Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

Introduction

This module has given me chance to use and enhance skills developed in module 1. I have developed my use of web 2.0 through the use of and development of my own SIG (Appendix A) and through my continued use of delicious (Appendix B, Appendix C)

Three main aspects of learning I will reflect on are; developing lines of inquiry; professional ethics and tools of professional inquiry.

Developing Lines of Inquiry

I have developed a base of theories which will help me to develop my inquiry (Appendix D, Appendix E, and Appendix F. Firstly I developed ideas for my inquiry based on developing thoughts from module 1 (Appendix G) through discussion with others I was able to evaluate my topics relevance and gain a starting point for my inquiry (Appendix H)

From the discovery of Web 2.0 in the previous module I have been able to investigate participate and create my own social media SIG’s where, along with my groups at work I could develop and discuss the importance of my line of inquiry. (Appendix I, Appendix J)

I discussed my line of inquiry with colleagues and students at my workplace and documented key elements that would help me to develop and refine my inquiry. (Appendix K, Appendix L, Appendix M) I have found that my questions/ideas for my line of inquiry have changed throughout this module as I have researched more into motivation and learned more about the work of theorists and psychologists. Appendix N, Appendix O

Professional Ethics

I have recalled what I knew about ethics. (Appendix P) and what are the codes of practice / regulations which steer the ethical framework in my place of work Appendix Q I am better informed to understand and approach ethical situations. (Appendix R) And feel better equipped to undergo my inquiry and give ethical advice to others as I am more aware of the ethics that surround me in my workplace (Appendix S, Appendix T, Appendix U comment made on Appendix V)

Tools of Professional Inquiry

Have looked into and considered the benefits of different tools towards my inquiry. (Appendix W) I have considered which methods would suit my inquiry best and the possible problems that could arise. I have also conceded the ethical problems that I may encounter during my inquiry and how best I could solve these problems should they occur (see Appendix P).

This module has made me aware that I find it hard to write my thoughts clearly and with the right amount of detail to express my ideas, this is something I will try to work on in module 3. I have researched into the topic of motivation and have discovered many theories that I feel will help me with my upcoming inquiry. I also feel more confident with regards to undertaking research.

Communication with fellow professionals in this module has confirmed the importance of building and developing relationships within my community of practice. It has shown me I can develop ideas and gain new ways of thinking and different areas of interest through discussion with my peers and fellow professionals. (Appendix X, Appendix Y, Appendix Z and Appendix 1)  

Bibliography

businessballs.com. 2012. Employee Motivation: Principles of improving employee motivation and empowerment. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.businessballs.com/employeemotivation.htm. [Accessed 10 December 14].

Centers for disease control and prevention, n.d. General Guidelines for Focus Groups [Pdf]. http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/socialmarketing/training/pdf/focusgroupguidelines.pdf

Code of Professional Conduct and Practice for Teachers of Dance. (2014). 1st ed. [PDF] London: ISTD. Available at: http://www.istd.org/documents/code-of-professional-conduct-practice-for-teachers-of-dance/ [Accessed 22 Dec. 2014].

DECI, E. L. The effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation.

Journal o] Personality and Social Psychology, 1971

Ethics Resource Center. 2014. Ethics Resource Center. [ONLINE] Available at: http://ethics.org/. [Accessed 22 December 14].

Explorable Psychology Experiments. 2012. The Survey Guide. [ONLINE] Available at: https://explorable.com/course/the-survey-guide. [Accessed 08 December 14].

Increasing Student Success through Instruction in Self-Determination, American Psychological Association, July 21, 2004

Kvale, Steinar. Interviews An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing, Sage Publications, 1996

Omni, n.d. Toolkit for Conducting Focus Groups, Rowan University [Pdf]. http://www.rowan.edu/colleges/chss/facultystaff/focusgrouptoolkit.pdf

Pickhardt, C. (2010). Motivating your adolescent to perform. Available: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/surviving-your-childs-adolescence/201005/motivating-your-adolescent-perform. Last accessed 23rd December 2014.

Pilot questions

I've tried out some of my survey questions on a few of my (16+) Saturday students, as they will not be involved in my inquiry I thought it the best way to test out a few of the questions I will be using. (I was careful to inform the student of the nature of these questions and their intended use)


What do you find motivates you during class?

I feel I have a lot of personal motivation however the teachers encourage us not to say CAN'T which also gives us the motivation to achieve.

Student 1

I find it motivating in lessons when teachers set goals for that current class which i can try my best to achieve. It is also really nice when they give individual goals/feedback because it makes you feel like they have your back and pushes you more to get better to prove them right

Student 2

What do you think affects your motivation?

If I can do something it makes me really frustrated leading to me just to defeat and give up on myself

Student 1

i think the mood of the teacher as well as the mood of the students affects motivation. if the atmosphere is tense or down then others feel awkward about trying hard so not to stand out. I think lack of goals affects motivation - if there are no shows, exams, presentations etc to work towards the class feels like there is nothing to move forward towards. With an end point in sight it can motivate us to work our hardest to be our best for performances etc

Student 2

Do you set yourself goals? Are they short or long term?

Especially in Tap I set myself goals when I can't do a specific step or phrase. They are short term for an exam however, they help me with long term allowing me to advance the steps and perform them with confidence.

Student 1

 I set both long and short term. Long term for myself to work on each week and in my own time such as flexibility and being toned. As this is personal to me i set a goal and work on it myself. I set goals in my head during individual exercises during class - eg, next time i will nail the double turn and kick on the correct count. Then once that is achieved i will set myself a further goal to compete with a fellow student - eg i will kick as high as her and turn as fast as him.

Student 2

Do you think there is anything your teachers could do to help with your levels of motivation?

I feel the teachers have done a lot for my confidence and motivation. I don't really know how they could improve.

Student 1

My teacher helps my motivation by being encouraging. The feedback she gives is honest yet constructive. This works with me because i am open to criticism however other people may not react the same. Sometimes a big challenge that seems impossible is good motivation eg. doing moves from famous dances or that the professionals do. It is also nice when we have a relaxed class with nice conversation when we get to know each other and can empathise more with each other. this then motivates us a group to do well for our teacher.

Student 2

Do you think there is anything your fellow students could do to help with your motivation levels?

