. It provides statistical data relating to 'teaching and learning in the arts and measures of academic achievement ' (Hanna, 2001) Hanna is a believer that the two are linked and therefore it is important to teach the arts in schools. Hanna does explain that this topic is relatively new and much more research is required. She puts forward questions that have been beneficial to my own inquiry, such as 'what are the mental skills in creating and perceiving dance that students acquire through a well designed dance education programme? How can these skills transfer to reading and maths?'

6b - merits and limits

I have now conducted two pilot interviews and one pilot survey. I used two different methods to conduct the interviews. One was conducted using a set of structured questions which I emailed to the interveiwee and have reflected upon in my blog '6a pilot interview'.
     I decided to do a second pilot interview due to the limiting nature of my first interview. Although I gathered some very interesting information, I felt the method I used (email) was too limiting and I needed to be able to ask questions that lead on from certain answers. With this in mind, I prepared a semi structured set of questions and the conducted them via a telephone interview. This turned out to have its own merits and limits.

Limits

• No body language or facial expression, which can lead to mis-interpretation 
• It was very difficult to write everthing down as she spoke and I had to use short hand, which I did sometimes find diffiucult to re-read
• I would have liked to have been able to prompt further questions from her, but as I had no voice recording mechanism and hadn't pre-set particular questions, I didn't want to run the risk of persuading her in any direction. 

Merits

• I could hear the words she stressed and emphisized
• I was able to ask her to repeat herself if i was unsure of what she meant
• Speaking on the phone, I felt she said more than she would have done if she were writing answers to me. She could easily elaborate.
• So long as I wrote further questions down before asking her, I was able to ask her to go in to more detail in certain areas.

2nd pilot interview

The other research tool I used was a survey which I created on Survey Monkey. I think the concept is really fantastic - that you can create a survey so easily and it can instantly reach so many people. The limitations I came across however, were that simply not enough people completed the survey to make it a fair representation of what the majority think or do. 9 people answered my survey for me. I actually found that the questions that I had left a comment box available were much more beneficial than the ones where they ticked a box. I think that on a wider scale, this could have shown me some clearer information, but as it was, the statistcis didn't really show any obvious answers. If I use this tool again, it needs to be done on a much wider scale and I think I will use more comment boxes. I acutally received comments on my blog and facebook page (for those I sent the survey to who are not on the BAPP course), saying they would have like to have been able to explain more in their answers.

I'm really annoyed with myself that I haven't been able to conduct the focus group or the observation. It has been impossible as I am currently on school Easter holidays - this is entirely my own fault as I should have done them before the end of term. I think that the focus group could have been very beneficial to me and would have provided a more counter balanced discussion. I will be going ahead and conducting one when school starts again, just so I have the experience.

Data Protection Act 1998

I have just read through the Data protection act 1998 which explains how you can lawfully use personal information an individual has given you.
I have understood it as follows:

1. Information must be processed clearly and fairly. Permission must be granted by the individual to have it collected and they must understand what it is being used for.

2. Data can only be used for what you have told the individual it will be used for.

3. The information obtained must be necessary for my inquiry and I may not ask random information for no appartent reason.

4. The information I process must be accurate and up to date.

5. Information must not be held for any longer than is necessary. It must be destroyed when my inquiry is finished.

6. The individual I obtain information from has the right to a) a copy of the information I use. b) Object to me processing the information. c) Prevent the processing for market research. d) Demand to erase inaccurate information. e) Claim compensation for any inaccurate information processed,.

7. Information must be kept secure and kept away from any thrid parties.

8. Information can not be processed out of the EU

Having acknowledged these points, I have reflected over how I will ensure I apply them. Everyone who agrees to provide personal information will be shown my covering letter information so that they are aware of the reason I am requesting personal information. As my letter states, they are informed that they have the opportunity to see the data they have provided in my inquiry, should they so desire.
I will only be using the information provided in order to do my inquiry and the all information I request will be relevent to the inquiry. On completion, I will be destroying all data and information I have obtained. I will be deleating my survey on SurveyMonkey as the information will no longer be necessary. All information I have received is on my personal laptop and I shall delete it once my inquiry is over to ensure no third parties see it in the future. Both my laptop and survey are protected by personal passwords. I will not be processing information outside of the UK.

