Task 5B - Ethics in the workplace

Previously in task 5A I had thought about which ethics may apply to my profession, however on looking further into it with all the different places I work out the rules can be quite different.

This can make it complicated to following but I always ask for a copy of the rules for whichever company I am working for.

As a teacher, in all primary schools I have worked in, I have either been give a copy for reference of the schools rules or I have been give a paper to read and sign to say I adhere to them, most of them seem to be common sense. However there must be a reason why these policies have had to come into play.
In extra-curricular dance schools the process isn't quite as vigorous, in one school I haven't had to sign a thing, but this is where my own morals and ethics have come into play as I know what is right and wrong when it comes to teaching. I have a duty of care, I would like to think I wouldn't need anyone to check up on this. But unfortunately not everyone shares the same views on what is required.

As a performer we look to bigger organisations for support such as equity, they have a vast amount of agreements to help support the art industry, as we are all our own product we don't have a human resources department should there be an issue to raise. Equity holds power over the performing arts industry if a company or agent gets blacklisted it soon spreads among performers and we can make sure that something is done about it.

I feel that my assumptions were correct, I have been working in the performing arts industry for a number of years and have learnt the art of adapting to who you are working for. I would hope by now I have learnt the codes of conduct in the work place as this has helped me to have a long career.

Reader 5C - Reader 5

Reader 5 (Middlesex University) bought out the debating side of me, 'Ethics is frequently not a case of black or white' I very much agree with this.
It is very inetersting to read that ethics can be categories to a certain extent into Personal, Profession, Organisation and society. After reading through the case studies I can now see this is the case. Ethics have been dated back to 300BC this ultimately gave the world a structure. Which was seen so early on as being vital in order for humans to co-exist.  I wonder what the case under question was all those years ago which sparked ethics needing to come into play?

I have decided to blog some of my thoughts on the case studies in Reader 5, I think this may be useful when looking into my own professional practice ethics and give me some questions which I can apply, I have also given my opinion on the case studies.

Case Study 1- NHS Mid- Staffordshire Enquiry

• Can the NHS truly be disected by one man in one year? Surely the NHS did not go from 0 preventable deaths a year to 1,200 which triggered the enquiry - so where does the problem start and why did it start in the first place would this not take years of research into the future to establish if peoples actions are still causing it to happen?
• By Martin Yeates resigning before the report was published and being to ill to appear at the inquiry, the cynic in me point to this man knowing something and perhaps feeling guilty, was he not upholding the ethics and thinking he could get away with it?
• 'The NHS find it notoriously hard to admit a mistake' is this because it is public knowledge of how many problems the NHS has and if we knew the true extent would that be the end of the NHS?
• I think the ethical principles are professional and organizational however by individuals resigning they have made in personal. It would be easy to point the finger at the doctors and nurses that allowed the patients to die unnecessarily but why did they? lack of equipment? funding? training? staffing? These are all factors beyond their control so therefore the responsibility would lie higher up.

Case Study 2 - Ethics in Photography

This case study shocked me, to walk past an impoverished girl in order to take a photo of a vulture in flight is ludicrous! To me what gave that man the right to judge which life was more important if all human beings behaved this way with such disregard for others the world would cease to exsist.

They were told not to touch another human being for fear of epidemic? Could they not have alerted a medical team? Or at least bring water to the girl? Personally I would not be able to walk away from this situation

This is personal on the scale, not organisation or society, yes the organisation told him not to go near anyone, but would your human instinct not take over? That man chose to not help save another human life and I can see why in the end he died of guilt. Which ultimately isn't morally right either to let a wrong action eat you up so much, For me if i look back in hindsight at something and it was wrong i would do everything i could to make sure it certainly didn't happen again and something to help the situation. two lives were lost when neither needed to be.

