Where I am up to (Round 2)

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 posses, it would be too difficult to 'prove' that a creative curriculum should be adopted in my school. This could be regarded with certain despondency, 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 I have continued to gather further sources of literature and create a ‘literature folder’, in which I keep all relevant sources. I still intend to include educational policies and curriculum information.
Having realised that the initial question to my inquiry is too wide a topic area, I will now concentrate 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 only be taught independently of government 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 that pupils' learn when taking part in creative projects. This has been as invaluable addition to my inquiry.

Since deferring, there has been a significant change to my previous research due to the decision by Michael Gove, Education Secretary, to abandon the proposed English Baccalaureate. My immediate response was somewhat fearful due to the new direction that my inquiry would possibly have to take. I have decided to use this new turnabout to my advantage, questioning and researching the reasons behind Gove’s decision whilst exploring the public’s reaction. Recently I remember watching a programme in which Julian Lloyd Webber conveyed his immense relief. This will now require further investigation into more up to date literature.
Having attended all three Module 3 campus sessions, my overall realisation is that I need to really look at all aspects and opinions throughout my inquiry. My personal view is actually not important whilst conducting an inquiry and I don’t, as yet, know the out-come. With this in mind, I will strive to be unbias and let the research, literature and my findings, ultimately produce the outcome.

The downside to deferring

Today I started the rather large task of reading up on my fellow module 3 BAPP-mate's blogs. I have realised that as I now have a new group of people to work beside, I don't know anything about them or what it is they are conducting their inquiry on. This is something I had not previously thought about but I now feel it is a real disadvantage. I don't have any current SIGs, for example.

For those of you who do not know me, I'm Sarah and my inquiry's working title is 'an exploration into the importance of Dance and Drama in secondary education'.

I would be interested in connecting with anyone (especially the new module 3) who are also basing their inquiry on a subject in conjunction with education. Indeed, I am interested in all of you...it's just quite a challenge reading through everyone's blogs!

Looking forward to getting to know you,
Sarah

Inspirational Talk

Yesterday, as part of our inset teacher training day, we were introduced to Sir John Jones, an inspirational speaker who was knighted for his services to education. I thoroughly enjoyed his talk and I left, feeling really inspired and excited about both my professional future and the future for children as they work through their education.
Jones questioned us as to whether we are personally, 'water thinkers' (ever changing, moving and ready for development, or 'rock thinkers' (stuck in our own ways and refusing to 'go with the flow').
I actually felt that I could honestly call myself a 'water thinker', especially having been on this course. I have learnt so much and tackled obstacles that I was literally fearful of prior to starting on BAPP eg. technology!
The talk has spurred me on to put more energy into the last module. It is true that you only get out, what you put in.
For anyone feeling a little sluggish, as I admit I was, I thoroughly recommend watching, reading or attending an inspirational talk to remind you what it is you want to achieve.
Many of these can be found on youtube, such as the TED talks.

Goodbye to the English Baccalaureate

So the EBac is being scrapped. This is music to my ears, however, in a purely  selfish way, I was slightly concerned as to how this leaves my inquiry. A large portion of my inquiry looked into the Ebacc and how it affected the education sytsem. I was worried that now that it is going, would I have to rethink my inquiry?

What I have come to realise however, is that the world is continuously progressing and I must embrace this change. I do not have to 'scrap' the inquiries I have already done on the Ebac, but I can in fact use the previous information and comment on how the country's views, mine included, subsequently put an end to a system that was doomed to fail.

I remember Paula talking about the speed in which findings change, during the first module. I feel that I now fully understand what she was explaining.This is why it is important to obtain current, relevent sources of literature, as something as recent as one month old, can actually be 'old news'.