Literature Reviews and ideas - Professionalism

After focusing on the term "Professionalism" I have been looking at literature for theories and ideas I can explore and apply to my own practice and Inquiry.




I have found the two articles below very useful:






(Image From - http://inntrending.com/great-quotes-about-literature/)

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ARTICLE ONE

Title, Date, Author, Publisher

Lester. S (2015) "On professions and being professional" Stan Lester Developments, Taunton, UK

Where did I find the source?

Paula my adviser sent me the link to this online article as she thought it would be useful to read to gain ideas and theories about professionalism.

Web link: http://devmts.org.uk/profnal.pdf  

How is it useful to my Inquiry?

This source is useful to my Inquiry as it discusses and explores the "idea of ‘profession’ and what it means to be a professional".  As I am going to research how a Freelance Dancer can achieve optimal professionalism to become the best performer they can be and help them to secure work, it is important I understand the meaning of the term profession and what it means to be a professional in order to develop my thoughts on what to research further.  

Theories and key ideas

"The word ‘profession’ stems from the Latin verb profiteri, to profess, in the sense of making a formal commitment or vow (as in taking a monastic oath). This can be interpreted as suggesting that joining a profession requires a commitment to acquiring its knowledge and skills, and to adopting its ethos". 

Being a Freelance Dancer requires a lot of commitment as it is a very tough industry to be in.  I will be exploring how commitment and motivation play a major part in a Freelance Dancers life through literature and through my practitioner research.  

"A professional might be considered as a person who embodies the idea inherent in ‘profiteri’, and following Hoyle & John20, makes proficient use of expert or specialist knowledge, exercises autonomous thought and judgement, and makes a voluntary commitment to a set of principles." 

This suggests a professional is someone who uses their expert knowledge of their profession and applies it to their own practice as well as making the decision that they want to be committed to their profession.

How reliable is the source?

This article was written by Stan Lester in 2015, but grew out of a 2002 article by the author in the Journal of the Society of Archivists, vol. 23 no. 1. An earlier version was also published by the former Institute for Learning in 2009. Therefore it is a reliable source as it has been written by a professional in his field and used as an academic source. Therefore, I feel using ideas/theories from this source to develop my own thoughts and ideas will be extremely beneficial. 

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ARTICLE TWO

Title, Date, Author, Publisher

Evans, Linda (2008) "Professionalism, professionality and the development of education professionals".  British Journal of Educational Studies, 56 (1). pp. 20-38

Where did I find the source?

I found this article online.  

Link: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/4077/2/Professionalism_professionality_and_the_development_of_educational_professionals_version_submitted_to_BJES.pdf

How is it useful for my Inquiry?

This source is useful for my Inquiry because it includes quotes and theories from other Practitioners on their theories and ideas on Professionalism.  Even though the article is referring to professionalism within the teaching industry, I feel the professionalism theories and ideas are more general and therefore I can apply these theories to my Inquiry and they will be beneficial in informing my own writing and thinking.  

Theories and key ideas

Hoyle (1975) explains professionalism as "those strategies and rhetorics employed by members of an occupation in seeking to improve status, salary and conditions" (p315) 

I will be applying this idea to my Inquiry as I will be researching through literature and my practitioner research how Freelance Dancers can improve their status, salary and conditions.  I have found a committee on Equity who speak about improving conditions for Freelance Dancers and I have also found many sources discussing the pay of Freelance Dancers. 

Troman (1996, p.476) similarly perceives professionalism not as an absolute or an ideal, but as a "socially constructed, contextually variable and contested concept...defined by management and expressed in its expectations of workers and the stipulation of tasks they will perform". 

Freelance Dancers can be employed in many different dance styles and are always having to adapt to what the employer is looking for, for a specific job.  Therefore, this theory is very apt to our industry and practice.  I will be interviewing my employers so this will be an interesting theory to think about when I am conducting the interview. 

Hoyle's more recent (2001, p.146) explanation of professionalism as a term used "to describe enhancement of the quality of service" 

Sockett (1996, p.23) follows the same "quality" line: "Professionalism is about the quality of practice". 

