Literature Research

https://www.tes.com/article.aspx?storyCode=6167026

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/teaching_assistant/

http://www.skill.org.uk/page.aspx?c=359&p=485

There was an overwhelming answer to my question in these articles...

There are no formal qualifications required to become a Teaching Assistant, however it changes from school to school, from application to application as to what they chose for the necessary requirements.

This isn't particularly helpful when trying to find out how qualified you need to be for the job!

It seems I will need to contact various professionals and schools to find out what they consider to be the perfect teaching assistant.

Task 5A

As a Dance Teacher there are many guidelines and regulations and ethical questions.

Particularly when working with younger children there are ethical considerations

Patience
Professionalism
Organisation
Passionate
Knowledgeable
Experience
Dedication

I found a good page online at http://ausdance.org.au/articles/details/code-of-ethics-for-dance-teachers

"Code of ethics

1. Studio principals will have clearly defined aims and goals. The benefits an individual student can expect to receive through staff's conscientious implementation of these aims and gaols will be clearly stated.
2. Studio principals will make sure that the school and its staff is capable of providing any services claimed.
3. Studio principals will employ teaching staff with the experience, knowledge and/or qualifications required for the range of levels and techniques being taught. Student teachers will be trained and supervised to ensure the school’s teaching standards are maintained.
4. Studio principals will provide effective assessment procedures and will ensure that students and parents receive, or have access to, advice when necessary.
5. Studio principals will conform to sound business practice and provide an efficient fee system.
6. Studio principals and individual teachers will ensure that class sizes are suitable to the levels and techniques being taught. Students in each class will be of a similar age and/or standard.
7. Studio principals and individual teachers will ensure that facilities provided:
   • conform with minimum safety and space requirements
   • have suitable flooring, with a safe surface designed and constructed to minimise risk of injury.
8. Individual teachers will use effective and flexible teaching skills to create a productive learning environment. Individual teachers will:
   • strive to communicate a love of dance
   • show professional attitudes, including punctuality, reliability and responsible care of students
   • strive to develop self-discipline and self-motivation in the students
   • encourage and support the individual in the class situation
   • present general concepts of movement as well as those of a particular dance style.
9. Individual teachers will recognise the role of dance in the development of the whole person. They will also seek to recognise and develop each student’s potential, whether it lies in dance or in related fields, and offer appropriate guidance for further progress.
10. Individual teachers will endeavour to recognise physical anomalies, modifying their teaching and seeking medical advice when necessary. The teaching and choreography must be anatomically safe, and teachers must be prepared to deal with medical emergencies.
11. Individual teachers will strive to develop in the students an appreciation of the characteristic style of each specific technique taught.
12. Individual teachers will take responsibility for seeking more knowledge in all aspects of their work."

How you correct children through physical means is a big ethical conundrum

Do you touch a child?

How do you touch a child if you chose to?

When is it appropriate?

How do you make the child feel comfortable?

These are questions I would like to think about.

I have been considering different roots related to dance that I could consider for my Inquiry.

I drew a spider diagram, listing some of the things I could look into:

The two I outlined in pink are the two categories I am most interested in.

My Mum is a teacher of the deaf so I would be very interested in looking into how dance and theatre can be used to aid the learning of children who are deaf or blind.

I am currently training to be a TA, so I would also like to look into how qualified you really need to be to become a TA. 

I would love some input if anyone has any! 

In the second section of Reader 4, I was very interested in the difference between competence and capability, I had considered pointing my lines of inquiry towards teaching assistants and asking how qualified do they need to be and what do they really need to know? So this concept has interested me as there is a marked difference between competence and capability.

