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.