I will be researching and exploring how a Freelance Dancer can enhance their performance for auditions and when they have secured work.  Therefore, both of the ideas above are very appropriate for my Inquiry.  I will be conducting a focus group with other Freelance Dancers to also ask how they enhance their performance and become the best Freelance Dancer they can be in order to secure work, as well as exploring literature on this topic.

Boyt, Lusch and Naylor's (2001, p.322) emphasis is on the influential capacity of the professional her/himself: "Professionalism consists of the attitudes and behaviour one possesses toward one's profession.  It is an attitudinal and behavioural orientation that individuals possess toward their occupations". 

This theory is the one I agree with most and what reflects my view on what professionalism is.  This idea explains how professionalism is down to the individual and their own attitude towards the profession.  I will be exploring through literature and practitioner research how a Freelance Dancer's mental attitude helps and hinders them in securing work.

Hoyle and Wallace (2005, p.103) "Professionalism seems generally to be seen as the identification and expression of what is required and expected of members of a profession" 

This idea suggests that professionalism is about the employee following the requirements expected of them in a profession.  Therefore, as a Freelance Dancer it will be interesting to know what employers expect once they have employed you, or what they are looking for when auditioning Freelance Dancers.  I will be exploring this further when conducting my interviews with my employers. 

Hoyle (1975) introduced the term "professionality".  He explained this as the "elements of the job that constitute the knowledge, skills and procedures that teachers use in their work" from that Evans, 2002b, pp. 6-7) has defined professionality as "an ideologically, attitudinalty- intellectually - and epistemologically - based stance on the part of an individual, in relation to the practice of the profession to which s/he belongs, and which influences her/his professional practice".  

The term "professionality" is important for a Freelance Dancer as we must have a positive attitude as well as a good knowledge and understanding of ourselves as performers as well as the industry.  This in turn will influence our professional practice and have an impact on the way we develop our technique and performance.  I already have literature on the elements that Freelance Dancer's should apply to make them the best performer they can be and therefore help them to secure work.  Therefore, I will be applying this knowledge to my Inquiry and own practice, as well as asking other Freelance Dancer's what they do to enhance their own practice through the focus group.

How reliable is the source?

I feel this source is very reliable as even though I found it online, as an online article, it is actually a published book as well.  It consists of theories and ideas from other practitioners and professionals who have knowledge on the term "professionalism" and therefore will be very beneficial to read to inform and develop my own thoughts on this topic.

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I discussed with Paula that I needed to find more theories and ideas on my chosen topic for my Inquiry.  I have already found some ideas which I have written a literature review on previously, this can be found on my blog.  However, I feel I now have a better understanding of the term "Professionalism" and I will be applying the theories and ideas I have bullet pointed above from other Practitioners to inform my own writing for my Inquiry as well as the previous ones and use them all as a starting point for further exploration and research.     

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Boyt, T.E, Lusch, R.F and Naylor, G (2001) "The Role of Professionalism in determining job satisfaction in professional serivces; a study of marketing researchers.  Journal of Service Research, 3 (4), 321-330

Evans, Linda (2008) "Professionalism, professionality and the development of education professionals".  British Journal of Educational Studies, 56 (1). pp. 20-38

Evans, l (2002b) "Reflective Practice in Educational Research: Developing Advanced Skills, London, Continuum.

Hoyle, E (1975) "Professionality, professionalism and control in teaching.  In V. Houghton et al. (eds) "Management in Education: the Management of Organisations and Individuals, London, Ward Lock Educational in association with Open University Press.

Hoyle, E (2001) "Teaching: prestige, status and esteem, Educational Management & Administration, 29 (2), 139-152.

Holye, E and Wallace, M (2005) "Educational Leadership: Ambiguity, Professionals and Managerialism, London, Sage.

Lester. S (2015) "On professions and being professional", Taunton, UK, Stan Lester Developments

Sockett, H.T (1996) "Teachers for the 21st century: redefining professionalism, NASSP Bulletin, May, 1996, 22-29

Troman, G (1996) "The rise of the new professionals? The restructuring of primary teachers' work and professionalism, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 17 (4), 473-487.