6a - Pilot Survey

Hi everyone,
I would love you to help me out by completing my survey. Please comment if you find any of the questions difficult to comprehend or answer. Thank you very much in advance.

Arts in Education Survey

6a - Pilot interview

I decided to start off my research by conducting a pilot interview. My line of inquiry is based on the importance of Arts in education. I decided I needed to interview someone who currently works in education so that they have a good understanding and knowledge of what the current educational system is like in England. I thought it was also important to interview someone who has a broad knowledge, rather than just one subject, so that they have witnessed a range of lessons, teaching methods, subjects and how the pupils learn. This meant it would not be appropriate to interview a teacher, as they only encounter one or maybe two subjects. I myself am a teaching assistant, and support pupils in all subject areas. Therefore, I thought it appropriate to ask another teaching assistant to be interviewed. I chose this particular colleague due to the fact that not only does she have this desired, broard knowledge, she also has a BA honours in Drama and Media Arts. I thought this was benefical as she has the background knowledge to support the questions I needed to ask.

I will be conducting a different method of research to look in to other aspects of my inquiry, but with this interview, I wanted to use my colleague's knowledge to identify the current state of the Drama department in my place of work. This will be necessary because it will help me to point out the way in which creative subjects are currently perceived within secondary education.

I sent my colleague the following covering information sheet and semi-structured set of questions. I did this via emial because we are currently on school holidays and she is away. I actually found it beneficial to conduct the interview via email because it meant that I had all her thoughts and answers in writing which made it easy to go over and there was no room for mis-interpretation or forgetting what she had said. Of course the draw back was that I couldn't ask her to elaborate on any of her comments.

Covering Information Letter

Interview Questions

Interview Answers

This is the interview in full, but I will be carefully extracting areas that are particulary relevent for my inquiry. Please let me know what you think of my covering letter and questions. I have tried to be as objective as possible and not impose any of my personal thoughts in to the questions. Have I done so?

Sorry it's all quite long!
Thank you!

5c professional ethics

Having read Reader 5, I understand that there are three types of ethics. Organizational (how we do things), Professional (sometimes know as the ‘code of conduct’) and Personal. I feel that personal ethics present themselves as the most challenging as it is often very difficult to ignore what one believes in so passionately. For example, I would find it impossible to kill an animal, even if it were for someone else’s benefit.

What I do find interesting is how some people who believe themselves to have strong ethics, can find themselves being manipulated in certain environments. Reader 5 mentions the Jade Goody/Shilpa Shetty argument on Big Brother back in 2007. Although the people involved protested that they were not racists, it seems they became a product of their environment. Although they were brought up to know right from wrong, this case suggests that our ethics can be easily changed.

Therefore, there doesn’t seem to be a right and wrong when it comes to personal ethics. It is a very grey area and different people have different perceptions. I was particularly drawn to a line from Plato’s play ‘Theatetus’

“whatever in any city is regarded as just and admirable is just and admirable in that city for as long as it is thought to be so”.

This line highlights that really there is no such thing as right and wrong – it is merely what one perceives it to be. 400 years ago it was perfectly acceptable to burn people who did not believe in the same religion as the monarch. These days this seems unimaginable! Though as human beings, there are actions that go beyond ethics or morals and are taken for granted. These include murder, rape and adultery. Most people agree that these examples are things that no human should do to another, whatever the situation. However, there are grey areas when the choice of whether something can be considered right or wrong/ good or bad is left to the individual and some cases, the jury.

Examples of these include: assisted suicide – is it always wrong to help someone end their life if they are living every day in misery and pain?

Theft – is it always wrong to steal if you are starving and have no other means to survive? (possibly applies to other poverty striken countries rather than the UK)  Treason – If people had not fought against the crown in history, we may not be living in a democracy today.

