Understanding my own professional inquiry through work based learning theories.

While reading through reader 4 in particular the section on work based learning. My thoughts wavered to questioning its relevance in my day to day professional work outside of BAPP. I found my self  reflecting on my working day and questioning Is there ever a day where I don't learn from my work?  Frankly the answer is no. Each class I encounter throughout my day will help me to develop my skills as a dance teacher, adapting our methods and teaching approaches for each student is one that we teachers do each time a student does not understand an explanation or instruction we have given.

This made me realise the reason WBL is so effective for our profession. We are always changing, as is the art form we are gifting to our students. A regular degree would not allow us the freedom to enquire into those questions that are relevant or within that moment you are currently experiencing as a teacher. It gives us the freedom to further reflect and learn from what we are currently experiencing, is there any better way to develop than to learn and grow from your own experiences?

Whilst researching WBL theories I came across a quote from Stephen Billett. (Billett 2005) talks about one of the reason behind why I felt I needed to credit myself with a university degree. 

The kinds of occupational practise denied courses and certification are often low paid and characterised as being "low skill" and occupied by disadvantaged groups… Finding means to legitimately and authoritatively recognise skills acquired through work hold the prospect of providing just arrangements for these otherwise disadvantaged workers as well as those requiring recognition throughout their working life.

Although of course I would not say our work is low skilled far from it in fact. However, there is a population of people in the world that will not credit the qualifications and there for skills that I have. Whether this will change once I gain my degree is another issue nether the less WBL has opened doors for skilled workers to gain the recognition they deserve.

Double Loop Learning

Argyris and Schön (1978: 2) proposed a theory that will help teachers to change learnt behaviour. Firstly they devised that people follow particular patterns. These mind maps dictate how we will act in a situation, we will automatically follow these patterns without thought to any theories we understand. The theory behind single and double loop learning investigates how we can break this cycle to address the cause of the problem (double loop learning) rather than taking a quicker/easier problem solving approach (single loop learning). By taking a more critical reflective approach on a learning situation we can re-frame the way we will react. I find this an interesting theory. How many times do we stick to what we know? we react to a situation when a problem arises but if we took time to think and reflect on that problem would we arrive at a different outcome? Would it not be better to solve the underling issue and change the way we approach a situation than solving an immediate problem that has it occurred. I hope that this journey in inquiry helps me to develop my skills of double loop learning.

I found this video helped put they theory into perspective. using a real life scenario it helped me to understand how double loop learning can help us to gain a superior outcome to simply solving the problem at hand.

Interestingly I also found an article on Bible.org helpful when trying to clarify the meaning of single/double loop theory. Although I am not a religious person myself I found the explanations simple and helpful.

The Learning Organisation

Peter Senge developed the theory of learning organisation. Senge (2003) describes learning organisations as

…organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together.

Many of his thoughts and ideas I find relate to my day to day learning, I am fortunate to be surrounded by a great many talented teachers with there experience ranging through the different fields in our profession from ISTD examiners and committee members to experienced ex performers and choreographers. We all strive to continue to develop our skills and the staff room becomes a great source to help us achieve this. Working together, swapping techniques and ideas helps us to better ourselves and others. I would consider myself to be part of a great team. This has always been a great instrument in my self development and I feel it will be a useful asset when developing my inquiry. This did get me thinking about freelance teachers and those of you who work in schools with people outside of the theatrical world. Our staffroom discussions centre mainly around the business and our experiences of working in the industry, I would be interested to hear how working with others can help to develop your work and whether you use the social media to expand your learning.

Inquiry thoughts

I've been away for a few days with my partner and son but while trying to relax after a busy term I found my thoughts wandering to possible lines of inquiry.