Just them sharing their ideas of how they remember steps and sequences. Being able to give peer assessments and just having fun

Student 1

If my fellow students left their worries about everyday life at the door it would help with the class atmosphere and overall motivation. When a big personality is moody and sad the whole class motivation drops as the general feel of the class revolves around them. If they left it at the door and focussed more on dance we would all enjoy ourselves. Sometimes parents of students dont understand how important it is during a class for everyone to be fully functioning and how hard it is for the teacher as well as the students to keep things going.

Student 2

I found these pilot questions quite enlightening, although I wish to look into all aspects of motivation I would like to take some time to investigate the students ability to motivate themselves. I was surprised that both students stated that it was the teacher that motivated them during class, so what motivates them out of class when the teacher is not present. This pilot has also made me consider what benefits I might gain from interviews with teachers, I had considered this in my early stages of planning but then decided against it as I was going to concentrate on the students thoughts of motivation but as teachers seem to potentially have a big affect on students motivation I would be interested to hear their views. I also think I need to reword some of my questions to ensure I get the best answer, the question re what teachers could do to help with students motivation I feel needs adapting or separating into a few smaller questions maybe asking what teachers have done that has motivated students would be a better question.

The Tools of Professional Inquiry

Before writing my Inquiry plan I needed time to think about what tool/methods I would use. After reading reader 6 I needed to think about which tools would best suit my Inquiry

First of all I needed to consider the strengths of each 4 tools as well as potential problems and there relevance in my inquiry.

Observations are a great insight into how classes are run, how teachers conduct their classes differently and what effect this has on students. Observing classes during my inquiry would allow me to analyse student’s motivation throughout a class and what influences their motivation. I would be able to gather kinesics data and it may give me insight into student behaviour that I might not get using other tools/methods. But there are ethical problems to consider. I would obviously need to gain informed consent from my 'Gatekeeper' and also the teacher whose lesson I was observing. However, I would also need to gain the consent of the students participating in the class and here lies the dilemma, for me to inform the students of my observation and its reasons I would need to divulge the topic if my inquiry. This could possibly affect the behaviour of the students during the class and the data I receive would not be authentic. Pip Spalton is dealing with this issue, she is concerned that once her students are aware of the topic of her inquiry they will act in such a way as to affect the results. While I don't feel the students would intentionally affect my results they may be more motivated to perform while I was watching and recording their behaviour whether they knew my topic of inquiry was motivation or not, for this reason I don't think that observation in my inquiry would be a valuable tool.  

The qualitative research interview seeks to describe and the meanings of central themes in the life world of the subjects. The main task in interviewing is to understand the meaning of what the interviewees say.

(Kvale,1996)

Interviews are a more personal form of research, the interviewer works directly with the respondent to get information, stories and feelings behind experiences.  

Interviews would be valuable in my inquiry but I would need to insure that I choose a type that would be suitable to my inquiry. I would need quite a considerable amount of time to conduct one to one interviews, although I feel students may be more honest with their answers. A group interview would be less demanding on my time and allow me contact with more students, however I feel that a focus group would be most beneficial for my inquiry as it will encourage interaction between students and help them to feel more comfortable which will lead to more open and honest answers. I will be able to study my students over a period of time and monitor and record and changes in their attitude. I will need to be well prepared and be able to bring the conversation back to topic should it divert. I will need to be aware of people’s personality dynamics and ensure that all participants interact and have opportunity to voice their ideas or opinions. The possible problems need to be considered, transcribing and gathering data from focus groups can be difficult I will need to remind participants to talk slowly and clearly and state their name before talking. Students talking at once will also present a problem for clarity on a recording, I will also make written notes during the focus group to back up my recording.  I will need time to correctly prepare the room before my focus group. I have found some literature on focus groups that will help me to plan, prepare, conduct and analyse the results.

How to organise and run a focus groups talks about developing you focus group the work you will need to do in preparation, during and (although not in great detail ) after. Topics include developing your questions and selecting our participants. There is also a useful appendix on using questions to control the flow of focus group discussions. I think this might come in handy to help combat the problem of keeping students on topic it discusses open questions, closed questions, probes and summary questions amount others. Although it is not greatly detailed I find this might be a good source for reference when planning my focus group.

Focus Groups as Qualitative Research planning and research design for focus groups addresses the planning that must be done prior to doing focus groups. The framework is based on Kirk and Miller's (1986) general description of the four phases of qualitative research: planning, observation, analysis, and reporting. It is a more detailed piece and will be of benefit in the early stages of planning.

http://www.rowan.edu/colleges/chss/facultystaff/focusgrouptoolkit.pdf will be of most use while planning and conducting my focus groups. the first section of this document is entitled Research Basics it discusses ethical considerations such as confidentiality, Voluntary Participation and respect for rights before moving on to discuss building a rapport with participants a topic that will be important if wish to receive open and honest answers to my questions. Other topics covers include Listening skills, questions to ask and time management. The next chapter Planning and Conducting Focus Groups covers guiding principles, Steps in Planning Focus Groups, tips for conducting a focus group, difficult situations (which includes examples of common situations that can occur and what you can do in each of these situations.) and Qualities of an Effective Focus Group Facilitator. This final section entitled Instruments gives you check lists for what you will need while conducting a focus group and an example of a note taking form and participation consent form.  

Surveys provide a high level of general capability in representing a large population. Due to the number of people who answer surveys being larger than other methods of research, the data gathered possess a more informed view of the general consensus for that area of study It is therefore easier to find statistically significant results than other data gathering methods. Surveys can be administered to the participants through a variety of ways, via e-mail or fax, or can be administered through the Internet. Nowadays, the online survey method has been the most popular way of gathering data from target participants, however I feel that this method will not be of use to me as most of the students are living away from home some may not have access to a computer at their residence. Researcher biases is eliminated from the information obtained as participants are given standardized stimuli. However, questions can sometimes be misinterpreted if they are not clear in content and it can sometimes produce a poor result from lack of participation. I feel a survey will be useful to my inquiry as an initial source for gathering information and general agreement within the area of motivation, once analysed I will be able to use the data I have acquired to shape my focus group questions and further focus the aims of my inquiry.

While planning my survey there are some things that require attention

·        The language used should be clear and simple. Two short questions, each covering one point, are better than one longer question which covers two points at once.