Case Study 3 - The Dance Class

I can see both sides to this perhaps because I am a dance teacher so I am more informed, not doing a warm up does risk the dancers health and they could cause injury, im guessing that the teachers that were not doing warm ups have not had this happen to them, alternatively, for example when I have exam classes which are 30 mins long to take 10 mins doing a warm up and 5 mins at the end doing a cool down leaves me 15 mins to teach exam work and if the children don't get the results their parents want they don't come back! If the dance school is your livelyhood can you afford for this to happen- no. However if you extend the classes, this costs more. I don't but any means agree with not doing a warm up but I can see if under pressure why it was perhaps skipped. In the national curriculum it says all children must be involved and participate to do their best. By singling one student out and putting her down means she will not do her best. You learn to cope with the real world as you're living in it! Your real world may be very different to that of someone else. This is another problem in that anyone can go and open a dance school there is no regulations to stop them, however becoming a teaching is a long vigorous process. Therefore there will be difference in the codes of conduct which is a shame.

Case Study 4 - An extreme case of Plagiarism

Morally and Ethically wrong, personally, socially and oragazationally wrong.

A big question I have is how did the Spanish research team not think that Brown would speak up with evidence of his research and prove the the new planet was his discovery. 

Having the same theory on something when researching the same thing could be quite common, for example some of the things I write about in my blog could be similar to someone else's without realising, but we are working on the same course from similar professional backgrounds.

However to pluck a theory such as a new planet from thin air with no back up research would set of alarm bells to most people. 

Case Study 5 - Presenting findings

Alot of the findings have been made by presumption and generalisation not by fact. One persons opinion can be very different that of another disgregarding gender, class or age. However the author of these finding has drawn his own conclusions on the matter, reading the results of this I would say he hasn't actually spoken to these people and made this up himself.

He has described people politically incorrect as well as morally incorrect and disrepectful. These results I hope would not be taken seriously.

This has really helped me to many sides of ethics also to realise that its not just a case of right or wrong, not following rules and following rules. Does this mean when ethics comes under fire does it need to be a case by case inquiry, to be carried out by a number of people so that personal opinion doesn't come into play?


I feel most of my opinions have come from the world I have grown up in right from what I was taught as a child to the professional world I am now surrounded by, everyone has a different experience of this which is why codes of coduct would come in to play in a work place because the way you may deem appropriate to behave may not be the same a the place you are working in. It would be chaos to have everyone doing as they pleased but, this is a fine line between telling people what is expected of them and leaving them to work it out, rather than they telling them exactly what to think and how to go about doing it. If this was the way we would have difference of opinion.
This has made me realise why it is of such importance that ethics is taken into consideration when carrying out my inquiry as to not influence others opinions, disregard or group them. 

4D - Literature

Over the past couple of weeks I have been reading various sources of literature which may help me which my inquiry, I have found this to be very useful in providing me with others opinions on subjects I am also looking to develop as well as helping me to narrow down my inquiry questions and give me more focus on what I would like to find out as my end result.

I have used various tools which are available to me to find information and articles of interest, such as Middlesex library - Summon tool, google search for articles on relating websites and articles in newspapers.

Here are some of the links to my findings:

Jason Heath - You can’t teach professionally and perform professionally – misperceptions on both sides of the divide http://doublebassblog.org/2007/09/you-can-teach-professionally-and.html

American Musical Theatre Academy - http://theamta.com/gb/3-reasons-performing-arts-important-society/

Independant School Parent -  http://www.independentschoolparent.com/school/the-importance-of-drama-and-performing-arts/

Tim Casson - JV2: Dance-theatre training and the importance of versatility

Karen Schupp - Studying Dance - A Guide for Campus and Beyond - Article

Lyn Paine - A complete guide to Primary Dance

Physical and Mental work loads in professional dance teachers by Eileen Wanke, Mike  Schmidt, Jeremy Leslie- Spinks, David Groneburg 

How to handle a career transition - Ciara Pressler https://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/acting-teachers/how-to-handle-career-transition/

Ronald Federico - http://www.americansforthearts.org/by-program/reports-and-data/legislation-policy/naappd/the-decision-to-end-a-performing-career-in-ballet