Hobbes, 1651 saw ethics as a necessity in society to prevent everyone doing as they pleased and subsequently leading to an intolerable community. This is still relevant in today’s society and the majority of people adhere to the law, which in the UK, is here to prevent people from harm in some way or another. Nowadays, ethics do not lie as deep as the law. What some people may consider unethical, others may not and without the law to back them up, people find themselves in a position of having to legally tolerate what they believe to be unethical.

For example, I think it is unethical to keep thousands of chickens in a dark room together without being able to spread their wings and having their beaks cut off to prevent them from pecking each other due to living in inhabitable environment.

I was interested in the concept of consequetialism – conducting something unethical for the greater good. Would it be right to torture a terrorist to extract vital information that could save hundreds of lives? I believe so.

I could not, however relate to the second case study of Reader 5. Whilst I can objectively understand the role of the photographer is to observe, the role of a human being is to participate in life and have compassion for others. My ethical stance on this is that it was a terrible, inhumane decision not to help the little girl. Surely there must come a point where you ignore your professional obligations and act on your instinct?

In my profession, I have found myself in situations where my personal and professional ethics have collided. As we live in a diverse country, we can sometimes find ourselves in situations where conflicting ethics and morals come together and do not unite. For example, homosexuality is legally accepted in the UK, but as we know, this does not necessarily mean that every British citizen finds it ethical. At my place of work, I came across someone from the Islamic faith who would not accept homosexuality. To her, her religion and close knit society had brought her up to believe that homosexuality is unethical, regardless of what the law states. She made some very homophobic remarks and this most certainly caused ethical tensions. I was horrified at some of the comments she made regarding homosexuality and she was horrified at some of the remarks that I made regarding her beliefs. People’s views on ethics can lead to not only conflict and tension, but also violence and war. What I learnt from this experience is the importance of professional ethics. These are here to protect the individual in their work place. Of course the law still exists within the work place, but certain ‘codes of conduct’ are essential to the worker and working environment. The outcome of my example was that I was informally disciplined for undermining her faith, and she was disciplined for actually breaking the law due to vocalising homophobic comments.

Reader 5 states that ‘the importance of carrying out functions in a good way was in the Greek’s view, central to contributing to a civil society. This rings true regarding ethics in the work place, as it promotes and implements a civilised working environment. The Reader also notes that some professions now have certain licences in order to function and uphold standards. In schools, the staff can also become members of a union which will act upon any unethical situation that may be imposed upon the staff. This is a similar concept to being a member of ‘equity’ within the entertainment industry.

In conclusion, it is very difficult to determine what is right and wrong due to the individual’s perception and we need laws and codes of conduct to oversee conflicting views.

5b - professional ethics

Having looked through the staff handbook's policies, I can see that all of the potential ethics I considered, are there.
Some that I hadn't considered included : Treating pupils with dignity, building relationships rooted in muteral respect, and at all times observing proper boundaries appropriate to a teacher’s professional position, having regard for the need to safeguard pupils’ well-being, in accordance with statutory provisions, not undermining fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and ensuring that personal beliefs are not expressed in ways which exploit pupils’ vulnerability or might lead them to break the law.
The only practice here that I think is a difficult ethic to follow is the one relating to 'not underminding fundamental British values', due to the fact that Britain is such a diverse country with so many different nationalities, cultures and religions. This follows on to say that other faiths and beliefs that may conflict with British values are not to be expressed in a way that may lead to breaking the law, but I think it is difficult to explain this to young people.
Working in a school, I am often scared to say something that may be taken as a negative comment towards that person's religion. I think additional training on school ethics would be very beneficial.

In my school, we tend to communicate through internal emailing. It has become commonplace for us to use a pupil's initials when writing about them rather than their full name. Sometimes there are other pupils in close proximity when we are writing these emails, and to keep the pupil identity confidential, this has become a regular practice.

We also have a letter that is sent out to all pupils in year 7 that their parents sign to give permission for photos and recordings to be taken of their daughters within the school. If a parent objects, they can then choose whether they would like their daughter to not participate in any photos or if they would like the school to ring them for permission on each different occassion, depending on the objective. Some pupils can not have their photo taken for religious reasons and some prefer not to give permission for their own reasons.