Skype with Paula

Last Monday I had a Skype tutorial with Paula.   I have written a summary of the points we discussed below:

• We both agreed "Professionalism" would be a better word to use in my main inquiry topic instead of "Employability".  This is because I feel it is more personal/ direct to what I want to research as it allows me to explore what traits myself and other Freelance Dancers, as working professionals, need in order to enhance our careers, rather than focussing on the term employment.  

Photo - (http://www.quotehd.com/quotes/frank-tyger-quote-professionalism-is-knowing-how-to-do-it-when-to-do-it-and)

• We discussed the meaning of what an idea or theory is.  Paula gave me the link to a very useful article which helped me to understand these terms in more depth. Below is the link to this article taken from, "A Dictionary of the social sciences eds. J Gould and W. Kolb, Free Press, 1964."

 http://www.lse.ac.uk/researchAndExpertise/units/gellner/Concept.html 

The definitions that stood out to me were: 

• " Defined as an aspect of thought, a concept is a kind of unit in terms of which one thinks; a unit smaller than a judgement, proposition, or theory, but one which necessarily enters into these".  

• " In as far as given theories require certain concepts, and in as far as concepts can be said to incorporate theories, there is no sharp line between choice of theories and choice of concepts". 

• "In philosophy and the social sciences (and other sciences too) concepts enter as (a) the most general tools of inquiry as such and as (b) the content or object of some specific inquiries, notably in comparative studies." 

• We also discussed if there were any ideas from practitioners from my previous literature that I thought would help inform my own writing and how it is important to keep reviewing literature to develop ideas.  I want to find four or five ideas/theories on Professionalism from other Practitioners that I can apply to my own writing and practice to develop my Inquiry.

• As I am interviewing my Employers to gain a different professional view on my inquiry topic, the word "assumption" was discussed.  We spoke about how this is a very useful method of practitioner research as it will be questioning my point of view and assumptions and seeing if they are similar or if they differ from theirs.  By questioning my point of view it will allow me to explore other avenues and therefore develop my thinking.  This will help me to grow as a professional and not remain on one level with "blinkers" on.

As I am now using the word Professionalism in my inquiry topic instead of Employability, I have been experimenting with different questions to have as an "Umbrella Question" for my inquiry topic, but I think the question below sums up what I want to research best.   

"How can a Freelance Dancer achieve optimal professionalism whilst seeking and securing work?"

I would love to know your thoughts on this question. 


Paula sent me the link to an article "On Professions and being a Professional" by Stan Lester. 

http://devmts.org.uk/profnal.pdf

I will be writing a Literature Review on this article within the next week, as well as reviewing the book "Professionalism in Dance Education" by Susan R. Koff and Gianna Limone Mistry.  I feel both of these pieces of literature will be helpful in defining what Professionalism is and how I can relate it to my own professional practice. 

This week I will be completing my consent forms and arranging dates and times to conduct my Interviews and Focus Group.  I will also be reviewing the literature discussed above and I will be sharing these reviews with you all via another blog, as well as any ideas/theories I find from practitioners which I can apply to my Inquiry.   I am hoping to conduct my Practitioner Research within the next couple of weeks and am intrigued to analyse the findings. 

So.....there is lots to be getting on with!!!!

Very useful article!!

I have been searching for Literature on my Inquiry topic, "How can a Freelance Dancer increase their chances of employability?" and came across this article which was really helpful.

It discusses what a Freelance Dancer should be concentrating on in order to survive in the industry and help secure work.  It also includes the opinions of other professional practitioners, which are valuable for my research.  This is exactly what I am exploring and researching for my Inquiry.

Below is the link for the article:

http://www.danceinforma.com/magazine/2013/12/how-to-survive-as-a-freelancer/

I will be exploring each one of these topics in more depth with other Literature and through my Practitioner Research.

Welcome Back - Reflection on Module 2 Feedback

Welcome back everyone.  Hope you all had a good summer!

I have been dreading starting back again, as there seems to be so much information to take in for Module 3 and it is all a little overwhelming!  I didn't manage to join a Skype conversation over the weekend, however I really appreciated Paula sharing her blog and sharing what had been discussed.

I have printed off the Handbook and Reader 7 and have read through them both.  This has given me a greater understanding of the Module as a whole and has also helped me to break the module down into sections so it doesn't seem so daunting!

What have I learnt from my Module 2 feedback?