Motivation/Commitment
I mentioned this in my post inquiry:

• I find it frustrating when the older children do not show the correct level of commitment and dedication to achieve their goals. Some of the children complain about the grade they are in but then do not show the commitment to attend more classes during the week and better themselves through hard work. I find it frustrating that they expect rewards such as to be entered for exams or to be put on point but are not prepared to take the responsibly to gain the reward for them self.
• 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. 
• I sometimes can't understand the students lack of enthusiasm and passion, they love to dance they must do. The college where I work is private and unfunded and the fees are expensive not to mention the costs of equipment and exams. Some students find grants while others work after college to fund their education, this takes great commitment to which they surly would not adhere to if they did not love what they do so much. However I find myself pleading with students to perform and discuss passionately things which the feel are important. This relates to what I was talking about previously in regards to student holding themselves back. Is it a confidence issue or a 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? 

This interests me, I would be interested to find out what influences a students motivation and whether they are concious of their work ethic or aware of external or internal influences that cause them to hold back in class. Although I am not sure whether these are two separate lines of inquiry or if they will work together, more thought is needed I think. Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated. 

Ethical considerations for networking

Networking using web 2.0 This is something that I and others have considered before. How beneficial is Web 2.0? What potential risks are involved? And do the benefits out way the risks?  In today's world I must admit networking using web 2.0 has opened many doors and is a much easier way to reach people you may not otherwise come into contact with. Many of us have commented about how we can participate in social or professional networking while in the comfort of our own homes and we are not limited to normal 'working hours' to make these valuable connections. There is also the point of equality to consider. While connecting on-line we have no true knowledge of people’s race, gender, age or appearance. We can eradicate any prejudice.

However we cannot look at the advantages without taking a look at the disadvantages. 

Privacy Issues
I, Julia Gil and Christie Halsey have all raised this problem in past blogs. But with some further research I came across a different view point I had not thought of previously. In our posts regarding this issue we discussed how careful we need to be when inviting are professional life into our personal. But what if the intrusion was not invited? Is it fair that our employers can reprimand us for something they have read on our personal blogs or Facebook pages? I myself have been aware of students getting themselves into trouble by stating one fact to the college and posting something entirely different on Facebook. Is this a violation oF their privacy or as they have in fact lied should this be accepted?

David Weisbrot, president of the Australia Law Reform Commission, which has been investigating online privacy, comments, “Laws designed to protect privacy in the outside world struggle to cope with the issues raised by on-line communities.” 

It is worth noting that many companies will have a social media usage policy and it is possible for employers to take action if this policy is broken.
In disagreements with employers many employees have argued that when they post regarding work it is providing them a place to vent, their posts are simply a way they can share with friends after a bad day at work, after all we all have them. There are some concerns that taking tough measures on what is in their opinion freedom of speech and not a malicious comment may strike discord amongst staff and be perceived as an unethical response. 

Cyberbullying
Lizzie Martin raised the issue of cyber bulling. A serious problem, cyber bulling is more prolonged than regular bulling as the child is open to abuse while in the safety of their own homes. A survey was published on October 2nd 2013 by national anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label. The findings showed that:

• 7 out of 10 young people have been victims of cyberbullying.
• 37% young people have experienced cyberbullying on a highly frequent basis
• 20% of young people have experienced extreme cyberbullying on a daily basis
• Young people are found to be twice as likely to be bullied on Facebook than on any other social network.
• Facebook, Twitter and Ask.FM are found to be the most common social networks for cyberbullying.
• 54% of young people using Facebook reported that they have experienced bullying on the network.
• 28% of young people using Twitter reported that they have experienced bullying on the network.
• 26% of young people using Ask.FM have experienced bullying on the network.
• Cyberbullying is found to have catastrophic effects upon the self-esteem and social lives of up to 69% of young people.
• An estimated 5.43 million young people in the UK have experienced cyber bullying with 1.26 million subjected to extreme cyber bullying on a daily basis. 

Ditch the Label - A link to the survey. 
As it stands there are no laws on cyberbullying. One question this raised for me is how cyberbullying can be prevented without limiting children's freedom. In 2012 Facebook took measures to decrease cyberbullying by adding a report button so that its users could report offensive or inappropriate posts or pictures, is this enough? A debate a feel that will continue for a long time. 

