Bullying/swearing/bad behaviour at voc schools

[Anon2]

I wonder if we feel less confident about raising such issues with vocational schools because our dc have been given a place at the school and we feel 'grateful? '

The schools wouldn't be the schools they are without our dc.

I've never felt unable to raise something that has been concerning me or causing my dd upset. If the pastoral team turned a deaf ear I would escalate it.

Document every incident, phone call etc and if you have to escalate any concerns offer a copy to the senior member of staff. No one can deny anything then.

[drdance]

 

 

edited to add

...tho having glanced at your references I'm not terribly convinced about the evidence presented (I guess there must be more out there than you've posted?) a lot of the studies quoted seem to be looking at personality traits of dancers AFTER they have achieved a certain level- can't help wondering if they started out with those traits or whether those traits were the ones selectively enhanced and reinforced by the nature of the training.... I *think* there is evidence that whilst the fundamental personality doesn't change, personality traits do change in response to to external factors... not my field though so I'm not an expert..

 

I agree - there isn't much research out there on the topic, and what there is is usually only ever regarding professionals. It is a lot harder to conduct any type of research using adolescents as getting ethical approval is harder, and a lot of the ideal participants are at vocational school so are difficult to access from a logistical point of view, and it's also difficult to get informed parental consent from enough of them (when they're away) to make the research meaningful. Ideally there'd be a dance science/medicine practitioner at every school who has the time to do this but in the real world people rarely have the time.

Edited July 12, 2016 by drdance

[angel]

I wonder if we feel less confident about raising such issues with vocational schools because our dc have been given a place at the school and we feel 'grateful? '

 

I used to feel that way but a school is a school and our children deserve to be cared for, especially in a boarding environment.

[Colman]

Thanks drdance! I'll go hunt those up, though it occurs to me that an *effect* of ballet training would be to train people to think in ways that would tend to give Type A answers on questionnaires. 

[drdance]

Thanks drdance! I'll go hunt those up, though it occurs to me that an *effect* of ballet training would be to train people to think in ways that would tend to give Type A answers on questionnaires. 

 

Quite likely! 

[Huddsballetmum]

 

Funnily enough tho' I think DS is absolutely NOT a type A personality- not a single one of the traits above match him except for being self critical about his dancing (but never in a terribly stressed way). He is completely unfussed by anyone else's success, measures his own achievements against himself and no-one else, is totally chilled about time keeping and tasks/ lists (academically he always did the bare minimum) and almost NEVER gets angry. I wonder sometimes how he has managed to get so far given he is so laid back! 

Have got to say my DD is very much the same.  Highly critical of her own dancing but very supportive of everyone else and never measures herself against other dancers.  In fact she is very often proud of the achievements of others.  She definitely doesn't match any of the Type A characteristics.