It was useful to read the feedback from Paula on Module 2 as it confirmed I was on the right track as, I know at times, I have doubted myself.  However, there were also a lot of helpful points given in order to help me improve my Inquiry and help me to get the best grade possible.  The main points that stood out to me were:

• "You have related your topic to relevant literature. Your have made a good start on this topic, now it is time to begin a more refined literature review of this area." - It was suggested I use professional organisations as well as Summon and the Library Libguide, in order to enhance my knowledge on my topic.

• It was also suggested that I should look for Literature on "general" employment issues in order to gain a better understanding of employability, which I can then relate to my own practice.  I will also be looking for Literature that defines what a "Freelance Dancer" is in order to broaden my knowledge on this topic, which in turn will help me apply these theories and ideas to my professional work and other literature.

• I need to "Review the anonymity and confidentiality issues with your interviewees, they may not want their company names used in public".  This is an important ethical issue and I need to make sure I have a formal way of getting permission from my Employers to share data based on their companies.

• As I will be conducting my interviews as an Insider- Researcher, it was suggested I "develop an even greater understanding about the ethics of being an insider researcher (Costley et al.) in your inquiry work" - This is very important as there are many advantages and disadvantages to being an Insider-Researcher and it is essential I make sure my interviews do not affect my work or relationship with my Employers and fellow cast members.

• My Inquiry questions and sub-questions are all very practical in nature, therefore once I have found more literature and written more literature reviews I will revisit these questions and change some, so they relate to theories and ideas already made by other professionals.

• Paula mentioned I should look at a previous B.A.P.P student's work, as our topics may overlap and I feel this will be very beneficial in pointing me in the right direction and may also lead to introducing different ideas and theories I may want to look into in order to improve my Inquiry. 

What has changed since my Inquiry Plan?

My work situation is still the same, as I have been attending a few auditions over the summer alongside performing with the Bollywood company and performing tribute shows and shows in care homes. As my feedback stated that my Inquiry topic,  “How can a Freelance Dancer Increase their Chances of Employability? is directly linked to your own professional practice as a freelance dancer", I feel my Inquiry topic shouldn't change.  It is a very appropriate topic for me to research and feel it will be very beneficial to explore, as it could help me secure future employment.  

I feel although my topic isn't changing, I need to focus more on refining my literature and look more into theories and ideas behind this topic, rather than the practical nature of it.

Before the summer break I did discuss with Paula whether it would be beneficial for me to conduct a survey or not and I said I would give it some thought over the summer.  I have now decided I will not conduct a survey as I feel it won't contribute any extra information. As discussed, I would need thousands of responses to be able to use the statistics as a reliable source.  Therefore, I will just be conducting the Focus Group with fellow freelance performers, Interviews with my current Employers and then a Practitioner Observation with a Casting Director, where I will write the conversation in my journal, so I can keep referring to it and can apply it to enhance my own professional practice.

What's next?

After reading the handbook for Module 3, Reader 7 and Module 2 feedback, I have decided to write a list of tasks I need to follow in order to stay on track and by breaking it down I am hoping this will give me a starting point to get myself back into the course without it being so over whelming.

• Using my local Library, Summon and the Library Libguide, I will be searching for more literature on Employability, Freelance Dancers and search for theories and ideas in order to refine my literature reviews and draw up some new sub-questions which aren't as practical in nature.
• I am going to use professional organisation like Equity or Dance UK to develop a sense of a Freelance Dancer’s work. 
• I need to draft a permission form as a formal way of gaining the participants consent for sharing data based on their companies.
• I will be looking at previous students' blogs who have researched a similar subject to mine in order to enhance my own work.
• I need to finalise all questions and consent forms, so I can conduct my Interviews and Focus Groups, as well as arrange dates and times with the participants.
• I need to keep blogging and discussing ideas and findings with fellow B.A.P.P students and my tutor.
• Continue adding to my journal. 

I have a lot to be getting on with and it was suggested in my Feedback from Module 2 that I "Continue to reflect upon the work on the blogs and in personal journals", so I will make sure I utilise my fellow B.A.P.P students to help me and remind me I am not doing this alone. 

I'm looking forward to reading all your blogs again, sharing ideas and helping each other on our final Module!