The Headache of Timetabling...

So with the Inquiry plan set in place my next tricky obstacle has been setting up the peer observations. Due to circumstance and the time of year in relation to public exams this hasn't been a simple task in the slightest. Also as I will be focusing on one specific year 9 class, it is harder to organise due to them having less timetabled drama lessons and organising cover for teachers who will observe in particular times.

Thankfully I have had a number of supportive colleagues who have been extremely flexibile in order to make this possible. However this has made slight changes to my initial schedule of how I would use my time within this Inquiry.

Below is the observation cycle in a tabled format:

 

 

Date	Week	Period	Observed Member of Staff	Staff Member Observing	Subject & Class	Cover Required?
Friday 8th March	1	5	Participant A	Participant B	Year 9 Drama	N
Tuesday 19th March	1	1	Participant B	Participant A	Year 9 History	Y
Thursday 21st March	1	2	Participant A	Participant B	Year 9 History	Y
Friday 22nd March	1	5	Participant B	Participant A	Year 9 Drama	N

This does make a number of changes to my schedule, to show this I have ammended that aspect of my plan as seen below:

Activity	When It Will Happen
Observation 1 (History Teacher takes Drama lesson)	Friday 8th March
Observation 2 (Drama Teacher takes History lesson)	Tuesday 19th March
Observation 3 (Drama Teacher observes History lesson)	Thursday 21st March
Observation 4 (History teacher observes Drama Lesson)	Friday 22nd March
Interviews with Participants	Week Beginning Monday 25th March
Contact with advisor to discuss findings	Week Beginning Monday 25th March
Transcribing of Interviews	Week Beginning Monday 1st April
Analysis of Interviews	Week Beginning Monday 8th April
Collation of evidence to be fully completed and ready to present	Week beginning Monday 15th April

Does this seem realistic?

Evaluation of Inquiry Proposal:
Following my advisor feedback from Alan I have taken some time to consider my proposal and how it may need to be adapted to aid the completion of this module. After going through my proposal in detail I decided the best way in which to present this as a blog would be to use the subheadings that I had used in my written proposal and speak about how I have adapted (or in some cases not adapted) these aspects.

Changing Spaces: A Comparative Study of Behaviour in Drama Spaces and the Classroom
Context: This remains as is. The importance of my Inquiry has not changed nor have I changed the basis of what I am looking at.

Who Will It Benefit: Again this has not changed at all as my line of Inquiry remains the same and I have every confidence of who this can benefit.

Questions & Objectives: My first real adaptation comes with my method of questioning; more specifically I have scrapped an initial method of questioning. To begin with I was intending to do a generic questionnaire for curriculum leaders mainly centred on their initial perceptions of behavioural issues within a practical learning environment. However, I have opted to not do this after following advice to narrow down the amount of Inquiry tools that I use. I will talk more of this later.

Existing Literature: This is an aspect I have found difficult due to not finding a great deal of detailed literature surrounding my topic area. Although there are a great deal of books looking at classroom management very few look specifically at the relationship between practical learning environments and the traditional classroom. This is an aspect I would appreciate help with if there are any suggestions for further reading.

Inquiry Tools: Believe it or not, I submitted a proposal saying that I would be using all four of the Inquiry tools throughout this module. Despite being able to see merit in each of these I have been advised to narrow this field in order to give myself less of a headache when analysing. This is more than logical advice so having considered this I have decided the following:

- Questionnaire/Survey: This idea will not be followed up on as I feel the initial data gathered will not be essential in the process further down the line. Combining this with the question of reliability means there is great potential for this to be a very time consuming activity that is not necessarily pivotal to my findings.

- Focus group: Despite having a focus group looking at behaviour management currently at my disposal, this again would be a method that would prove difficult as meetings are fairly infrequent and adding more sessions to help this would ultimately require a large number of staff to be very flexible with their own time.