·        The order of questions should take into account the sensitivities of the person to whom they are addressed

·        Whether to use closed or open ended questions.

And remember….

KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. Break complex questions into digestible parts. Keep the survey to a sensible length - probably 20 minutes to complete it is a sensible limit of most people's tolerance.

businessballs.com. 

I found taking a little time to think through each of the tools gave me insight into how they would fit into my inquiry and has allowed me to figure out which would be most beneficial.    

Resources 

businessballs.com. 2012. Employee Motivation: Principles of improving employee motivation and empowerment. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.businessballs.com/employeemotivation.htm. [Accessed 10 December 14].

Explorable Psychology Experiments. 2012. The Survey Guide. [ONLINE] Available at: https://explorable.com/course/the-survey-guide. [Accessed 08 December 14].

Kvale, Steinar. Interviews An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing, Sage Publications, 1996

Award Title

My chosen title is BA (Hons) Professional Practice (Dance Teaching). This title reflects on my current role and professional practice and also on the area I would like to continue my professional development.

In 2006 I graduated from Merseyside Dance and Drama Centre after studying a three year course in Performing Arts. My focus throughout those three years was dance and I gained my ISTD performance certificates in Modern Theatre, Tap and National. I also continued with my studies to complete my DDE’s (Diploma in Dance Education) in these subjects and have recently completed my Licentiate Tap (results pending) . Since my graduation I have been working as a self-employed Dance teacher, teaching a range of genres based on my qualifications and experience. My studies through Middlesex University have been focused on my teaching of dance and helping me to develop as a teacher and mentor.

My inquiry will research into ways students can build on motivation as well as whether teachers can help students to do this. It will inquire into how teachers effect students motivation and aims to help teachers gain knowledge and tools to improve motivation in others.

Delicious

I've been using Delicious since Module 1 and I honestly don't know what I would of done without it. I found it was a great place to store links to websites and articles. You can tag and arrange your links so even if you don't have time to read something that has the potential to be interesting and valuable you will be able to find it easily when you want to.

My delicious account

Ethics (Once you Pop!!)

Although I have always been aware of how ethics govern our work, I find I am know more aware of their use in my everyday profession. Today I attend one of the schools I am contracted to deliver dance classes to. During the cross over between lessons I noticed a poster on the wall.

I remembered they also had a display be reception.

Not very clear but the title of the display is Ethos and Values 

On my way out of the school I decided to ask the receptionist for some more information on their ethical policy. She told me the posters referred to The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Clearly defined as a human below the age of 18 a child has the right to be viewed and treated as a human being with a distinct set of rights. These rights describe what a child needs to survive, grow, and live up to their potential in the world. They apply equally to every child, no matter who they are or where they come from.
Key principles and provisions of the Convention
The CRC consists of 54 articles.
The key provisions are:
• The right to a childhood (including protection from harm)
• The right to be educated (including all girls and boys completing primary school)
• The right to be healthy (including having clean water, nutritious food and medical care)
• The right to be treated fairly (which includes changing laws and practices that discriminate against children)
• The right to be heard (which includes considering children's views)


The school was taking part in the Rights Respecting School initiative and had recently gained Level 1 accreditation. A school achieving Level 1 has made good progress towards embedding the values and principles of the CRC into its ethos and curriculum. I thought this was a fantastic way to teach children of their rights and how to make better ethical decisions, when considering themselves and others.
Before my research into ethics I would have noticed the poster but I might not have thought in depth about is meaning and discussed it with others. This module I have definitely thought about ethics in more depth than before and with more detail and reflection into what I have encountered. I feel I am better equipped to continue forward with my inquiry and will be more aware of what ethical considerations I will need to make.


Permission
I also feel it is important to note that following my discussion with the receptionist I asked for consent to blog about our conversation and also the use of pictures on a public forum…. Think I might be getting the hang of this.

Looking further into Ethical considerations.

Completing the task on Ethics got the ball rolling a little for me so I decided to look a little further into the subject.

Code of Professional Conduct and Practicefor Teachers of Dance

I found this document via the ISTD (Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing) website, I found it points out many ethical considerations for both employers and employees including, Integrity, Competency and due skill and diligence, and is from the specific role of a dance teacher. I think this will be a good source to refer back to while conducting my inquiry and during my professional career.

Ethics resource Center

The Ethics Resource Center is an organization providing information, guidance and resources.

ERC is a non-profit, nonpartisan research organization, dedicated to independent research that advances high ethical standards and practices in public and private institutions.  

Ethical issues in qualitative research

I thought this would be useful for my inquiry as my research data will be qualitative, so I hoped it would give me some tips or food for thought. I found it an interesting read. The writer uses real-life examples to explain what complications you might encounter during conducting your research. The first example talks about the confession of abuse during an inquiry interview, this circumstance was something I had thought about lightly before but the ethical debate lead me to reflect deeper on the issue.

This story illustrates a delicate balance you might face between trying to do what is right in terms of maintaining privacy and, at the same time, recognizing that you have received information that might be damaging to the participant. Should you tell someone? If so,who? What about the promise you made to maintain privacy? You might not have thought about ethics while you were planning your research. Yet, recently, much has been written on the topic. I want you to think about what kinds of issues you might face and how you would handle them.

I’m glad I have read this in my planning stage as it gives me time to think about how I would act if certain situations where to arise, perhaps a way around this dilemma is to state in your informed consent that all information shared is to remain confidential unless I feel is possess risk towards themselves or another person, after all an important part of our jobs and a high consideration for our inquiry is the safeguarding of those in out care.

Another discussion that I thought was important and I will need to consider whilst delivering and analysing my data gathered from my inquiry is.... 

Informed consent

They also have a reasonable expectation that they will not be coerced into participation……if a study is to be done in an organization, individuals within that group (e.g. Students, workers) might feel that they cannot refuse when asked. There might be pressure placed on them by peers or by superiors.

I knew I would need to gain the consent of my students before they participate in my inquiry, what I didn’t realise is how many dimensions there are to gaining this consent. The college where I work is small 30-40 students in each year and only three years, at some point during my working week I teach every student in the college. I will need to ensure that the students feel they can refuse to participate in the inquiry without any negative repercussions, maybe I should ask for volunteers rather than selecting students?
This brings me to another consideration I encountered while reading this chapter the example sanareo discussed an inquiry into a pre-school where the founders were interviewed, privacy was promised to those interviewed but as it was a small community there was a chance that the school and even the interviewee could be identified once the findings were published despite the effort to disguise names. As I have mentioned my place of work is small and all students know each other. I think I will need to take extra precautions to try to avoid revealing identifying characteristics of my students.