“The real issue at the heart of the generic competencies debate is whether competency attainment is necessary to be a good practitioner.” Reader 4, Middlesex University (2016) ((Raelin, 2008, pp. 43-44))

“Competence, the ability to do a specific job, is one with which many people are familiar, but capability, the scope to which a person can gain new knowledge, is perhaps the overriding concept used in WBL in higher education. Both are important to identify and both can be seen as framing devices for knowledge in the workplace.” Reader 4, Middlesex University (2016)

I’m interested in the idea that purely being competent is not enough but proving you are capable is another step entirely, I have recently considered that teaching assistant jobs are becoming increasingly professionalised, more qualifications are required, despite the actual teaching experience gained. I have found this myself when applying for TA jobs and have been recently told, despite my years of teaching experience, with all age groups, in various different environments, mostly performing arts related, that I need a formal qualification before any school will hire me. This got me to thinking what exactly it is that a TA needs to know, if my many years of leading my own classes are not enough to prove I am capable, what certificate must I have to prove I am competent? I considered that if I were hiring someone, as a builder lets say, would I prefer to hire the builder with a certificate that says he has passed a building test or to hire the builder who has shown me round a street of houses he has built. Is it (implied) knowledge or experience which is more important?

Any thoughts?

Wilkommen, Beinvunue, Welcome

Starting Module 2

My first blog for module 2 may be a tad overdue, and as I'm sure many of you will understand, life somewhat got in the way, moving house, working a full time job and doing two courses all at once has meant my commitment to all has not been what it should be. So I am a little behind others in my line of inquiry but I am hoping everyone is willing to get on board with me and discuss our idea together.

So Reader 4, after reading other peoples blogs, I was a little apprehensive as man had said they were a little confused after reading this section. I like most needed to re-read the document to really gin everything I wanted to get out of it. Having previously had a Skype conversation with Paula I had an idea of where my inquiry was going to but reader 4 helped me to consolidate that I was going down the right path. 

Links to Work Based Learning

Fisrtly I was struck by Peter Senge's idea of 'learning organisations', his original focus was on businesses and how professional inquiry is useful in the professional business world, but I believe his ideas can be applied to, my chosen career path, teaching. 

"…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." Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of The Learning Organization (1990).

Teaching is a very fast paced and ever changing work environment, no two years in teaching are ever the same, some would argue no two days are the same, so Serge's approach could help to navigate through this industry.

"While all people have the capacity to learn, the structures in which they have to function are often not conducive to reflection and engagement. Furthermore, people may lack the tools and guiding ideas to make sense of the situations they face. Organizations that are continually expanding their capacity to create their future require a fundamental shift of mind among their members." Mark Smith, http://infed.org/mobi/peter-senge-and-the-learning-organization (2001)

Smith suggests that for Senge's 'learning organisation' to work, everyone has to be on board and ready to make the changes necessary to work in a new way and to begin with I struggled to bring to mind any organisation that would have 100% readiness to consistently challenge their employees to learn and question how they can improve. Then I considered that all places of work try this method to some extent or another (with varying degrees of success) whether that be through assessments, catch up interviews or even through simple targets but I doubt that many organisations would be willing to change their entire ethos and attitude towards workplace learning. I have heard in the past that Google are pioneering the way forward for new ways of creating productive work and learning environments in their business and thought I'd see if I could find any information on their business model. 

Here is what I found:

"It’s really the people that make Google the kind of company it is. We hire people who are smart and determined, and we favor ability over experience. Although Googlers share common goals and visions for the company, we hail from all walks of life and speak dozens of languages, reflecting the global audience that we serve. And when not at work, Googlers pursue interests ranging from cycling to beekeeping, from frisbee to foxtrot.

We strive to maintain the open culture often associated with startups, in which everyone is a hands-on contributor and feels comfortable sharing ideas and opinions. In our weekly all-hands (“TGIF”) meetings—not to mention over email or in the cafe—Googlers ask questions directly to Larry, Sergey and other execs about any number of company issues. Our offices and cafes are designed to encourage interactions between Googlers within and across teams, and to spark conversation about work as well as play." Google Inc. https://www.google.com/about/company/facts/culture/  (2016)

"You can be serious without a suit.

