Task 2d: Inquiry

As a dance and drama teacher from a professional performance background, when reflecting on my work, there are several questions relating to the need for me to gain Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) before I am able to teach within a state school environment that are in the forefront of my mind:

1. Why do I need a degree level qualification to teach performing arts within a state school when I teach dance at an equivalent (be it GCSE or A-Level standard) with proven results within the private sector? Moreover, why is somebody with a degree in History, a PGCE certificate and no subject based training more qualified to teach performing arts than I am? 
2. Why are the Performing Arts not compulsory within the National Curriculum?
3. When there are such high levels of childhood obesity within our society, why is dance not a compulsory subject?
4. The Performing Arts are proven strategies for tackling behavioural issues within schools, so why are they not compulsory given that there is such a large percentage of children struggling to 'behave' within a classroom setting?

Reflecting on these questions it is clear that I do not agree with the 'red tape' issues surrounding the governments idea of the lack of necessity for the performing arts, be it dance, drama or even music to appear within the national curriculum.  

This may well form part of my final inquiry although there may well be another path I choose to take when considering the questions below:

What in your daily practice gets you really enthusiastic to find out more about? 

Within my work as a teaching assistant at an SEN school, I would love to know about the effect the performing arts can have on a child with special needs and whether children with different needs would respond differently to performing arts lessons.  For example, would an autistic child benefit more, less or equally as much within a drama lesson as a child with downs syndrome?  How about a child with ADHD?  Could having a heavier performing arts based curriculum create a more wholesome, positive and beneficial learning environment for such children than the current national guidelines where children are often stuck behind a desk for hours on end?  Could the same be true of non SEN children and even those who are considered gifted academically?

What gets you angry or makes you sad? Who do you admire who shares your feelings or has found a way to work around the sadness or anger?

It angers me to know that performing arts is often spoken about as though it is an irrelevant or 'easy' subject simply because it is (at GCSE/A-level award) a 'non-academic' subject.  The performing arts teaches children to think outside of the box and in a creative manner which can only be a positive, when we consider that eight million pounds per hour is generated within the UK economy from jobs within the creative industries (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-8million-an-hour-to-uk-economy) Surely this is simply setting the future generations up for success?  Modern technologies can bring us the definitive answers we require for maths equations faster than a human brain could even hope to scan the information, so it is crucial we have other 'strings to our bows' as requiring the knowledge to solve maths and other academic problems without the use of an app or program is slowly becoming obsolete. 

The company that I have recently begun working for has many testimonials from head teachers across the country who fully believe in the power of the performing arts and the positive enrichment holistic performing arts can bring to children.

http://www.artiseducation.com

What do you love about what you do?

Within my current job role as dance and drama teacher, I love to see the children develop their talents but also reach their goals and strive to better themselves.  For example, a child that I have taught for two years has recently been offered a place at a prestigious performing arts school, which has been a dream of hers since she was much younger.  Not only am I proud of her achievement and excited for her, I am also content in the knowledge that I was part of helping her to achieve this goal.  

A slightly different example of what I love about my work is seeing the way in which the performing arts can directly affect a child's confidence and social skills.  I once taught a child who was severely bullied at school, so much so that her parents had to move the family away to start a fresh.  It was at the beginning of a summer school that her parents enrolled her with the dance school for two weeks and at first she was painfully shy.  However, with a lot of persuasion and positive reinforcement, the child was able to involve herself with a small group of girls who went to the same school she would be starting that September.  By the end of the six week holidays the group were inseparable, the child had blossomed in confidence and had a good core group of friends for when she started at her new school.  I felt so honoured that I was able to be involved with turning that child's life around and proud that she had trusted me enough to let me in.   

What do you feel you don't understand? 

I do not understand why there is only the option for children to learn about one style of dance (contemporary) as part of the GCSE program?  Within all of the compulsory GCSE subjects there is choice to ensure that the children can attain the highest possible mark, depending on their strengths.  For example, a teacher would not expect a child who strives in chemistry but struggles in biology to enter the biology exam? So why then is it conceivable and acceptable to force a child who is taking GCSE dance to perform a contemporary piece.  If a child has learnt Irish dance from a young age, a genre which could not be further removed from contemporary, why can't they choreograph in the style they are passionate about and are technically proficient at? Schools claim to want to bring out the best in children and help them succeed, is this meeting those expectations, or merely making it easier for the history teachers to deliver a dance course?

 

How do you decide the appropriate ethical response in a given situation? To what extent are disciplinary responses different to that you might expect more generally in society?

It is strange how my ethical approach differs depending on the setting I am teaching in, either a private or public sector school:

Private sector:

When teaching dance it is more than conceivable, that it would be relevant to physically correct a child in order to help teach them correct technique, however just to cover myself and fall in line with child protection policies, I always ensure a waiver is signed by the parent/guardian of the child in question before allowing any child to partake in a class.  I will also only teach where there are windows and always ensure parents stay on site to further avoid any possible allegations, which unfortunately seem to be so prevalent in todays society.

I also have my own rules regarding age and gender.  For example, I only ever physically correct a boy over eleven years of age from the knee down or the elbow down as otherwise, this could lead to embarrassment for both myself and the child in question.  A girl on the other hand, I treat slightly differently, often physically correcting faults in hip placement or using my hand as a 'shelf' to 'peel' over in a back bend position.  

Public sector:

When teaching dance in school, I would never physically correct a child as this could be viewed as  inappropriate by child protection officers.  I deem this to be a very sad state of affairs as physical correction in dance is one of the best teaching methods, however I would rather this than be falsely accused of inappropriate actions.   

Line of Inquiry:

Whilst working alongside 'Artis Education' as a performing arts specialist and also teaching dance and drama within the private sector I think a strong final line of inquiry would be…

…How can dance and drama enrich the national curriculum?

I would like my degree to be in the 'Professional Practice of Dance and Drama Teaching' and I feel this line of enquiry would consolidate the reflective processes I will have been through to attain this degree title.