Whilst reading this chapter the writer mentioned a columnist from the New York Times called ‘The Ethicist’ so naturally that was my next call. Currently Chuck Klosterman, formerly Ariel Kaminer and Randy Cohen, the column provides ethical advice on money, relationships, work, family, etc. Although only one person’s view this keeps the topic of ethics at the forefront of your mind and I found myself thinking what I would do or what advice I would give to someone in the situations put forth on the column and how they differ to the views of others, they could pose as good debate questions

Looking into ethics has confirmed what I knew and brought to light some things that I was aware of but hadn't really coincided in detail. Data protection was one of these, I knew about the data protection Act 1998 but this task has highlighted some of the regulations, but this task has made me think more about types of data and how I will it.

I find that most of the things I have read regarding professional ethics are in line with my own personal ethics, researching them has helped me to recall those that I forgot and ferment those that I use regularly.

Every employee is called upon to make decisions in the normal course of doing his/her job. Organizations cannot function effectively if employees are not empowered to make decisions consistent with their positions and responsibilities.

 The PLUS Decision Making Model, Ethics Resource Center

Ethics are about making decisions, we make thousands of them daily. Our personal ethics govern the outcome of them decisions. For those that need to be made in a professional environment, decisions need time and consideration into the ethics of your employer and the workplace.

Ethics

After a couple of attempts of scrambling through drawers and cupboards I have finally located my Staff handbook. The staff handbook is given to all staff at my work and is designed to provide information including staff roles, facilities, college rules and policies.

The Role of Teacher
It is important that the teacher establishes an environment where students can develop their full potential. In order to do this the students need to be given an environment that allows them to feel safe and supported, in order for my inquiry to work it is vital that my student feel comfortable to discuss the opinions.

Code of Conduct
A code of conduct is intended to be a central guide and reference for users in support of day-to-day decision making. It is meant to clarify an organization's mission, values and principles, linking them with standards of professional conduct. It is an open disclosure of the way an organization operates, and provides visible guidelines for behaviour. A code is also a tool to encourage discussions of ethics and to improve how employees should deal with the ethical dilemmas, prejudices and grey areas that are encountered in everyday work.
As it is our experiences that shape our ethical views all teachers will have different opinions on certain behaviour and whether it is acceptable. The handbook contains a list of rules that students must abide by, however for other behavioural issues that are not covered by this list it is the decision of the teacher as to whether they find the behaviour inappropriate.

Anti- bulling Policy
The aim of the anti-bulling policy is to ensure that pupils learn in a safe and supportive environment, without fear of victimization. Procedures are in place to allow complaints of bullying to be dealt with. During my inquiry I will be asking students to talk freely about their thoughts and feelings, I will remind students of the schools anti-bullying policy and as them to be respectful of others and their opinions.

Equal opportunities
Regardless of race, colour, ethnic origin or gender all students should be treated equally. The handbook refers to the Race relations Act (2000)
The Race Relations Act (RRA) 1976 amended 2000 makes it unlawful to treat a person less favourably than another on racial grounds. These cover grounds of race, colour, nationality (including citizenship), and national or ethnic origin. -http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/74/introduction

Data Protection
The Data protection Act 1998  http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/29/contents
The workplace stipulated that all data should be cared for appropriately and confidentially. No personal data is to be sent by email. The use of communication under the college name is not permitted unless permission is given and no college material is allowed to be shared publicly unless permission is given. Gaining this consent is an important part of the Inquiry process, not only have I been given permission to use certain data in an anonymous format, I have ensured that my employers have a link to my blog and I inform them each time I post something of interest.

Research, Research, Research

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.

― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

I've been busy researching motivation and had a desperate need to stop and try to organize my thoughts. I've been looking into intrinsic motivation and if we can find ways to help others to develop their motivation.

.....................................

This lead me to discover Self-determination theory, which is concerned around the choices people make without influence and includes research into intrinsic motivation. There are many other theories involved in this idea but Cognitive Evaluation Theory caught my interest, It is listed as one of the SDT's mini theory's and relates to intrinsic motivation. It discusses how a prototype of intrinsic motivation is children’s exploration and play, I found this interesting I believed that intrinsic motivation would be a concept to mature for a child to grasp but hadn't connected a child's need or want to learn. SDT also covers the effect extrinsic rewards have on intrinsic motivation with fascinating results,

Edward L. Deci is a Professor of Psychology and Gowen Professor in the Social Sciences at the University of Rochester, and director of its human motivation program. He is well known in psychology for his theories of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and basic psychological needs. With Richard Ryan, he is the co-founder of self-determination theory.  Deci (1971) performed several experiments to support his theory's. The first conducted of two separate control groups the same  number of puzzles. The first group where given no external motivators but the second where offered money for each puzzle they completed. During each of the three sessions,subjects were left alone in the experimental room for an eight minute"free choice" period. They could work on the puzzles, read magazines, or do whatever they liked. The results showed that the subjects were less intrinsically motivated after the experience with money than subjects who performed the same activity for no pay.


.....................................

I found this article called Increasing Student Success Through Instruction in Self-Determination by American Psychological Association. Again it discusses the negative effect extrinsic rewards can have on intrinsic motivation, however it takes a more detailed view towards the student.

Numerous studies have found that students who are more involved in setting educational goals are more likely to reach their goals. When students perceive that the primary focus of learning is to obtain external rewards, such as a grade on an exam, they often perform more poorly, think of themselves as less competent, and report greater anxiety than when they believe that exams are simply a way for them to monitor their own learning. Some studies have found that the use of external rewards actually decreased motivation for a task for which the student initially was motivated.

(2004)

I found this very interesting and backs up the studies from SDT but also brings into focus something I have been struggling to wrap my brain around. I have noticed students entered for exams sometimes become worse during class and always put this down to the stress they where under, they can sometimes be entered for 3 or 4 major exams at once and find it hard to manage their time between each subject. A few students start to feel upset and generally unmotivated at this point.