Bishop Tyrrell Anglican College - http://www.btac.nsw.edu.au/2016/10/importance-drama-performing-arts-education/

Sir Peter Balzagette - https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/apr/27/value-of-arts-and-culture-to-society-peter-bazalgette

University of Derby - https://www.studyinternational.com/news/the-importance-of-performing-arts-in-an-interconnected-world/#A1p8GVrUVjEDVGsT.97

Economic Estimates of DCMS sectors http://www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk/industries/arts-culture/arts-culture-facts-and-figures/the-economic-contribution-of-the-arts

Arts Council -http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/download-file/Value_arts_culture_evidence_review.pdf

By reading these articles it has helped me to further narrow down the question of my end project, What is the importance of the performing arts industry in our society, this topic may be too big however as i would like to explore through schools, economically and politically but I feel I now know where I am heading and the types of literature I need to be reading to further broaden my knowlege.

Task 5A: Code of Practice in my work place

Task 5a really forced me to think hard about the codes of conduct in my work place which I have become second nature to me and I follow on a daily basis,

As I have 2 very different work places I have decided to separate each half of the mind map, although a few of regulations I follow can cross into both, such as health and safety and time management.

New regulations are coming in all the time especially in school, which I don't think is a bad thing, as it is all put in place to improve the school for the pupils and workplace for the teachers. However when I teach at many different schools it can differ from one policy to another, so I have to make sure I am aware of any changes or new implemented rules.

However when it come to performing as I am the one performing to a certain level I am in charge of my own regulations as long as they comply with the client and my insurance company. As I am my own advert and product I need to make sure I manage my code of conduct and regulations professionally.

4C- Developing Questions

Due to having some very helpful professional work colleagues plus the bribery of coffee, I was able to ask my questions to a group of fellow performers and teachers of the performing arts industry to get their opinion and to help broaden the topics i was focusing on.
Although the points we came up with were very similar to the ones I had already thought about, I managed to gain an insight into the way other performers looked at the industry and how similar we all felt, this then made me think if we all have a similar opinion on the matters of the industry and how it needs to be changed, why isn't more being done about it.
However the more we spoke to more i realised it wasn't anything to do with the people who were inside the performing arts industry it was to do with the people who weren't!

Was it a jealously that we have managed to make our hobbie and passion into a career and they perhaps hadn't? Howe we get to do something we love every single day so therefore its not taken seriously by those who don't?

From the discussion I've had I have decided to narrow down my questions about my inquiry to start to try to look at the areas I would like to focus on.

Theses are:

Why isn't being in the performing arts industry taken seriously as a career?

In Society what is the importance of performing arts and which things are a problem to the industry?

Does having a career as a professional performer make you better at teaching it?

I hope to explore these questions more now I have narrowed them down, and start to look at who else I can talk to about my inquiry.

Task 4C: Developing questions in my own professional community - Pre Task

I am very lucky to be surrounded by some beautifully talented performers, we meet every tuesday evening as we are all part of a corporate event agency 'Manic Stage Productions'

The group consists of current performers, ex-performers, teachers and dance school owners so I feel this is the perfect place to sound out some of my ideas that I have for developing my lines of professional inquiry.

This Tuesday a few of them have agreed for me to put my questions to them and have a group discussion hopefully developing my ideas further,
I am really excited to do this and share my findings. as last night during a gig with  fellow professional I began to discuss some of my thoughts I had and what her opinion was, this triggered a good rant about the performing arts industry! The true cost of what it takes to be a professional performer, hence why we were doing a gig until 3am just to be able to continue being able to afford to follow our dreams. It was very interesting to hear the same thoughts from a fellow professional, so I look forward to developing these further on Tuesday!


Just wondering if anyone on the BAPP course lives near the south coast? perhaps we could meet up to discuss our own thoughts?!