- Observation: This will be a key feature of my Inquiry. I feel that often when trying to establish useful theories or work-based ideas often the best approach is a practical one as it gets you to the core of what needs to be looked at. In this instance, I will be taken two members of teaching staff, a drama teacher and classroom based teacher (History) to take part within a peer observation cycle over the course of four lessons. In the first two, each teacher will observe the other teaching in an unfamiliar environment. So the drama teacher will teach the history lesson and vice versa. Then for the final two lessons they will observe each other teaching their own lessons in their own environment. The purpose of this will be to see if being taken out of familiar teaching environments helps teachers to be made aware of their perceptions of the differing environment in terms of how behaviour is managed. By seeing the specialist teacher in their preferred environment, the non specialist may then develop a useful array of techniques to boost confidence within their teaching with the intention of making them more confident in adapting their learning environment in their own subject area. Long term this can aid students by providing more varied lessons to enhance their experience and enjoyment of perceived ‘classroom subjects’.

- Interview: In order to gage how successful the observational process has been I will need to interview the two participant teachers to gather accounts of their experiences as well as their attitudes to how this type of Inquiry could benefit the teaching within the school as a whole. Although this will be time consuming in terms of transcribing I feel this is a necessary component for my Inquiry

Approach To Analysis:

Observation: Use of an adapted lesson pro forma to record findings for the observing teacher.

Interview: Transcription of interview to be made in order to draw analysis

Ethics: I now have full permission from my school and the two participant teachers. Also as a means of sharing good practice within the school I will be delivering a twilight training session for all interested staff towards the end of May. This will be to share my findings and discuss how this may be able to have a positive impact on teaching across all curriculum areas.

Resources: The only impact that has occurred so far in terms of resources has been a changing to the scheduled timetable of observations due to availability and timetabling issues with the participating staff. I will speak in more detail of this in an upcoming blog.

That just about concludes my adaptations. The timetabling I will speak about in another blog. What do you think? Any literature suggestions would be welcome as I am beginning to feel I am exhausting all leads…

Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

Developing Lines of Professional Inquiry

At the beginning of this module I already had an indication of the direction that I wanted to go in with my Practitioner Inquiry. Behaviour management within a practical drama space had become an interest of mine particularly after beginning my new role as a cover supervisor. Being in a classroom as well as practical learning environment highlighted clear differences between the two that I wanted to explore further, particularly whether or not the practical learning environment was a cause for accelerated behavioural issues. (Appendix A http://jnorden.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/initial-questions-and-what-i-hope-to.html ). The development of a SIG was a process that I feel I did not engage in greatly amongst members of my course, mainly due to workloads elsewhere preventing me from regular engagement. However, I am confident in the SIG that I feel I always have as a diverse network, my colleagues. After discussing my ideas for inquiry with a senior colleague I was able to develop my questions a little further to make it more inclusive to traditional classroom teachers and also help me understand my reasoning for following this line of inquiry (Appendix B http://jnorden.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/task-4c-development-of-questions-after.html )

Professional Ethics

I knew that to approach my inquiry I needed a confident knowledge of existing policies within my school. I was confident in my existing knowledge and personal judgement but it was useful for me to look into where I can find these policies (Appendix C http://www.holyfamily.waltham.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/HFCS-Equalities-Act-statement.pdf ) (Appendix D http://www.holyfamily.waltham.sch.uk/information/policies/22a_privacy_notices11-2/ ). The study into ethics reignited my prior knowledge of philosophers and their beliefs on using ethics to establish an ordered society. It was of great interest to me to translate these ethics to my everyday practice (Appendix E   http://jnorden.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/task5c-reader-5-professional-ethics.html ). The course reader for this section also provided vital framework from The British Educational Research Association that helped me outline how I would consider ethical dimensions within my inquiry (Appendix F Reader 5, Professional Ethics, WBS 3630,Page 18) (Appendix G http://jnorden.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/task-5d-ethicaldimensions-of-inquiry.html )

Tools of Professional Inquiry

My understanding of tools for professional inquiry was strengthened greatly through discussion with a number of my peers on BAPP at a campus session. We examined the strengths and weaknesses of some commonly used data gathering tools (Appendix I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7hOS0M8Lpo ) from this I was able to solidify my understanding of these tools (Appendix J http://jnorden.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/task-6b-positives-negatives-of.html ) as well as begin thinking how I could utilise these within my practitioner inquiry. On reflection I was able to find that I am using these tools on a regular basis and that I am in a fortunate position in terms of access to them.

