GMT Research Project and how it transformed my teaching

The Purpose of my GMT Research Project was to explore the relationship between the plans Performing Arts students had when they began their course and how it had changed or adapted by the time they were nearing their course's completion. Below is the introduction and aims of the Research Project 'Next!: A research project into career plans of Performing Arts students with regard to current cuts in both Education and the Arts Industry.' "With current news of Education Cuts and slashes in funding for the Arts under the new Coalition Government, how much are students being supported in their decisions to enter the Performing Arts sector, by either completing their BTEC Level 3 qualification, or being encouraged to extend their knowledge and apply for a degree or a place at a Drama School? This study will explore the career guidance that is available at a Further Education College in the South West of England, from here to be referred to as X College, for the students in the Performing Arts Course. The study will look into the aspirations and achievements of students currently in their first or second year of the BTEC Extended Diploma Level 3 course in Performing Arts. "The BTEC Diploma at Level 3 gives the student the qualification that enables them to apply for University to continue their studies or experience to seek a job in the Performing Arts sector. The BTEC Nationals Qualifications aim ‘to help students develop deep, specialist, practical skills and understanding’ (BTEC 2010) through their modular assessments. X College also includes a comprehensive programme that exists alongside the BTEC programmes that covers the National Minimum Core: students take Level 2 qualifications in Functional skills, covering Literacy, Numeracy and ICT whilst they attend the college. Therefore, the students are equipped with additional skills, outside their chosen specialism, which enables them to seek employment in alternative sectors to Performing Arts. With education fees escalating from September 2011, students may not feel motivated to continue their studies, especially if they already have been given the tools to start them on a career path. This research project is going to look at the popularity of continuing education after college at either University or Drama School, whether the rising fees have affected general consensus about attending higher education institutions and what the final career aspirations are of the Level 3 student body in the Performing Arts department at College X. "The following key aims will be looked at in detail: · Why did the students initially elect to study the BTEC Extended Diploma in Performing Arts? · What do the students wish to do at the culmination of their time at college? · What career guidance is available for students at the college? · Has the recent news in budget cuts for Education and the Arts made any of the students reconsider their options? · Do students still feel as confident about entering the Performing Arts Sector as they were when they first began their studies? "This is a limited enquiry which may mean that not all of the material will be developed in this project alone. In this occurrence, a further enquiry may be necessary to explore the material in greater detail and enquiries into widening student participation. However, this particular study will conclude with some detailed analysis that provides answers to the initial aims and purposes described above. With the cessation of this report, I aim to personally use the findings to benefit my own practice; I wish to encourage my students to explore the many varied access paths into the Performing Arts sector, whilst they are still at college. By doing this, they can discover, and in some examples, sample different career paths that could open up for them, that do not necessarily rely on them being solely an actor, dancer or singer." The beginning of the project was quite difficult to get into as it seemed such a large area to look at and pin down. However, once begun I found it relatively easy to keep myself on track and work with the students at College X to create a limited enquiry into their future career plans. From their responses my personal outlook and projected outcome changed: from firstly seeing where I could help them (and future students) to locate and analyse the potential career paths they may choose at the culmination of their studies, instead I discovered that they knew the available options but did not know how to choose. With prices for education going up and budgets for the Arts going down, students are aware that they can still go into HE and get a degree in Performing Arts but because competition is becoming even worse in an already fierce market, they are beginning to lack the confidence and the motivation to bother applying at all. A BTEC at Level 3 is equivalent to an A Level in the same subject. Students aim for three Distinction grades as do A level students try to achieve three As. No matter how hard students may try and in the world of Performing Arts be exceptionally talented in their craft, there are still few students who will leave with those three prestigious grades. Added to this that they are all required to have honed skills in communication, volunteer work and orienteering skills, the HE market for students immediately out of college is very wide and over-populated compared to the very few places available each year at University. On top of this, my BTEC students are told that their diplomas and their Functional Skills at Level 2 have made them ‘ready’ to begin their careers in Performing Arts. They may feel that with the definite debt and unreliable admission processes, they might try to get a job in a theatre or teaching and choose to start the career ladder at a lower rung. This is surely not a bad thing to do, and hard work and self motivation have often paid dividends in careers and job progression. I just feel that anyone who has put in time to work hard enough to get a good ground base in Performing Arts should be inspired to take it further and continue on their learning journey. All performing arts students are passionate, there is no getting away from it. Sometimes though with financial problems that affect from the individual all the way to being a national if not global worry, that passion can be jaded. In my research, 3 first years who had completed the Level 2 course prior to beginning their Level 3 said that they were unsure about what career path to take when they complete their diploma in 2012. I felt, although this was not confirmed by any of them, that their attitude and change in ideas from when they first started, was in proportion to the exposure of too much performing arts problems and not enough passion. If this project has taught me anything, it has made me abundantly aware that I should never forget or neglect the passion I have for my subject because I should be the teacher that promotes furthering education on behalf of the individual despite what is going on around them. Sometimes this is a rash and ill-considered decision to make and is not right for all. However, I am certain that by being in the right place at the right time can often stem from rash and ill-considered actions and in Performing Arts, that makes stars! Harrison Ford on IMDB (2011) (online) “His father was Irish, his mother Russian-Jewish. He was a lackluster student at Maine Township High School East in Park Ridge Illinois (no athletic star, never above a C average). After dropping out of Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he did some acting and later summer stock, he signed a Hollywood contract with Columbia and later Universal. His roles in movies and TV ("Ironside" (1967), "The Virginian" (1962)) remained secondary and, discouraged, he turned to a career in professional carpentry. He came back big four years later, however, as Bob Falfa in American Graffiti (1973). Four years after that he hit colossal with the role of Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). Another four years and Ford was Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Four years later and he received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for his role as John Book in Witness (1985). All he managed four years after that was his third starring success as Indiana Jones; in fact, many of his earlier successful roles led to sequels as did his more recent portrayal of Jack Ryan in Patriot Games (1992). Another Golden Globe nomination came his way for the part of Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive (1993). He is clearly a well-established Hollywood superstar.” “[Ford] had no formal training as a carpenter. He borrowed books on carpentry from the library, studied them and then practiced in an empty house before he got good enough at it that it became his primary job before becoming a major Hollywood actor. He found he enjoyed carpentry so much that he kept it as a hobby.” IMDB (2011) Harrison Ford (online) available from: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000148/bio [accessed 1 June 2011]