While I can't help but agree that Web 2.0 is a fantastic tool for professional networking, this course has convinced me of this and I have started to increase my web 2.0 network in the shape of Facebook groups and blogs outside of this course. I think for networking in this form to be successful there are many ethical considerations to be aware of; being aware of these will help the professional to create links and promote themselves to an ever growing market of potential employers and opportunities. All things considered it can't help to be informed.

Food for thought............

So I've been looking into starting my Critical Reflection and I took a look back over my blog I cant believe how much we've covered in such a short time. One thing I did notice is how at the start of this course I talked about how I have a tendency to keep my thoughts to myself, and as I scrolled through my blog memory's of thoughts I had had but not expressed came flooding back. Looking back over this module I realise the one thing that I find hard has been the thing that I have needed to do the most. The journal writing has helped some way with this but my problem comes with sharing my thoughts and ideas with others, What if my ideas are irrelevant or wrong? I am so use to internalising everything I think this is going to be a long struggle, I am only just telling people I am on this course as I was so worried I might not be excepted that I decided not to tell people just in-case. I feel I have made improvements and I am proud of the work I have done in this area (For example, I would never have dreamed of posting this a few months ago) but I hope that I can continue to develop this skill further in the future as I feel it is important for my professional developmet.

Sources of Information

I started this task by looking at the way other people on this course (past and present) gather information, I was not surprised to realise that most people use many of the same or similar sources, Web 2.0, social networking. The difference came in how people use their sources to gather this information which in turn led me to question my own sources and the effectiveness in my use of them.
Pip Spalton talks in her blog about the importance of organisation, she states "The wide variety of ways to source the vast amounts of information means that professionals including myself need to be able to find ways of organising the results of their research." I think this is the most important part of gathering information, the source is important but how we use the information we gather is key. If we organise our sources and information well we are at a better advantage to recall and reuse that information. I recently found a great website for organising and storing information related to Web research. Delicious allows you to store links to websites and to tag and categorise them for easy finding, I have found it helpful as there is so many articles on the web it is sometimes hard to keep track and this allows me to file them for easy finding all my web sources are in one place. (I did try to upload a link to delicious but it kept linking to my account) This did get me thinking are there other websites or apps like this that people use to help organise the information, it would be nice to know anyone's ideas.

Well enough of that onto my Information Sources

1. People

Conversation is something that happens to us all, are need to affiliate drives us to make connections with people. Through these connections we can lean so much. "Since we cannot experience everything, other people's experiences, and hence other people, become the surrogate for knowledge." Karen Stephenson.
This comes in many forms thought parents, colleagues, students and close friends and family. I find that each group has its own advantages and I can gather information and learn from each of them. 


• Parents - In discussions with parents I can learn so much about their child. Initially their strengths and weaknesses their likes and dislikes but also any development issues or concerns including medical history. This can help me to better tailor my teaching of that student. Parents can also be a sore of information regarding the student’s ongoing or current development. They will let you know if their child has been feeling unwell if they are tired or have been injured outside of dance class. All this information is invaluable for how you approach you students and conduct you class. Worryingly I have noticed a decrease in the frequency of discussions with parents. I find many parents for some reason are not coming into the school to drop their children off but choosing instead to waiting the car and watch their children until they are inside the building. I am unsure as to whether this is due to bad parking facilities on the road outside or a lack of interest in their child's chosen activity. I recall discussions in the past with colleagues regarding student and parents and our thoughts that some parents see are work as a babysitting service. They can drop their children off for a full day and busy themselves with other things that need to be attended to. I wonder if anyone else has come across this or something similar in their work.
• Students - As students grow I find the conversations I have divert from the parents and transfer to the student. Although contact is still maintained with parents, when the students are mature enough they become the primary person to converse with regarding their development and well-being. I also find myself learning much from my student. Keeping up to date with students can help you to connect and relate better to them, there is no better source for this than the student themselves. I also find myself learning about Web technologies from them as well as tips on how to better use these technologies.
• Colleagues - Whenever I have an uncooperative student or I finding a situation particularly hard, my first call is always to visit the staffroom. I am lucky to have many colleagues with expertise in different areas. For example if it is regarding a student’s injury or alignment etc. I will talk to the college physiotherapist. If it is a behaviour or attention/application issue I will discuss it with others who also take the student to see if the behaviour is repeated in their classes and whether they have effective ways of dealing with that particular student. I welcome their knowledge and opinions even if it is to just confirm my initial thoughts. I also find their knowledge of syllabus a great help if there is an exercise I do not know or details I need to check I can always find someone to help me.
• Family and Friends - This is not a major group for my professional work but I find that their insight can sometime be helpful when I am in the initial phases of an idea. As they have no connection to the dance profession their thoughts are not prohibited by understanding and knowledge of how the business works.