Schools throughout the country are using self-determination instruction as a way to better motivate students and meet the growing need to teach children and youth ways to more fully accept responsibility for their lives by helping them to identify their needs and develop strategies to meet those needs

(2004)

So I feel my focus should not be on getting the students to work for a scheduled exam but to take control of their own learning, identify their needs and how they can achieve them and set realistic timelines and strategies for accomplishing their goals. But also to take time to look at the 'Bigger picture' why they are wanting to gain the qualifications they are studying for? What is it they want to achieve?


........................................



I decided to do a little more research into SDT and how it can help with student motivation. I found a website dedicated to creating more self-determined lives. It has information about what SDT is and more importantly how to promote it,

There model for self-determination is split into four parts

PART 1

Know Yourself and Your Context
Knowing yourself includes knowing your strengths, weaknesses and needs, if we take time to understand ourselves we can create realistic goals. Having a variety of experiences to draw from and knowledge of a wide array of options helps us make informed choices. Finally, we need good decision-making skills to help us weigh the benefits and potential pitfalls of our potential goals and actions.

Value Yourself
To be self-determined we need to believe in ourselves and know that we have the right to pursue what we desire. This includes excepting our weaknesses. The more we are able to accept our weaknesses, even though we don’t like them, it is more likely that the power of  weaknesses over us will be minimized. We will also then increase our ability to take action aimed at correcting weaknesses if we choose to.When we value ourselves we take care of ourselves emotionally, mentally, and physically. It is hard to imagine successfully accomplishing, or even identifying, important goals if we’re overly tired, stressed, or otherwise physically, mentally, or emotionally unhealthy.

Self-determination doesn’t happen by ourselves alone. We are social creatures and we need good relationships to be self-determined. Ryan and Deci (2000) identified relatedness as one of three psychological needs that needs to be met to foster increased self-determination. In our research to identify the personal characteristics associated with self-determination the most common response to our question “what helps you be self-determined?” was “friends and family”. Not surprisingly, the most frequent answer to our question “what gets in the way of your self-determination?” was the same: “friends and family”.  Experiencing the warmth, security and sense of support that comes from creating and nurturing positive relationships in our lives is one of the most important elements that can advance our self-determination.

PART 2

Plan
In order to achieve we need to set our-self goals. Planning and preparation is a vital part of that. In order for us to realize those goals our BIG VISION we need to plan our long term and short term goals that will help us to arrive at our desired outcome.

We need to be able to see the BIG VISION and then create baby steps to get there.

PART 3

Act
We achieve outcomes by taking action. Taking action always involves risk, but through action we can develop knowledge and confidence. To act we need to take risks, communicate, negotiate, deal with conflict and criticism, access resources and support and be persistent.

The ability to persevere in spite of obstacles is an essential element of ongoing self-determination.

PART 4

Experience the outcomes and learn
We need to consciously reflect on our experiences. we need to compare the actual outcome of our efforts to the desired outcome. Did we achieve what we set out to achieve? Did we like the outcomes we obtained from our efforts, whether or not it was what we set our to attain?

Achieving the outcome we initially set out to attain is not the essential point.  Any attempt we make toward self-determination provides opportunity to experience and learn from the outcomes that occur.

Model of Self-Determination. Revised (2014) by S. Field and A. Hoffman. Ealy Education Group, Inc.

I feel that this model may come in handy with my focus group, I could moderate it or create my own and ask the students to follow the model to reach one of their goals. I wounder if the results would be different from what they encounter now? Any thoughts?.....  



Resources



Increasing Student Success Through Instruction in Self-Determination, American Psychological Association, July 21, 2004

DECI, E. L. The effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation.
Journal o] Personality and Social Psychology, 1971

A meeting of minds

I had a very encouraging meeting with my 'Gatekeeper' and thought it would be useful to write out some of our thoughts...........

I approached her a few weeks ago with regards to my inquiry but as I was still unsure as to what path my inquiry would take I could only ask permission to induct an Inquiry without giving any ideas as to what it would entail. I been spending time (furiously as I'm sure we all have) preparing my plan so I have a more detailed idea of what tools I will be using and how this will impact the students and my workplace where I will be conducting my Inquiry. I thought it would be a good time to meet with my gatekeeper an fill her in in a little more detail how my inquiry will work and its impact.

My first concern was my use of focus groups. I feel this is vital to my inquiry to see if any progress is being made, but the students timetables are full and fitting in focus groups during lunch (only 30 min) would not give me an appropriate amount of time.

Focus groups normally last about an hour and a half. 

Rowan University.

  Limit the time for a focus group to two hours or less. Usually somewhere between 60 and 120 minutes is ideal. If you’re doing groups with children, the younger the children, the shorter the group should be. 

CDC.gov

Fortunately through our discussion I was able secure an hour slot during my working hours that would not impede on the students studies, whew! one hurdle crossed.

Next we moved to disusing my topic of inquiry, my employer was very interested to here my topic was motivation particularly my findings regarding extrinsic rewards and their effect on intrinsic motivation. As a school we are heavily set around examination. The students have three years to gather the required number of examinations to gain the teaching qualifications, so the thought that these exam deadlines may have the opposite effect on a students motivation than you might at first think is one that grabbed the attention of my employer (me also, until gathering research for this inquiry I always thought as exams as a great motivator, and I suppose for children this might be so but the students are working towards a career in the Arts so these exams are given a lot more wight which carries added pressure upon the short three year deadline) I explained that my intention was to look into ways we can help students stay motivated. If students had a model to shadow and guide them it could possibly help. I also brought up that studies have shown that students who are in charge of their own learning are more likely to be intrinsically motivated. This is a tough one. Although they have opportunities to develop their artistry and choreographic skills the teaching course is mainly a didactic approach to teaching. We instruct the students on correct technique, we teach them the syllabus work and theory that goes with it. The problem is it has to be exact there in no room for artistic licence. So my employer challenged me to find a way that students could be in charge of their own leaning without impacting their education. I would like to cover this in my inquiry, Would giving the students more responsibility for their leaning help their levels of motivation? 