Over the course of this process I found that access to literature that looks at combining traditional classroom behaviour management within a practical learning environment is not easy to come by. However, this video I found particularly interesting due to the teacher and his reasoning behind certain decisions that he makes (Appendix K  http://www.creativeeducation.co.uk/videos/watch-video.aspx?id=3568 ) 

Task 6C: Literature Reviews

Review  1:  http://dramateachersnetwork.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/managing-students-in-the-drama-classroom/

This article comes from a teacher who has just completed her first year as a drama teacher. It looks at the ideas of having behavioural frameworks or set ‘routines’ as a means of having control over your classroom. I like this article as it simply outlines current expectations of student behaviour within a drama class. In my inquiry I look to see if this approach can be tested or improved and if all behaviour can actually be sanctioned in such an active learning environment.

Review 2: ‘Getting The Buggers To Behave’ -  Sue Cowley 2001

Cowley, S, 2001. Getting the Buggers To Behave (p123-124)

This book came highly recommended by a colleague as a general behaviour management go to tool. It breaks a great deal of the text into sub headings throughout as a way of identifying what to refer to in certain situations. The point of interest for my Inquiry cam on the section looking at ‘The Classroom’ particularly the sub heading ‘Open Spaces’. This weighs up whether certain factors play a particular role within student’s behaviour in a positive or negative light.

In a similar vein to the last text this extract does also look at general guidelines for what and what to do sanction wise within a drama space.

Review 3:  http://www.creativeeducation.co.uk/videos/watch-video.aspx?id=3568

Now technically this may not be considered ‘Literature’ in the traditional sense of an article or an extract from a book but it is a video clip that lends a fantastic insight into what I am looking at. The video on the creative education website looks at one drama teachers approach to behaviour management within a classroom environment. Dealing with inevitable issues and advice on why sometimes letting a lesson flow can produce very solid, creative results.   

Task 6B: Positives & Negatives of Reflective Tools

Over the course of our third campus session a few of us as a group looked at a few data gathering tools introduced within the course reader for part 6. The key to these four tools that we looked at whose voice would be the most prominent in terms of the data is actually gathered throughout each process. 

Survey

Strengths:
-       As a participant you are able to conduct a survey when you feel you are most able to 
-       Because a survey can be anonymous you may be more likely to get honest answers as the participant feels their identity is protected
-       A good tool for general questions
-       You can get a broad response to your questions/ideas
Weaknesses:
- Authenticity. A major issue with surveys are the fact that people may feel pressured to complete them and as a result rush through them allowing for findings to be less authentic
- People may choose not to participate within the survey
- Without being able to clarify what questions are asking people may misread a question and give you an answer that is irrelevant
- The intentions of the participant may not be fully conveyed within a written format
- A survey may be structured in a way in which it is superficial and written to draw answers that the researcher would like to gather. 
Voice: The participant

Interview


Strengths:-       One on one element can allow for a conversational aspect that organically brings out further questioning. Adds more depth to answers
-       More authenticity as you are listening to in depth opinions
-       Less chance of misunderstanding
-       Questions are very specific
-       Answers are normally coming from a well informed source (practitioner/specialist)


Weaknesses
-       Interviews can be hard to arrange 
-       Time consuming process
-       Potential to encourage bias depending on the questioning
-       Participant may tell you what you want to hear
-       Intimidating environment
Voice: Participant initially then the researcher during the analysis of interview

Focus Group:
Strengths:
-       Potential for like-minded insight which can lead to substantial insight
-       Participants are people affected by your topic of discussion
-       Stakeholder opinions may prove for useful, reliable analysis
-       Discussion based so can gain various experiences from the same subjects
-       Less preparation needed
-       Free flow of ideas
Weaknesses:
-       Potential to go off track very easily
-       People within may group may find the atmosphere intimidating and lead to results skewed by peer pressure
-       Discussion may end up dominated by the same participant leading to an unbalance in results
-       Difficult to organise
-       Possibly very time consuming
Voice: Participants

Observation:
2 types of observation: 
Non Participant Observation: An outsider looking in. For example A researcher observing a teacher with their class
Participant Observation: Observation of your own practice. For example a teacher observing their own class

Strengths:
-       Observers get to look at a live organic situation
Weaknesses:
-       Observer has no input
-       Behaviour of the observed may change leading to non-reliable results
Voice: The researcher’s interpretation of what they have observed.