2. Syllabus and notes 

'The bible' as we like to nickname it is extremely important source of information. Produced by the ISTD is a guide to be used for recalling details of syllabus exercises. I never enter a syllabus class without it. Although I may not use it every lesson it is there if I ever need to check counts or sequences. The syllabus is a base of my knowledge and it is covered in notes, my teacher once told me one mark of a good teacher is how many scribbles they have on their syllabus. These notes relate to changes that are made, ideas on the execution of steps and other information I have picked up from colleagues and via courses I have attended. I also have notes written from my days as a student which I reorganise, develop and type up often. These are manly for use in my teacher training classes where we discuss the build-up and analysis of steps as well as approach to teaching, I find my notes allow me to recall with greater detail what point I am making and help me to pass that knowledge onto my students.

3. College

I mentioned in my blog about My Current Networks how lucky I am to work where I do. The college is a great source of information, from the people that work there to the companies that contact it. I regularly get passed emails regarding upcoming performances and performance opportunities. The college also receives notices about available Job opportunities in the area. If I am entering students for exams I can find all the relevant cost and time sheets I need as well as the paperwork I need to fill in. The walls are filled with useful information and contacts, as I was writing I remembered a notice regarding professional practice that a colleague had put on the wall in reception, the piece was aimed to the students but I think we can all learn from other people’s thoughts and opinions.

4. Internet

An obvious one and one of the largest. There is so much to be learned from research that can be done via the internet, just in regards to this course I have expanded on theories brought to me by the course module and also found new theory relating to them. Here is a list of just some of the things I use the internet for 

          Inspiration for ideas regarding classwork and choreography
          buy books, syllabus and dance equipment
          Read articles related to my work
          Gather sources
          Send and receive emails
          keep contact with other people in my profession
          Search for jobs

5. Courses

Being a member of the ISTD attending as many of their courses as I am able is very important. It allows me to keep up to date with new work and developments of the old syllabus, it is a great networking tool and I am saddened and a little frustrated by the amount of teachers that do not take advantage of this brilliant information source. Some of the most valuable information I encounter while at these courses is the expertise of the Lectures, not in relation to the syllabus but in regards to developing dance outside of the ISTD and their theory's behind the technique and application of steps.
I recently attended a course with Nick French an ISTD examiner and developer of the tap syllabus, he lead a discussion based on how he was a "firm believer in using your 'hammies' to assist with elevated work". of course I was already aware of this but during the discussion I started to think about whether I was passing this information onto my students effectively. His knowledge was passed to me which in turn will be passed to my students.

So which source is the most valuable? This task has made me think more about how I gather information and a thought occurred to me as so many of us write about similar sources, would everyone pick be the same for their number one? It’s a tough one and as I am writing I am swinging back and forth between them, perhaps that is the point one source of information is not enough. So is it better to have as many as possible or is it quality over quantity? 

Affiliation

 "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much." (Helen Keller)

Affiliation is an inherited trait to help us survive and reproduce (Crisp and Turner). This means it is natural to seek out connections in our lives, whether personal or professional. The difference comes with the level of interaction that people want. David McClelland popularised the term through his motivational model. McClelland states that regardless of age, sex or culture that people are driven by three needs Achievement, Power and Affiliation.