Next we covered what I will be asking of the students who will be participating in my focus group. As well as joining the group and sharing their thoughts and concerns (here we covered the ethical implications that my groups will be confidential, to encourage the students to talk honestly and openly to me) I will ask my students to complete a diary of there thoughts and feelings each day. I am hoping this will help us to find patterns that effect their motivation. The students are given a review with the principal regularly to talk about their progress and discuss their aims as well as regular tutorials where they can discus any problems or concerns they have. I mentioned that the diary's may be of use for all students to keep a record of how they are feeling and what has effects on their motivation, so they could then use them as reference and reminders in preparation for their reviews and tutorials, I feel this is something we could look into implicate if the diary's are successful. 

Overall this was a very beneficial meeting it allowed me to update my gatekeeper on my intentions for this upcoming inquiry and also talk about how it could benefit the students involved but also the potential of all students attending the college. It also gave me food for thought on some methods I could use to help with my inquiry.

Resources 

Toolkit for Conducting Focus Groups, Rowan University

General Guidelines for Focus Groups, Centers for disease control and prevention.

A fork in the road

“Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.

― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

From talking to other teachers it is evident that motivation of students is a popular topic. This did concern me slightly, after all if it is such a popular topic then have all possible solutions to building motivation been explored? what is left for me to inquire about? I noticed that most advice I had been give related to 'in class' ideas; Stickers, Dance Captain, Performances etc. All great motivates, but then the thought occurred to me

These are all examples of extrinsic motivators  

I couldn't find one piece of advice related to intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation is the self-desire to seek out new things and new challenges, to analyze one's capacity, to observe and to gain knowledge. It is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than relying on external pressures or a desire for reward. 

― From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think this is where my Inquiry would be most beneficial, its a more complex theory but a stronger form of motivation and while I'm sure there will be no simple straight forward answers I'm excited to see where it will take me.  

Choosing my line of Inquiry

I thought I'd put figurative pen to paper and blog about some of the research I've been doing for my inquiry. Although I started with quite a specific idea and was concerned that I had narrowed my options too soon. After spending a couple of days staring at my computer screen researching motivation (or lack of) I feel the subject is too expansive, and I'm still unsure which way to go. Although I am positive that motivation is a good topic and from my discussions with various SIG's I have enough evidence to support that it will benefit teachers to inquire into this subject, it is where I focus my inquiry that I am struggling to decide. On the one hand most of on-line discussions have been regarding early teen and it does seem that this is when a problem does start to occur.

 Teacher 1 

Tip for teens!! Anyone find that age 13-15 is the 'its not cool to try' phase? Praying it isn't just us but feel like im drawing blood from a stone at times. Any tips much appreciated! 

Teacher 2

I teach secondary school dance so I see a lot of this. Dance is compulsory in our school at KS3 and with the classes being mixed in age and ability motivation is essential.

Teacher 3

Mine is 11-13 age range! Driving me mad

Teacher 4

I grit my teeth for two years between 14-16, and then they are lovely again. 

Teacher 5

 I'm struggling with the older group 16-18 and although they've actually CHOSEN to be doing a btec course they won't try anything! 

However, the discussions I have had with my colleagues are heavily focused on 16+ and students in professional training. It was through this work that my idea to focus on motivation began. I am lucky in that I have a fairly large group of students to try out motivational techniques on, Some of these students are going through a dip in motivation at the moment so it will be interesting to see which, if any, motivational techniques help them although I'm not sure that should factor into my decision? I wouldn't want anyone to misunderstand, the students who I teach are very dedicated and have a passion for what the study, but are lacking in motivation to better themselves outside of college hours e.g. arriving early to conduct a more thorough warm up before the days lessons start, staying behind after college to stretch or applying the amount of hours required to complete build-ups or learn theory. I recently had a group of students entered for teaching qualifications everything was left until the last minute which resulted in a group of very stressed students and an extremely stressed teacher. After the exam I wanted to talk to the students to see why this happened. One student remarked "I just can't seem to motivate myself." This is what interested me, the concept of self motivation and whether there is anything we as teachers can do to help students to find their own motivation rather than always being there to push them along.  I am still unsure as to whether using both age groups will create too broad a topic or if it will help strengthen my inquiry. I do think that there is a difference in the problems that occur in the age groups, when talking to people about motivating early teens it seems to be more focused on 'in class' or 'in the moment'situations

Teacher 6

 I have found with lower school (year 7&8) they need lots of short tasks. If they are given extended amounts of times they will only work productively for about 5 minutes,

Teacher 7

 I think pitching the class right is vital. Set the class a generic/core exercise. For those excelling, go to them individually and give them an extra task/make it harder, for those struggling, help them maybe break the steps down and praise them at each step even if they cant quite reach the generic/core movement. 

Teacher 8

Maybe a cliché but I do find that being positive with them and praising those that work hard and picking up on anything positive they achieve helps.

Teacher 9

I make one of my girls dance captain in each class, it makes them work harder, also if they have been working hard there treat is they can do the warm up in modern under my supervision

I still have a lot of thinking to do and would love any opinion on my line of inquiry and its relevance.

Professional Ethics

Working within any organisation, professional ethics and how they are enforced is an important issue. The private sector presents a challenge itself, as there is no governing body to oversee the way in which the business in conducted, the responsibility of setting standards and maintaining an ethically run business falls the the principal and those in charge of the running of the establishment. I spent some time thinking about ethics and expectations of staff in the workplace, its funny how many ethical principals you use without realizing, but there effects are important, I've made note of a few.

• As a privately run college, teachers are not regulated to hold a qualification in order to be employed. It is therefore the responsibility of the workplace to ensure that all staff have the relevant qualification or experience of their craft to deliver skilled and knowledgeable education at the required level.

• We are contacted for our teaching hours but to ensure a level of preparation and professionalism all staff are required to be present in the building 15min before class starts.

• Physical contact is something that is unavoidable in a dance class, it is the responsibility of the company to make all parties aware that physical contact is used and in what form that will take. I always ask permission of my children/students before I make a physical correct and will use the back of my hand as point of contact if possible.

• Claire Radford makes a valid point regarding safe guarding of students, students are asked to call upon their emotions to help portray stories thought choreography. We ask them to draw emotion from past experiences to help them create the desired effect. This needs to be approached with care and attention need to be given to students reactions and mental state during the class, recalling past memories can bring memories to the surface.

•  As teachers it are job to monitor the mental and physical health of our students. if any student shows growing concern a teacher needs to inform a member of management.    

My Special Interest Groups

I've been thinking about and developing my SIG over the past week or so.

