A Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

A Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

At the beginning of this module I reflected the last module more, thinking about what I had learnt in regards to networking, critical thinking and reflection. I also gave some thought to the feedback of my last module, about getting deep within my practice. So I decided to become a Governor at a different school to where I work to develop my network, critical thinking as well as get a better picture and understanding of the environment in which I work.  (Appendix A)I also started the afterschool club that I had briefly mentioned in the last module that I wanted to do. Becoming a Governor and starting the afterschool club gave module 2 the foundation and direction I wanted to go and explore within my inquiry.

During Task 4, I started to blog questions that perhaps I already knew the answers too or thought. (Appendix B)  I also learnt during some of the governor training I had, that asking questions you think you already know the answers too or naïve questions can develop critical thinking as the questions lead to further questions and discussion. This is also demonstrated in (Appendix C) because Alan analysed, started to develop my questions, raised questions and developed a discussion. From this I did start to think about the questions more and the literature.

I found creating a SIG was a bit of a problem at first because my Art form is different from my fellow students, I then decided to compare and contrast other things I may have in common with them, using Bubble Maps (Appendix D) and found the strongest connection I had was teaching, this lead me to Hannah Shepard’s blog who is also a Teacher Assistant. After some discussion via her blog (Appendix E) I joined the Facebook SIG. I found the SIG useful for progressing through the course and my Professional and Personal Networks for developing my inquiry.

Ethics is something I found interesting, and at first a lot to take in, although I have some understanding of ethics in the work place (Appendix F), have my own personal Ethics and I analyse Codes of Practice (Appendix G). Reader 5 is what made me stop and think! Thinking of ethics from different angles and perspectives, questioning what is right or wrong; when personal ethics clash against professional ethics and ethics within different laws or cultures. (Appendix H) It also made me think about how personal ethics can impact on society – the ethical butterfly effect. This section was a thought-provoking learning curve.

Whiles reading ‘Reader 6’ I started to think about the Data Collection Tools I would use, weighing up the pros and cons (Appendix I). This led me to piloting an Observation Grid and planning a questionnaire for my inquiry. I also reflected on two other pilots’ I had run during my afterschool club for my inquiry (Appendix J) as well as reflecting on the tools (Appendix K).

This module has engaged my thinking in many ways to help me develop my inquiry, helping me raise questions and improved my analysis.  As well looking at and exploring the different types of literature that gives my inquiry some foundation (Appendix M)( Appendix N)( Appendix O). The ethics has given me room for thought and the ethics I need to beware of for my inquiry.