5a - Professional Ethics

There seems to be a lot to consider regarding ethics in a government run school. There are various codes of practice which act as a guide to both staff and pupils.
The pupils, for example must follow the rules which are set out to them, and are in fact written in their individual contact books. These include:

The first time rule - Do what is asked of you the first time, no arguements.
Respecting everyone around you
No swearing
No racist/ homophobic/ sexually oriantated remarks
Safety precautions such as no running in the school.

For staff, I imagine the ethics which apply include:
Following instructions
Being respectful of all members of staff
No racist/ homophobic/sexually orientated remarks
Adhere to the law
Understanding and following the curriculum
Undertaking regular training and observations
Dressing suitiably
Ensuring pupils are following the rules
Abstaining from any known foul play in relation to cheating

I found the last possible ethic which is surely to be applied in my professional practice difficult to write. I have recently found myself in a situation where I have been unsure whether to follow my own ethics or the professional ethics. I was shocked and taken aback by the example featuring the starving little girl and the photogrpaher who did not help her. He followed his professional ethics, which subsequently contributed to his death, when obviously his personal ethics told him to help her. At the risk of losing ones job, it is often very difficult to know what direction to take.

my worries

As I work in a secondary school, I know that I will have to be very mindful when it comes to certain questions. I'm actually a little fearful because I will probably be asking some questions that the school is not keen to be probed on. This particular shcool has recently had an Ofsted report which came back as 'satisfactory' - not the result the head was hoping for. The exam results are improving each year, but there are still plenty of grey areas. Since the previous Ofsted report in 2006, whilst the school was under a different head, it has been a great focus for the school to improve the GCSE results. My inquiry will be looking in to why the arts are not considered to be as relevent as the academic subjects, and my worry is, that at this particular moment in time, that is not the school's concern. I believe they are focussed on getting the best A*-C grades possible, especially in Maths, English and Science. Entrance numbers are becomming lower and lower (partly due to the fact the school is under-going a multi-million pound overhall and it is currently a building site), and as tensions are high at the moment, with the new GCSEs about to start, I don't think the head will welcome my inquiry.
Due to these concerns, I will be conducting my research with my line manager, rather than the head, who is more accommodating. Next month I will be finding out if I am one of the assossiate staff who will be made redundant due to massive cuts. I don't want to be fueling the fire in my direction!!

why do we need maths article

I am in the process of looking in to 'why' maths is important as a compulsorary school subject. I read this article from 'the guardian', and although it is rather tongue in cheek, I can't help but think that this is another example of why we should have 'numeracy' lessons in schools rather than 'maths' which teach, in my opinion, unnecessary topics (unless you choose to go in to a career that needs simultaneous equations).

 Why do we need maths? Guardian article

academic subjects are favoured

A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with a like-minded colleague about the importance of creative subjects within schools and how it is unfair that these subjects are being removed whilst academic subjects thrive. We were sitting next to one of the maths teachers and as I would have imagined, she was very much all for the continuing battle to improve A*-C grades in Maths, and cared very little for subjects such as drama. She made a good point, that every person in society needs maths to some extent when they leave school. I completely agree. Maths is everywhere. And is relevent in many areas of life and many different careers. What I have personally found however, is that I have never called upon my distant knowledge of trigonometery or pythagarus. Yes, I understand that we all need to learn how to count, know our times tables, even percentages, area and ratio but surely these come under 'numeracy' rather than 'maths'. I find it wrong that every pupil has to have 4-5 maths classes a week. I believe it should be an option to pupils to choose maths if they so desire, and have 'numeracy' as a compulsorary subject.
I think it is just as important that pupils learn to stand up in front of their peers with confidence and good diction- something that is taught in drama classes and is certainly beneficial in most careers.
Having recently sat through year 10 GCSE speaking assessments, I was horrified to witness pupils who refused to stand up in front of the rest of the class, due to a lack in confidence, who could not string a sentence together due to embarrassment and refused to work outside their friendship groups. I believe that we are letting down these young people. By concentrating so hard on A*-C grades in Maths, Science and English, we are not teaching them everyday skills such as speaking in front of a group. We are not teaching them about culture. We are not teaching them to express their thoughts, feelings and experiences.
I would be really interested to hear your thoughts about this
thank you ,
Sarah

Back on track

At last, I'm able to blog again! It's Easter holidays so no excuses, I'm back on track!