Task 6A: Tools of Professional Inquiry

In this section I am going to look at the tools of professional inquiry that are suggested within reader 6. A number of these are already methods that I come across within my current practice. So in some instances I am already engaging within them on a regular basis.

Focus Group: I am currently involved within a focus group which is labelled as a ‘learning forum’ within our school. With one eye on this inquiry I requested to be put into the forum that is focused upon ‘Behaviour Management’. The opening sessions have offered the opportunity for staff members across a broad range of subjects to offer their own experiences and potential solutions to challenging situations within a classroom. I intend to continue using this method of inquiry and using it to offer a sharper focus upon some of the questions that I hope to answer within my Inquiry.

Survey/Questionnaire: Following my conversation with a colleague detailed in Task 4C, whilst identifying my initial questions I was able to develop a form of survey that would help me gauge existing opinions on my line of inquiry.

1.  Do you teach in 

a) Practical classroom environment
b) Non-practical classroom environment
c) Both

2. How do you think Behavior Management Strategies differ between practical and classroom environments?

3. Do you feel there is any use in translating one to the other?

4. What would you say are the most common types of behavioral issues within your subject area?

5. Do you feel that there is a greater tolerance in terms of behavioral expectations in a Drama class?

6. Should there be?

7. How do you feel students perceive this?

I will try to use this survey to gauge an overall teaching perspective. Teachers who teach within a practical environment will not always be drama teachers so it will be interesting to know what other factors may impact on behaviour within a practical environment.

Observation: This is a common tool in sharing good practice within our school. I feel that this will be an essential inquiry tool for me especially as I am looking specifically at classroom behaviour and management. However, I will need to develop some kind of observation sheet to ensure that the information I am looking for is clear and apparent.    

Interview: Due to time constraints and the hectic nature of a school schedule this may prove to be a difficult tool for me to use. However, I would like to try and use this to gain a reflective reaction to an observed participant some time after a lesson has been observed.

Task 5D: Ethical Dimensions of Inquiry

When conducting my inquiry it is important to note how I will go about doing so within an ethical framework. In order to simplify this I have looked at this from the point of view of my participants, the whole school and my commitment towards my study.

Participants:

-         - If students are used within an Inquiry, inform students and parents of their involvement and what the study being conducted is for.

-          -Likewise with the school, keep in regular contact with a senior member of staff to inform them of what research is being conducted and why.

-          -Another vital part of this will be to maintain confidentiality of any participant so that the identities of participants are protected.  

-          -Ensuring that evidence gathered is accurate so that participants are not misrepresented

Whole School:

-          -Any information gathered will be shared with my colleagues from the point of view of sharing good practice as our school aims to do within our CPD program.

My Commitments to the Inquiry:

-          -Seek approval to conduct my research

-          -Conduct research within legal guidelines

-          -To manage resources efficiently

-          -Report any issues to the appropriate agents

The framework for these dimensions were formed by the responsibilities suggested by The British Educational Research Association (BERA)

Task 5C: Reader 5 & Professional Ethics

Evidently, ethical standpoints are critical aspect of my day to day practice. Reader 5 has enabled me to explore the three main contexts in which we look at ethics. In addition I have been able to delve back into my days as a philosophy and ethics student to explore how some of the theoretical approaches to ethics tie in with day to day ethical issues that I may face.

Personal Ethics: In relation to my inquiry it is important to be aware of bias that could appear within my findings. With this in mind approaching my inquiry I will need to strike a balance between objective and subjective opinion.  

