Task 5b and 5c- Ethics

Task 5b-

After thinking of what ethics there were relating to dance based solely on my own thoughts, I researched professional sources to see what else there was. I found a very interesting article on a website called Dance Archives written by Anna Malitowska called Dancers' Professional Ethics. Malitowska writes 'Fulfilling professional duties may not, in such a case, be justified by ones own moral expectations but by social expectations'. I think this is very important to understand because when you are in a professional working environment you have to obey the rules that are set out to you, not the ones you set out yourself. Malitowska's list of a dancers duties include;

• A duty to improve one's skill
• A duty to care for the image of the profession
• Building trust between fellow professionals and care for their reputation
• A duty to respect other individuals, including their freedom to create
• A professional dancer is obliged to support and actively help others realise their professional goals
• To not blindly follow someone else's steps but to use someones advice in agreement with one's self-knowledge. 

I think that these points are very useful and have helped me see more ethical and moral duties of a dancer. I also wanted to research the ethical issues of a teacher. I found this website Ethical standards for teaching that talks about the purpose of ethical standards and what they are. It is a flyer written by Ontario college of teachers. The purpose of ethical standards include;

• To inspire members to reflect and uphold the honour and dignity of the teaching profession
• To identify the ethical responsibilities and commitments in the teaching profession
• To guide ethical decisions and actions in the teaching profession
• To promote public trust and confidence in the teaching profession

Their ethical standards for teaching are;

• Care-Compassion, acceptance, interest and insight for developing students potential
• Trust-Fairnesss, openness and honesty, professional relationships are built on trust
• Respect-Members honour human dignity and emotional wellness and cognitive development
• Integrity-Continual reflection assists members in exercising integrity in their professional commitment and responsibilities.   

I feel that this further research has expanded my knowledge on ethical standards and will help me approach my inquiry with the ethical standards that have been written by me in the previous task and researched in this one. 

Task 5c-Reader 5 Ethics

Reader 5 is quite a lot to take in but I feel that I have expanded my knowledge of ethics and will be able to confidently apply it to my Inquiry. Ethics is a difficult subject because it is not black and white, it isn't as easy as saying this is right and this is wrong. It is open to interpretation and what the moral standards of society are, may not be the moral standards of your personal life that you like to live by. There's a sort of grey area in the middle where there is a lot of uncertainty. The development of ethics can be traced back to Plato and Aristotle. The Greeks code of ethics was concerned with the 'good' or the 'right' way to carry out actions and keep a civil society. The evolution of ethics involves digging deeper into what is perceived as 'good'. 

For Aristotle, ethics is manifested in 'habitual actions'. For example it is not good enough to be honest every Friday but instead you must be honest everyday. Immanuel Kant (1779) believed that moral rules are absolute and you should help people in need no matter what you feel or want. He also believes that lying is always wrong in any situation. This contrasts with JS Mill's view, who believes that if the overall outcome is for the greater good then it can be done, even if the action is questionable in terms of morals. For example if you need to kill one kitten to save 12 kittens, then your action is justified. 

Therefore morals and ethics are interchangeable between each person and what I find acceptable other people may not. The moral structure of society and your personal views can change and what morals you live by now may not be the morals you live by in 20 years. For example, up until 1967 homosexuality was illegal but now the position has changed and homosexuals rights are protected and since March 2014 same sex marriage has been legalised. On the other hand same sex marriage is still not legal in Australia. So even though we as a society in the UK have moved forward, what we accept as our cultural norm, is not accepted everywhere.

Another issue which Ethics is when our personal ethics conflict with our professional ethics. There can sometimes be tensions between personal ethics, professional ethics and employers expectations. For example a Catholic nurse is asked to assist in terminating a pregnancy but the rules of the Catholic Church say she is forbidden. It puts people in impossible situations. At what point do you let your own moral standards slip in order to keep your job? It's an impossible question to answer and thankfully not one that I've had to answer yet but definitely something that I will take into consideration when writing my inquiry.

Planning the our inquiry includes planning what ethical considerations we will take into account. We have to think about who it is benefitting, what we hope to gain and how we will go about handling our data and our treatment of the participants. This includes addressing our participants with respect and writing about them in a respectful way. Making sure our participants know that they can leave the inquiry if they want to. Making sure our questions aren't biased or urging the participant to give the answer we want to hear. I will be expanding on these points in my Inquiry and in my Ethics form.

Any feedback or thoughts would be very helpful!

Bibliography

Anna Malitowska (2012) Dancers' Professional Ethics, Dance Archives

Ontario College of teachers https://www.oct.ca/-/media/PDF/Standards%20Poster/standards_flyer_e.pdf

Reader 5 (2015), Middlesex University