Latest update from my SIGs

So far, having been in contact with SIGs on Linkedin, I am noticing that we seem to have a common assumption that performing arts in schools are not treated with the same recognition as many other subjects. Having actively searched for GTP providers in and around London for Drama, I have been shocked to discover the subject is being cut! PGCEs are still available, which is great but unfortuantely, this is not a possibility for me.
I would now like to find some evidence to back up what we have noticed and experienced. I'll be blogging what I find!

To all my fellow bloggers

To all my fellow bloggers.... Unfortunately I can't post on other people's blogs at the moment. I have been trying for a number of days but the CAPTCHA isn't working. I've requested help but have not heard back. Thank you to everyone who is commenting on my blog (for some reason I don't have any trouble writing on my own) and I will try to respond as soon as I'm back in action
sarah

Possible award title

Today I have spent a great deal of time thinking about what I would like my award title to be.

My ultimate aim is to teach dance and drama in secondary education. Having worked in secondary schools for four year, I feel that I have a good understanding of the National Curriculum, what is expected of pupils in school, in terms of learning and how to get the best out of pupils.

        I have a National diploma in dance (musical theatre), but want my award title to reflect my experience working in schools too. Therefore, I would like ‘education’ to be mentioned within the title.

        I have spent time looking online at the sort of job I will eventually like to apply for. I noticed that some positions were called ‘teacher of drama’ whilst others were called ‘performing arts teacher’. With this is mind, I looked for the definition of ‘performing arts’ and the following words were mentioned : dance, music, opera, theatre, magic, Spoken word, circus arts and musical theatre. I feel the words ‘performing arts’ cover the disciplines that I am trained in and wish to teach – dance, drama (theatre) and musical theatre.

I played around with various combinations including ‘Theatre education’, ‘dance and drama in education, ‘Theatre arts education’.

However I am currently leaning towards

‘BA (hons) Professional Practice in Performing Arts Education’.

This title incorporates the three disciplines I am trained in (musical theatre, drama and dance) and also includes the educational side to my experience. I also believe this title would enable me to teach in private dance and drama schools if I ever desired to do so.

What do you think?

Questions relating to my line of inquiry

Since the government cuts, almost everyone within the arts industry have noticed the effect. Universitys are withdrawing drama GTPs, schools are dropping drama and dance from the national curriculum, grants are being refused and theatres are being closed.

I believe this is a mistake. I think that by only concentrating on academic subjects, children will lose out considerabley. Here are some of the questions I have relating to this topic that I wish to explore as my line of inquiry.

1. Why are subjects like maths and science considered more important than creative subjects?
2. How will removing creative subjects from the curriculum effect the arts industry?
3. Is it fair to impose academic subjects on pupils who a) want a career in performing arts
                                                                                   b) Are not academic but flurish in creative subjects
5. How do creative subjects improve the learning of academic subjects?

Why don't schools take creative subjects seriously?

Liam Conman mentioned an interesting comment on his blog about how Performing arts and physical education are put under the same umberella in schools. I had no idea this was the case until I started working at my present school in London. I was shocked to discover that the two subjects were remotely considered to be alike. I remember my ballet teacher at stage school explaining to us that if you don't express yourself during dance, then really you're just a gymnast. I think this comment is relevant and is something that is being misunderstood within the education system. Performing is creative. It allows you to express yourself through either song, movement or dialogue. Sport is soley about technique and personal improvement. It is just as important for a performing arts teacher to encourage a student to show their emotion and personality in a performance than the technical aspect. This is not something that is taught in PE classes. In fact, I believe it something that is hardly encouraged at all in schools.
Performing arts includes music and I find it very hard to compare playing a trumpet or learning musical notes to learning to play netball. Schools would never put maths and english in to the same department so why do this with drama or dance? I find it really under-values creative subjects. why is it that the educational system cares so very little for the performing arts? So many people go on to be performers, performing arts teachers, camera operators, props or costume designers, musicians, television, film or radio presenters, managers, directors or producers....I could go on! So why is the training and introduction in to these careers so badly catered for?