In terms of day to day examples of personal ethics within my work, I work within a Catholic school that clearly outlines the moral values within the school mission statement outlined below:

Our Mission Statement makes clear our values:

 Holy Family Catholic School is a Catholic Community embracing the clear

Christian values of respect, service and justice

 We are a family of many cultures sharing one faith

 We exist to educate young people towards excellence in all dimensions of their

lives, recognising the uniqueness of each and the equality of all

Within my practice I need to consider my personal stance on the above statement. Yes I clearly agree and fully believe that I strive to deliver these values on a daily basis. However, in terms of my own personal beliefs I am not a Christian so does this affect my ability to deliver these values in the same way as a Christian? Ultimately I believe that an individual’s religious beliefs can only weaken their effectiveness within their role if they refuse to adapt their thinking alongside a continually changing society and as a result limit reaching their full capabilities as a professional. For example as a Catholic school religious views dictate that we should not teach of contraceptives within sex education. However, should this policy be revised considering the growing exposure and consequent misinformation given to youngsters in this day and age regarding sex and its consequences? This argues against a deontological approach to ethics as it questions Kant’s argument of rules being the backbone of what is morally right or wrong.

Professional Ethics: The above dilemma does also lend itself to professional ethics. However, when discussing this area I found it interesting to look at how some more of the philosophical approaches to ethics aid or contradict elements of my day to day work. Especially when looking at the behavioural aspect of education that I intend to focus on within my inquiry. By considering the views of philosophers you begin to see a moral framework by which society and in my case my school forms its expectations of human behaviour through ‘a set of moral rules’ (Reader 5). The idea of having routines and behavioural expectations within any classroom lends itself to Hobbes idea of ethics being ‘a practical solution to social harmony and good through the vehicle of a social contract’ (Reader 5).

When looking at potential solutions to poor behaviour it is interesting when looked at from a Utilitarian approach. For example, is removing a student who is behaving poorly in a lesson a bad solution in terms of inclusion? Or does it serve as the ‘greater good’ for the students who remain in the lesson as they learn more? Can there be room for situation ethics by which we try to persevere or ‘love’ as it may be deemed despite the actions of an individual or group?

For more on situation ethics:

       http://www.tere.org/assets/downloads/secondary/pdf_downloads/ALevel/SitEthics.pdf

Organisational Ethics: This again goes back toward our school’s mission statement and how I feel that I fit into this framework. I believe that I fit into this as I strive to deliver the greatest of outcomes for our students which is inclusive to all faiths and beliefs.

Task 5B: Findings of Ethical Codes Within My Workplace 

http://www.holyfamily.waltham.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/HFCS-Equalities-Act-statement.pdf

The school’s ‘Equalities Act’ document (accessed from the school website) focuses greatly on the school’s ability to promote opportunity within the school. There is a far greater emphasis on gender bias in exam results and the number of students who move into higher education. However, it does make reference to my comments made in relation to students from all backgrounds being given opportunities, giving particular reference to the school mission statement.

The website also contains a notice of Data Protection privacy notice. This informs parents of what information may be shared with local authorities or local services. It also moves to reassure parents that student data will not be provided to anybody from outside agencies unless permission is granted or they are legally obliged to:

We will not give information about you to anyone outside the school without your consent unless the law and our rules allow us to.

In relation to my inquiry this has not given me complete clarification as to any existing ethical policies regarding research within my school besides anticipated data protection policies. The school’s commitment to CPD is evident with regular training sessions held on a weekly basis that all members of staff are welcome to attend. 

Task 5A: Work Based Ethics

Within my working environment I feel that there are a range of ethical issues. The school I am in contains over 1100 students and close to 100 staff not to mention points of contact for each student. As a result the ethics will differ based upon whether I was dealing with:

1.      Students
2.      Parents/Carers
3.      Colleagues

There are a number of ethical matters that I feel apply to all three of these groups. I shall cover these now as I feel that they represent an ethical consistency that I feel should be maintained across the board in order for us all to coexist successfully as an overall school community. 