Our founders built Google around the idea that work should be challenging, and the challenge should be fun. We believe that great, creative things are more likely to happen with the right company culture–and that doesn’t just mean lava lamps and rubber balls. There is an emphasis on team achievements and pride in individual accomplishments that contribute to our overall success. We put great stock in our employees–energetic, passionate people from diverse backgrounds with creative approaches to work, play and life. Our atmosphere may be casual, but as new ideas emerge in a café line, at a team meeting or at the gym, they are traded, tested and put into practice with dizzying speed–and they may be the launch pad for a new project destined for worldwide use." Google Inc. https://www.google.com/about/company/philosophy/ (2016)

This is a photograph from inside the Google headquarters in London, It has a 'bringing the outside, inside' theme. 

And this is a photo from the Mountain View site in California, there is a bowling alley in the workplace in line with Google's 'casual atmosphere'.

Now, I'm not suggesting we start putting bowling alleys in the staff room but I think there may be something we can apply from Serge's ideas and Google's ethos that could change how we approach learning and adapting in teaching. There is already a lot of planning, strategy and analysis in teaching, but is it done in the right way? Is it conducted in a healthy and constructive way?

These are two questions I could look at as part of my inquiry and I have only reached the first chapter of Reader 4!

I'd love to hear what other BAPP students, especially those also in teaching field, think about the ways in which work based learning and inquiry are used within teaching.

Networking Websites

Task 3a: Current Netoworks

Definition of 'Networking'

“A process that fosters the exchange of information and ideas among individuals or groups that share a common interest. Networking may fall into one of two categories - social or business. In the latter category, one of the implicit objectives is to form professional relationships that may boost one's future business and employment prospects.” [1] (investopedia)

I currently use websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, but I recognise that my current networks are fairly limited and that this is something I need to work on. I have a couple of contacts who I can call on for jobs or tools or general help, but I have not built up a vast network of contacts or industry friends. This may be partly to do with moving into teaching where keeping up with the current fashionable networks is less important and certainly the networks you need change, but as a choreographer I have definitely dropped the ball. I could definitely engage more in the choreographing world, find more new connections and inspiration, even do some free work to get noticed. Many of the people I trained with and my theatre friends have vast networks of contacts and websites that keep them in the loop. Having good connections can get you into secret auditions, score you some free tickets or even drinks with some famous people in the industry, all of these can help you further your career. I believe that the further you progress with your career the more important and useful these networks are, it becomes more important to be in the know and up to date, more important to know the right people and say the right things. It is interesting that we can now network via social media, you can tweet your favourite performer or share your work with an inspiration in your field, this is a while new method of creating a career network.

But why is networking important, how does it benefit us? Having a network can benefit us is many ways from job opportunities to fame to just having someone to talk who understands our networking can provide us with many opportunities. This gives many people motives build strong networks. Most will build networks as way of advancing in their career, the theatre industry can be being in the right place at the right time, so networking can get to that place at the right time. Networking can also be of use even if you’re already at the top of your field, so many celebrities and theatre industry leaders have social media accounts, this both aids their ability to achieve more fame and success but conversely is also a way for the less revered to learn from their idols. Networking is also a two way connection, you may be as useful to your network as your network is to you, this provides a nice group environment to networking as everyone can help each other.

My ideal network would consist of many leading industry professionals, theatre companies and leading performing arts schools. As a choreographer and teacher I want to be connected to emerging young talent, the best performing spaces, inspirational performers and helpful supporters. Many people use social media and online networking to raise their profile or to raise money such as Kickstarter, this is a great way to reach a wider network and a wider range of supporters. It is also important to think of the way you present your online presence, if you are going to network via Facebook, it is important to remember to remain professional and not post anything that might lose you a contact or even a job. You no longer even need an agent as most auditions are now posted on a variety of theatre websites such as casting call pro and spotlight, networks created for you, though they are also used by everyone else so it is not a very exclusive network.

I definitely believe that networking is both important and useful and that I certainly could get better at it (and probably need to). As modern technology pushes ever forwards I struggle to imagine the ways in which we may begin to network in the future.

  

[1] Investopedia “Networking” online. Available from: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/networking.asp#ixzz3uEaM8fNt