Colleagues 

My colleages at the college where I work are probably my most used and most helpful group. They know the students I work with and the demands on them as well as myself. I have discussed my ideas for motivation as a line of inquiry with a couple of my colleagues on a one to one basis with positive returns but last week during a staff meeting the subject arose regarding concerns of a dip in students motivation. Myself and 10 other members of staff expressed our concerns to the principal and debated on ways we could resolve the issue. Although no solid conclusion was reached a line of questioning has been put forward and the issue has been highlighted. We were able to give discussion to others grievances and propose ideas on how to resolve or improve certain situations. I found some questions that were put forward during this meeting intriguing and I feel these could be developed and used in discussions with students at a later date.

One teacher asked
Is it me? I thought this interesting, are students more motivated for one member of staff more than an other? I understand that students show preferences to different subjects and will tend to be more enthusiastic towards their favourite, but when different teachers are teaching the same genre should this effect motivation to do well generally?  I could ask: Do you feel more motivated in certain classes? Why do you think this is?

Another question was
Why have you chosen to come to college? after all they auditioned and invest a lot (time and financial) to attend and meet what's required of them. Maybe in all that work they have forgotten why they wanted to come in the first place. Could the answer simply be to remind them of their answer to this question (I doubt it could be that simple, but it could help them to re-focus)

 I value my colleagues opinions and feel this will be a important source for me to gather information for my Inquiry.

Facebook groups
Since Module 1 I have begun to use Facebook and other Social Media to help with my professional development. I have joined a number of groups aimed at dance teachers, to give advice and discuss any issues. I recently posted regarding motivation in the hope of finding out how others help to motivate their students

Teacher 1 replied,

Dance captain role. get them to write up a list of quality's a dance captain should have and tell them you will watch out for those qualities in every lesson from each class member and choose a new one each half term or term. It's not always the person who can dance best it is someone who can motivate others and listen to others; who listens to not only their own corrections and who doesn't boss people around but brings a whole class together; maybe even let the older classes choose who they want as dance captain

Another talked about performance,

 I find my students get motivated for performances. We get our students to perform their dance every last lesson before Christmas and the summer holidays. This makes them get more focused knowing they will have an audience.

I find these groups are a quick and easy way to get advice from a large group of people that you may not otherwise have contact with.

Communities 

Dance Teacher's Community

I have set up a community through Google+, called Dance Teacher's Community  in the hope that dancers and dance teachers will share and discuss ideas and thoughts on how to improve their skills in the studio. Already it has helped me to connect with some of my fellow BAPP student to discuss my proposed line on inquiry and give my input and advice on there's. I welcome you to join and get involved in the discussions.

Thinking Aloud!!

I've took some time to do a little research into Motivation and found an article posed by Carl Pickhardt, Ph.D, a psychologist in Austin. Prickhardt’s post in Psychology Today called ‘Motivating your Adolescent to Perform’ revolves around parenting. I found this article highlighted some thoughts for me and clarified others. His debate is one that I agree with. We need to help our children to motivate themselves, not push or persuade them but enlighten them so they will want to achieve.

"The main thing to remember about extrinsic motivation is that influence is exerted from the outside/in, making adolescent effort dependent on external pressure. This is different from intrinsic motivation that works from the inside/out, influence generated independently from desire within. Of the two kinds of motivation, the intrinsic is the more powerful because the adolescent is the source of influence and direction. "I take care of getting homework done because it's my business, not my parents'."

So I knew this... Well I learned about the two types of motivations when studying for my teaching qualifications, so I knew they existed. I suppose until know I hadn't given much thought as to which of the two would be most effective to motivate teens. IT makes sense that Intrinsic would be the more powerful of the two, so this is where my inquiry should head.

“A way to state intrinsic motivation might be, INTRINSIC MOTIVATION = SELF-INTEREST + OWNERSHIP.”I want to take charge of what matters to me and be the one who decides to get it done. I want to do it for my sake, not for anyone else." This sounds like pride speaking.
Parents cannot reward, push, or punish an adolescent into becoming intrinsically motivated, but sometimes they can encourage self-motivation by opening up an exposure or creating a circumstance that stimulates self-interest.”

This reminded me again of my discussion with Paula and the question she posted to me, Can you create motivation in others? Apparently not! Not lasting motivation anyhow. But can we stimulate and encourage self-motivation? Or should that be how can we?

I like this line of inquiry I think it has potential and would serve as beneficial not only to myself but to teachers in all subjects, even parents. Perhaps I should be talking to them as well as other professionals. Although this excites me I don’t want to narrow my options too much before I have done more research and looked into other possible lines of inquiry. I am also unsure as to whether this topic is too wide, the potential this has versus the time limit we have unnerves me a little, more research I think.  

“When it comes to performance, there are reasons that parents strive to motivate their adolescent and want the adolescent to motivate herself. Consider just a few: to develop operating capacity, to build confidence, to increase discipline, to create a record of accomplishment, to invest in personal growth, to create future options, and to get a sense of potential that can be fulfilled.
This is why parents consider adolescent apathy the enemy of ambition and why they step in when they see motivation lacking. "It's like seeing him give upon himself. If he doesn't try and try hard he'll never find out what he's capable of!"
What parents often fail to understand, however, is the protective role that apathy can sometimes play in the adolescent's life. Protect against what? The answer is, protect against the risks of caring and commitment. A young person stated his ambivalence about ambition well. "Suppose I give it my all and don't do that good? Do I really want to discover that? It feels safer just to get by."

This sounds familiar…… I wrote about this in Module 1 when discussing what makes me angry or sad and again recently when thinking about possible questions for my Inquiry.
I find I also become angry when children/students subconsciously hold themselves back. Many students I have taught over the years have not reached their full potential as they are too scared to perform to their best ability in class. Its seems the fashion these days to not put 100% into your work, it is uncool to appear eager to learn or to be working hard. Why is being the 'class swot' such a bad thing?
It has been a frustrating constant to which I know feel a little more knowledgeable on. The subconscious lack of motivation to excel may be down to the student’s fear of failure and low self-confidence. This would answer my question on whether self-confidence can effect motivation. But raised the question as to whether it is an issue of low self-confidence or lack of Motivation.