SIG - Education

I have found a possible place for us to discuss education related discussions. Lily has also made a Facebook education page.
I thought this could be useful as some of the discussions look really interesting.
Here is the link

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2172742&report%2Esuccess=GS9KilNGPdTjW6J7rEpOMghnzFYJDptmGi9YmsvrAIwmw5zlQadcmjvOzlrgw4gP9sgVSNU8mKQ2jWTP9sgSSNUr4zZNr3VlsBjUzwKrF4_cMf4I5BkPmTLjP5-7u5p2kMylcTwiVGex7O0PoDFAcj7bP9Wz_F4lne80dJvYdAhPD502vDFPdTiXIlUIwI245iAFlsv7IA-Hu9Omne8Ic2oyIlLJMGFc5jlz12rLqINqilIm5N40luDkdX70u5p2X_GYlyLTdXhHDAzlvejI-aFb5JaO&goback=%2Eanb_2172742_*2_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1

Let me know what you think
Sarah

The start of module two

As there were so few of us at the campus day yesterday, I thought I would write up a brief outline of what was discussed for those of you who couldn't make it.

We started the afternoon being shown the final presentations of the recently graduated students. Rosemary explained that although we are only beginning module 2, seeing what we are aiming towards gives us a sense of purpose and for me, motivation. The various examples of graduates' work was presented in different ways including picture books, spiral bound booklets and posters.

Rosemary then explained that this module is basically the planning process toward the third module in which we create our presentation. She stressed that this module is a significant step up from the first module in terms of work load and time that should be committed to it.

Our third module presentation will be the produce of what we choose as our line of inquiry in this module. We spent some time going round the group individually to discuss what ideas we all had. This may have already been discussed or touched on briefly during the 'inquiry' task in module 1.

Your chosen topic needs to be something that will help you in terms of your career choice due to the fact that what you learn throughout the rest of the BAPP course is what you are likely to become an expert in, which can ultimately benefit you professionally.
For example, I shared with the group that I plan to do my topic on the importance of arts in education. This is helpful to me as I work in a school, I want to be a performing arts teacher and my training has been in performing arts.
The topic you choose needs to be something you are really interested in as you will be learning and researching about it for the rest of the year!

Throughout the rest of the day, we talked about what tools will be needed in order to start researching our chosen topic. We agreed that we will need to interview people associated with our chosen topic, access literature (via MDX library resources/ internet), find out statistics, look at different angles to get a full picture and generally become experts in our field.

Rosemary talked about the fact that ethics are very important throughout this process. Paula will be talking to us about ethics during the next campus session.

In the module handbook, one of the tasks mentions finding your 'special interest group' (SIG). We began discussing who in the group has chosen a similar topic to you. This will be something each of us look out for, in order to share ideas and comments through our blogs. (If anyone is planning to do their inquiry on education or performing arts in education, let's be SIGs!)

So now our mission is to start thinking about what we want to do our inquiry on and start working through the tasks (4a-4d)!

Hope this has made sense and looking forward to seeing you all on the 28th Feb
See you on the blogs :-)

Thoughts about GTPs

Today I have been thinking about how I hope to obtain a GTP when I complete my degree. I have friends who have been trying to find a provider for months and unfortunately dance is not a popular subject for providers to provide for!
I came accross a website that suggested that I look for jobs advertising for qualified dance teachers and contact them, asking if they have thought about taking on someone looking to do a GTP. It would cost less for them so I suppose it isn't such an implausable idea.
In my mind, I have always thought that I would do a degree, then do a GTP, get a job and then live happily ever after....but now that I'm having to actually complete the steps towards my goals, things suddenly seem a tad more daunting!