Task 5B: Findings of Ethical Codes Within My Workplace 

http://www.holyfamily.waltham.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/HFCS-Equalities-Act-statement.pdf

The school’s ‘Equalities Act’ document (accessed from the school website) focuses greatly on the school’s ability to promote opportunity within the school. There is a far greater emphasis on gender bias in exam results and the number of students who move into higher education. However, it does make reference to my comments made in relation to students from all backgrounds being given opportunities, giving particular reference to the school mission statement.

The website also contains a notice of Data Protection privacy notice. This informs parents of what information may be shared with local authorities or local services. It also moves to reassure parents that student data will not be provided to anybody from outside agencies unless permission is granted or they are legally obliged to:

We will not give information about you to anyone outside the school without your consent unless the law and our rules allow us to.

In relation to my inquiry this has not given me complete clarification as to any existing ethical policies regarding research within my school besides anticipated data protection policies. The school’s commitment to CPD is evident with regular training sessions held on a weekly basis that all members of staff are welcome to attend. 

Task 5A: Work Based Ethics

Within my working environment I feel that there are a range of ethical issues. The school I am in contains over 1100 students and close to 100 staff not to mention points of contact for each student. As a result the ethics will differ based upon whether I was dealing with:

1.      Students
2.      Parents/Carers
3.      Colleagues

There are a number of ethical matters that I feel apply to all three of these groups. I shall cover these now as I feel that they represent an ethical consistency that I feel should be maintained across the board in order for us all to coexist successfully as an overall school community. 

1.      Duty of Care: For all of us this needs to be of a top priority as an ethical matter. First and foremost as a member of staff the safety and well-being of our students both academically and emotionally is pivotal in all we do. If a student does not feel safe within their learning environment or feels they cannot speak to somebody then we can not to expect them to develop sufficiently on any level. The school and parents should be able to communicate appropriately in order to ensure that students are able to progress.
2.      Equal opportuninties: As in any working environment, all students, staff members, parents should have an equal footing. In no circumstance must anybody ever be treated differently due to race, religion, gender, disability. If such instances ever occur, the school would need to address the situation appropriately. 
3.      Communication: This is also pivotal and in my opinion an important ethical matter as in order to make correct decisions regarding students whether it be academic or social, all parties involved need to be communicated with to ensure that the correct outcome is made with the students’ best interests at heart.

I feel that the above are general ethical issues that would exist within my work place. In relation to my research I feel that certain ethical issues may affect different groups in particular ways.

Students:

-       Data protection would certainly be paramount to any research that was done based around students. My instinct would be that permission would need to be given in order to conduct any form of research involving students. Also student’s contributions should remain anonymous to protect the student’s identity.
-       Also ensuring that students were comfortable in taking part in any form of research would be pivotal

Parents/Carers:
-       Ensuring that parents are aware of the research being conducted is for and that they have given their consent for their child to take part.

Colleagues:
-       Honesty. If colleagues are taking part in any research ensure that they are aware of its purpose and be prepared to share the findings with that colleague.
-       Do not name any member of staff (or student) within your findings 

Task 4D: Award Title

When considering my award title for my Professional Inquiry I need to be thinking long term in relation to my career choice. As an aspiring Secondary School Drama teacher it would not be well advised to try and ‘pigeonhole’ myself into one particular aspect of teaching. Although my inquiry will be focused around behaviour management within Drama I need to focus my award title towards the subject itself. As a result of this my chosen award title is as follows:

BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Drama

Task 4C: Development of Questions

After my initial questions I spoke with a senior colleague about my Inquiry. We discussed the questions that I had raised initially. I was clear that I wanted this to be a comparative study of behaviour management between a practical class environment and a normal classroom environment. What this discussion was able to help me consider was WHY I wanted to look at this particular aspect of my practice. From this I established that it would have the following benefits.

-       For me personally, I would be able to look at my own behaviour management within both environments. This would provide short and long term benefits for me within my profession. In the short term I would be able to reflect on the effectiveness of my existing behaviour management policies, both positive and negative. This could also lead to me seeing how different methods of behaviour management would translate between practical and classroom environment, helping my overall teaching in the long term
-       In relation to my colleagues, such a study could help to shape behavioural strategies which could lead to more subject areas looking to develop interactive practical ideas into their lessons without the fear of a chaotic, unproductive environment.