"I can't answer those questions for you," I replied, "but I'll give you another question to consider. For safety's sake, would you rather make a minimal effort and avoid disappointment, or exert yourself and gain self-respect from knowing that at least you tried your best?"

If Self-respect and self-confidence can come from being motivated, can respect and confidence help build self-motivation?

Motivating your Adolescent to Perform by Carl Pickhardt, Ph.D

Can you create motivation?

I've been thinking more about motivation and what pathway my inquiry should go in the process to develop my set of questions. I have touched on motivation and commitment in previous blogs what I have concluded is lack of motivations seems to be more evident with children ages 13+. I would like to do a little research into what influences effect motivation. For example, 

Are children more likely to be motivated if they wish to pursue dance as a career? 

How much does self-esteem or confidence effect motivation?

Is it a confidence issue or an unconscious process? 

Is there something we can do as teachers to help these students express themselves and work to their best ability or is it simply a maturity problem? 

I also mentioned a problem that has arisen in discussions many times with my colleagues at the college I teach, students are 16+. Admittedly we all feel that as students are already pursuing a career in the Arts a level of motivation is already involved, however myself and my colleagues feel that students could show greater motivation towards self-development, when extrinsic motivation may not be present.

I had a discussion with Paula yesterday in regards to my line of Inquiry she posed an interesting question and one I had not thought of before. The idea behind whether we create motivation in others intrigued me. Is it possible to motivate another person? After all we cannot be there constantly to give them the push they need to succeed we can only inspire them to motivate themselves. I remember studying motivation briefly during college when working towards my teaching qualifications. Motivation can be divided into two types: intrinsic (internal) motivation and extrinsic (external) motivation. By definition intrinsic motivation is self-desire, is this something we can influence or is it purely at the control of the individual? Extrinsic is more easily used as it is defined as influences outside of the individual, exams and goals for example. This reminded me of a comment Lizzie Martin left on my blog 'Inquiry Thoughts'. Lizzie made an interesting comment about motivation related to performance in class, she believes that children who perform to audiences on regular occasions are more motivated to re-enact that level of performance in class. Does the motivation to want to perform come from internal or external influences I made comment that although the school where I work does not participate in many performances throughout a school year I find exams are a great extrinsic motivator for my children? Once they are given the goal of an exam date or possible entry of an exam their level of commitment to better there technique and performance increases, as does their attendance and concentration during class.  

I think extrinsic motivation is easier to understand and control, however what about those classes where extrinsic motivation is harder to use. Although the larger percentage of my work is based around syllabus classes (I do take a few regular free classes) I regularly talk to my colleges who work on the musical theatre course at college. They work with the students to develop their skills of performing professionally once they graduate from college. As there is no grade or exam, no guarantee of a job after graduation does most of the students motivation need to come from within themselves? If the motivation comes from within what can we do to help inspire motivation where it is lacking?  

Is it possible to influence intrinsic motivation?

So which line of inquiry do I feel would benefit myself and my fellow teacher’s best? 

I feel the answer to this question will help me to narrow my focus and help me to pick a line of inquiry that will influence how I conduct classes in future. I feel two lines of focus have presented themselves. One is the way in which self-confidence effects motivation and the effect peer pressure has on an individual’s motivation towards performance, I feel this line of inquiry would be best suited to children aged 13 - 16. My seconded is aimed at college students aged 16+ and would investigate their ability to self-motivate without and strong extrinsic influences and what we as teachers could do to inspire and influence their motivation. 

Experience Versus Education

I find the debate on education versus experience one I have encountered many times. I have heard many graduates state they were rejected for a job due to lack of experience, but how are they to gain experience if no one is willing to give them the opportunity? Alternatively is it possible to learn all that we need from experience alone? Would you be happy for a teacher to educate your child based on a wealth of experience but with no formal training? As Eraut (1991) suggests a degree certificate or qualification validates ones claim to a specialised knowledge. It gives us confidence that that person will be informed, skilled and capable of performing well at their job.

However even the most qualified of people will have something to learn from experiencing work in a profession. I have been teaching for over 10 years and I encounter new experiences every day. Schon (1983) argues that a focused teaching of professional knowledge does not include the same situations or scenario's professionals perceive as central to their practice. I agree with this reasoning, in many of my teacher training classes students can show expert knowledge and understanding of the work with regards to build ups and syllabus theory, but then struggle to relay that to those they teach. Knowing the theory is not enough, to be a successful teacher we need to be able to be adaptable and creative when passing are knowledge onto others. I believe this is what Schon was debating, this knowledge can only be learned though are experience and interaction with students in the studio.

With all this considered I believe in order for us to become the best possible professionals a mixture of both experience and education is needed.  In recent years I feel that has become more recognised as a break away from more traditional forms of education is evident. Universities negotiate and compromise with professions in order to incorporate ideas of professional training which were previously outside higher education. Work based learning is becoming more popular, This BAPP course allows us to use our knowledge based through experience in our fields and gain formal recognition and academic credit for learning that occurs in the workplace. Apprenticeships have once more taken a more prominent place in today’s education. As the understanding of knowledge expands so does our views on how we can gain that knowledge.

This led to the thought of how modern education and people’s views on intelligence have changed. Intelligence was understood and could be measured by a grade received or an IQ score, however, with more people choosing apprenticeships or work based courses to further their knowledge it is recognised that experience is an important part of knowledge and intelligence is not as easily measured as we once thought.

Howard Gardner (1983) proposed the theory of multiple intelligence. Gardner suggested that there are 8 different types of intelligence and that each person has a unique blend of all 8 types of intelligence.

The traditional definition of intelligence is too narrow. Gardner's broader definition more accurately reflects ways in which people think and learn. It credits linguistic and mathematical abilities as intelligence but also classes’ musical, athletic and artistic abilities.  

Schon stated that knowledge should not be categorised as all knowledge: propositional, personal, tacit, process and know how is needed to perform professionally. While I agree that the whole is needed and all knowledge should work together to create a professional, I feel categorising and studying different types of knowledge and where they derive from will lead to greater understanding and better implication of knowledge.  In the same way that we can better understand a person’s intelligence or capability for intelligence based on an understanding of their strengths in each intelligence type, could we determine a person’s ability to perform a job it we discover where their knowledge is routed?

Here’s a link to the Birmingham Guild for Learning website where you can discover your blend of the 8 intelligences.