The campus session on Tuesday mainly revolved around starting to think of a line of professional inquiry. It was a helpful session as we were given tasks to lead up to the ‘big question’ rather than just trying to pluck a question out of thin air!
Firstly, Rosemary asked us to think about what skills were necessary for us to succeed and progress in our professional practice. Obviously this was different for everyone so she asked us to do it individually. After we had made a list of what skills and knowledge we need we were grouped with other people who shared a similar professional practice. I was with the ‘dance teachers’ and after we were grouped we shared our ideas. We then had to try and display them as an image or diagram rather than just words. We used a diamond shape and different colours to group our skills into categories. We had generic skills which are needed for nearly every profession e.g. time management, communication skills, networking, technology skills and professionalism. We then had skills which would be specific to dance teachers e.g. co ordination, choreography skills, music knowledge, to be fit and healthy, the ability to dance yourself and the ability to communicate with children. We then came up with a list of things which are specific requirements of your place of work e.g. CRB checks, insurance, music licence, keeping up to date with courses etc, safety measures such as signing in and out, taking a register, complying with the rules set out by the institution and complying with the company ethos. We then included some transdiciplinary elements which were; basic anatomy knowledge, child psychology, finance skills and basic business knowledge. We realised that we incorporate all these skills in to our professional practice as dance teachers without even realising it even though these are not areas that we specialise in. We discussed that basic knowledge of these elements are more like common sense and are necessary to succeed in the business even though they are not specific skills needed to be a dance teacher.
Rosemary then asked us ‘What is your big question in relation to your current professional practice’. The way this was phrased made me think differently about what I am actually interested in for my line of inquiry. I realised that it would be beneficial to do something which is relevant and may help me to progress in my practice rather than just researching a topic. We had to tell a partner what our big question was and then listen to theirs. We then had to find another partner and tell them the last question we heard and so on. We then discussed the questions as a group.
The question that I came up with was ‘How do you break in to a new section of the industry?’ I decided on this as this is what I am trying to do at the moment therefore is most relevant to my practice and could potentially help me in the future even if I never find out the exact answer! In my next blog I will look further in to this question and consider possible sub questions.
Lastly at the session we considered in groups the benefits and challenges of researching something as an insider. We decided that if you were an insider you may not be objective and may have pre conceived ideas of what the answers may be before you start the inquiry. However, we also thought it would be beneficial to be an insider as you would have easy access to information and already have a base knowledge before you start.
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