The Social Affiliation Model (O'Connor and Rosenblood, 1996) suggest that we control our level of contact with others, seeking out affiliation when we feel the need for a connection and removing ourselves from company if we are feeling crowded or overwhelmed.   

I myself know that I sometimes need time to myself to reflect on my day and to grab a 'little peace and quiet.' However I do feel I am quite a social creature by nature, though I choose to make long lasting connections with people and feel more comfortable in a room filled with a few close friends than one with many people. In these circumstances I sometime find myself craving solitude. This is an example of Irwin Altman Privacy Regulation Theory. Altman believed that the level privacy of privacy desired would chance based on the environment. This is definitely the case for me in some situations I can be the life and soul of the party and others I find myself feeling uncomfortable and wishing I could just slink away without as much as a good-buy. I do like to work with others; I enjoy bouncing off others ideas and developing them and seeing how someone changes my ideas. I feel it pushes me out of my usual patterns by analysing the way others teach it ensures I won't fall into repetitive pattern and help me develop as a teacher and choreographer. This also relates back to work I covered on refection, when talking about muscle memory and teaching methods. As teachers we can sometimes fall into a teaching pattern that is comfortable, I feel working with others can help to point out when this occurs and can show us other way to teach.

This has made me question my professional networks and my use of them. When I feel more comfortable with meaningful connections I'm I limiting myself by not creating more affiliations? Which is better quality or quantity? A well-known saying which is true in the in the dance world is "it’s who you know, not what you know." It can be a very fickle business where people can make friends purely as a way to make connections and in such a competitive business who can blame them.  

Co-operation

I am a firm believer in co-operation, I feel without it a company cannot function effectively. There have been many insistences in my past professional work where a lack of communication and co-operation between staff has led to disorder. The idea of co-operation until an opportunity for self-gain arises is I feel a selfish concept and not one I can agree to. What about the person left behind? Perhaps this is something I need to look at myself. As a Teacher I always try to help my students to succeed, sometimes to my own detriment (taking 10 pieces of music home to cut ready for their choreographic competition)

After giving time for this theory to process I started to thing if there where circumstances where this has happened to me. I could think of a few, so should I take advantage of my colleagues before they can of me? If everyone is waiting for the opportunity to 'deflect' will there be any trust? I agree in co-operation for mutual gain, working together can have benefits for both parties involved. Network links can be forged when communities work together. In the past some of my work has involved working with outside companies if a link is made through co-operation and trust then the chances of that link remaining and possible expanding are strong. 

In any good working relationship there needs to be a level of trust built up through respect and co-operation. If that trust is lost the relationship becomes harder to maintain, let me explain. During my career I have needed to co-operate many times with my colleges and employers. I have worked extra hours for free, helped with costumes and props for performances and shows, took responsibilities outside of my job description and in return my employer has been more open to making compromises when needed, has listened to my ideas and offered me more paid work. An example of 'Tit for Tat' that Axelrod mentions. However if my employer was to be unwilling to co-operate with me, I would be less willing in the future to help with jobs outside of my normal parameters as dance teacher. This can also relate to student teacher relationships as I mentioned before I will happily go out of my way for my students. I think it is important to help and guide the children I teach. However with all that I give there is as a limit to the lengths I will go to without any co-operation from the student. If I find that a student is not working to their best ability in class it will make me more resentful to go out of my way to help them in the future.

I think that to deflect from a mutual co-operative relationship may have benefits, but for how long? If there continues to be a working relationship after this instance will the injured party be as quick to co-operate again? Thinking back over my professional career from situations where this has occurred to me I do tend to give people the 'benefit of the doubt' hoping that if I show trust and willing to further co-operate they might reciprocate. However once the co-operation is lost I am always more cautious in my approach. So does defection have any real long term gain? So my conclusion for a continued working relationship co-operation is vital but it must be mutual.