1.      Duty of Care: For all of us this needs to be of a top priority as an ethical matter. First and foremost as a member of staff the safety and well-being of our students both academically and emotionally is pivotal in all we do. If a student does not feel safe within their learning environment or feels they cannot speak to somebody then we can not to expect them to develop sufficiently on any level. The school and parents should be able to communicate appropriately in order to ensure that students are able to progress.
2.      Equal opportuninties: As in any working environment, all students, staff members, parents should have an equal footing. In no circumstance must anybody ever be treated differently due to race, religion, gender, disability. If such instances ever occur, the school would need to address the situation appropriately. 
3.      Communication: This is also pivotal and in my opinion an important ethical matter as in order to make correct decisions regarding students whether it be academic or social, all parties involved need to be communicated with to ensure that the correct outcome is made with the students’ best interests at heart.

I feel that the above are general ethical issues that would exist within my work place. In relation to my research I feel that certain ethical issues may affect different groups in particular ways.

Students:

-       Data protection would certainly be paramount to any research that was done based around students. My instinct would be that permission would need to be given in order to conduct any form of research involving students. Also student’s contributions should remain anonymous to protect the student’s identity.
-       Also ensuring that students were comfortable in taking part in any form of research would be pivotal

Parents/Carers:
-       Ensuring that parents are aware of the research being conducted is for and that they have given their consent for their child to take part.

Colleagues:
-       Honesty. If colleagues are taking part in any research ensure that they are aware of its purpose and be prepared to share the findings with that colleague.
-       Do not name any member of staff (or student) within your findings 

Task 4D: Award Title

When considering my award title for my Professional Inquiry I need to be thinking long term in relation to my career choice. As an aspiring Secondary School Drama teacher it would not be well advised to try and ‘pigeonhole’ myself into one particular aspect of teaching. Although my inquiry will be focused around behaviour management within Drama I need to focus my award title towards the subject itself. As a result of this my chosen award title is as follows:

BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Drama

Task 4C: Development of Questions

After my initial questions I spoke with a senior colleague about my Inquiry. We discussed the questions that I had raised initially. I was clear that I wanted this to be a comparative study of behaviour management between a practical class environment and a normal classroom environment. What this discussion was able to help me consider was WHY I wanted to look at this particular aspect of my practice. From this I established that it would have the following benefits.

-       For me personally, I would be able to look at my own behaviour management within both environments. This would provide short and long term benefits for me within my profession. In the short term I would be able to reflect on the effectiveness of my existing behaviour management policies, both positive and negative. This could also lead to me seeing how different methods of behaviour management would translate between practical and classroom environment, helping my overall teaching in the long term
-       In relation to my colleagues, such a study could help to shape behavioural strategies which could lead to more subject areas looking to develop interactive practical ideas into their lessons without the fear of a chaotic, unproductive environment.

Once establishing why I wanted to follow this line of inquiry we looked to improve my existing questions in order to gain more specific answers towards my line of inquiry. After a lengthy discussion we were able to agree on the following set of questions:

1. Do you teach in 

a) Practical classroom environment
b) Non-practical classroom environment
c) Both

2. How do you think Behavior Management Strategies differ between practical and classroom environments?

3. Do you feel there is any use in translating one to the other?

4. What would you say are the most common types of behavioral issues within your subject area?

5. Do you feel that there is a greater tolerance in terms of behavioral expectations in a Drama class?

6. Should there be?

7. How do you feel students perceive this?

Initial questions and what I hope to gain from my Inquiry

Between modules 1 & 2 my job role within my school changed from a supporting role to a more prominent classroom role. Having been a Performing Arts Technician I am now a Cover Supervisor. The change in role has allowed me an opportunity to reflect upon what I could focus my inquiry towards in terms of being able to benefit not only my colleagues but also my own professional development as I look towards gaining a place on a PGCE course in September 2013. 
From reader 4 I was able to reflect on the nature of my work. More specifically, I was able to identify that my work within my profession was of a ‘transdisciplinary’ nature. I was particularly interested in the idea of 

‘Mode 2’ and using ‘a range of theoretical perspectives and practical methodologies to solve problems’ (Gibbons 1994).

With this in mind my line of inquiry began with a focus towards behaviour management which led me to ask the following questions:

1.      What are the main differences in the behaviour of students in Drama lessons and classroom based lessons?
2.      Does the practical environment have a positive or negative impact upon behaviour?
3.      If so, why?