Once establishing why I wanted to follow this line of inquiry we looked to improve my existing questions in order to gain more specific answers towards my line of inquiry. After a lengthy discussion we were able to agree on the following set of questions:

1. Do you teach in 

a) Practical classroom environment
b) Non-practical classroom environment
c) Both

2. How do you think Behavior Management Strategies differ between practical and classroom environments?

3. Do you feel there is any use in translating one to the other?

4. What would you say are the most common types of behavioral issues within your subject area?

5. Do you feel that there is a greater tolerance in terms of behavioral expectations in a Drama class?

6. Should there be?

7. How do you feel students perceive this?

Initial questions and what I hope to gain from my Inquiry

Between modules 1 & 2 my job role within my school changed from a supporting role to a more prominent classroom role. Having been a Performing Arts Technician I am now a Cover Supervisor. The change in role has allowed me an opportunity to reflect upon what I could focus my inquiry towards in terms of being able to benefit not only my colleagues but also my own professional development as I look towards gaining a place on a PGCE course in September 2013. 
From reader 4 I was able to reflect on the nature of my work. More specifically, I was able to identify that my work within my profession was of a ‘transdisciplinary’ nature. I was particularly interested in the idea of 

‘Mode 2’ and using ‘a range of theoretical perspectives and practical methodologies to solve problems’ (Gibbons 1994).

With this in mind my line of inquiry began with a focus towards behaviour management which led me to ask the following questions:

1.      What are the main differences in the behaviour of students in Drama lessons and classroom based lessons?
2.      Does the practical environment have a positive or negative impact upon behaviour?
3.      If so, why?

Final thoughts module 1

Task 3D: Final Thoughts

• I have found that my attitude to networking is somewhat blurred. Where I can see benefits that wider social networking can bring to the collective table I am still more confident in using my own ‘Community of Practice’ ie colleagues and people that I work with on a day to day basis. It could be argued that my online networks are somewhat limited as I use what are mainly conventional teaching networks (TES, LGFL) this has been echoed through reading the blogs of others who work in education on the BAPP course, TES in particular being a common feature. I do feel that my networks such as colleagues/students are of the most use to me overall as I feel that being able to ‘Reflect-in Action’ especially where students are concerned, allow me to make more informed decisions on what methods of my practice are effective or non effective, particularly as it is more personal.

• I find that a lot of my working concerns are shared by those within my area of work. I feel that I have not perhaps capitalised on being able to reach out far enough beyond my professional area as it is often difficult to speak in a more than hypothetical way about other scenarios as you do not have a direct knowledge of other people’s students/colleagues.

• Sharing ideas with colleagues and communicating with students is a regular feature of my planning and often shapes my approach to each group I teach. This form of critical reflection enables me to plan more diversely for future sessions.

3C

Task 3C: Sources Of Information

My main sources of information in my practice:

1)      Staff training- There is weekly training within my school that is open to all interested parties on a weekly basis. This covers a wide array of areas as the training is either delivered by colleagues or outside agencies. Training that has been most beneficial to me has been training in regards to special needs students with the training focusing at how to deal with different special needs in a classroom environment. The most recent being training on autism.

2)      Staff Bulletin- This is weekly bulletin that compiles information that staff need to be aware of for the coming week. This may be so that we are aware of events taking place in the school or of students who are undergoing particular issues either socially or within their health so that we are aware of how to handle any potential situations

3)      TES/LGFL- These websites offer a great deal in terms of existing resources or ideas for activities. They are both an essential source for information in regards to planning activities.

4)      Colleagues- Those who I work with are often a great source of information as they are able to help me reflect upon my own work and how it can be improved. As well as helping me improve work they are able to give me confidence on aspects of my role that I am doing well which is of great help when you are feeling low or uninspired.

5)      Students- Last but certainly not least would be my students. Feedback is almost generated on the spot through emotions shown by students whether they be positive or negative. This can often be the most helpful to me when planning.