Task 4B: Developing Special Interest Group (SIG)

Task 4B is to develop and actively be part of a special interest group,

I think in order to gain as much knowledge and discussion from fellow BAPP students I would like to join as many as possible to share ideas, thought and comments,

I would like to set up my own SIG group but i would like to offer something different to discuss so we are not replicating each other, perhaps creating a title that will trigger another debate that can be related to the lines of inquiry we are all choosing to take.

I have decided to make a SIG group titled 'The true cost of being a performer'

https://plus.google.com/collection/4FkSNE

I would like to stimulate ideas that show the effects of costs and funding at grass roots level in schools, to what you have to do in order to become a successful performer.

Please feel free to join and add thoughts and comments, plus add your groups below so I can join too!

Task 4a: Developing lines of inquiry

I currently work in a number of sectors of the performing arts, I would describe myself as 'transdisciplinary' according to Reader 4, I feel this has made it harder for me to choose which line of professional enquiry I wish to follow.

Part of me is pulling towards the end goal of becoming a higher education teacher, yet I am still very much in the performing world. I am surrounded by performers on a weekly basis so feel I could develop my lines of enquiry more with them. I feel I would be limited at the primary schools as to how much I could develop with other professionals as the reason I am employed is because I am so specialist to my subject. I also am I there when teachers aren't so I don't feel my current work life timetable would allow me to interact with them quite so much.
However a few thoughts I have been having about the lines of inquiry I would like to take have been crossing over into both sectors and this interests me, I would like to broaden some of my lines of inquiry as I am not looking for a specific outcome I feel i don't need to narrow my research and could have a much broader inquiry as a result of this.

Some of the questions I have thought about are:

• Why isn't dance taken seriously as a subject in schools? 

• Why isn't the performing arts world taken seriously as a career?

• Funding for the arts is constantly being cut, how is this going to effect the future?

• Why is funding for the arts being cut so much when a healthy lifestyle is trying to be boosted?

• Why am I not considered to be a proper teacher when my subject is dance?

• How are the funding cuts effecting grass roots level in schools?

• Does performing arts provide a way of communication for some children who aren't necessarily excelling in other areas?

• Does dance help with the discipline of children?

• How does being involved with performing arts from grass roots level go on to help in later life?

• Why is someone who has a dance degree but no performing experience considered above professionally someone who has been to a dance college and gained a diploma but been performing for several years professionally in the eyes of the education section?

• How does a performing arts background benefit you as a teacher? Do it make you have higher expectations as you know what the demand is if they want to pursue performing as a career?

Please comment your thoughts about my questions and any other questions you may have! 

Back to Blogging!

Wow, the first 2 months of this year have flown by! It seems as an adult that the years go quicker than ever! Is it that were not waiting for Christmas like an excited 4 year old so it takes forever to come? Or that the demand has increased, from home work and social life that we are under so much more pressure to cram everything in?

I now find myself only being able to allocate a strict time to things in order to achieve everything that is required of me, today for example, I was working until 3am last night (extending my work day having started at 9am yesterday morning) It was my uncles birthday today, the first time since Christmas the whole family would be together, (thats a lot of ticks off the family seeing list if I go) but knowing this afternoon I needed kick start my BAPP course work (having been nudged along by Paula - thanks Paula!) I could only allocate 2 hours to seeing them, waking up after only 5 hours sleep for the second day in a row, to make sure I was able tidy my flat (tick) do some washing (tick) drink more coffee (tick) looking at costumes to order for an upcoming show from work (tick)
Lunch done, its now time to sit and get my head stuck into BAPP course work, I would love to say I have the rest of the day to dedicate to this but as a full time teacher there are lesson plans to do for the week as we have ofsted looming.

I feel its not so much time management thats my problem it's that I can't say no! To me its a sign of weakness! (thats what being a stubborn scorpio does to you) however I am also very good at seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! It will all be worth it in the end, so I need to stop waffling, (which incidentally is reason for the picture above, I ordered a waffle which they didn't so they sent this instead!) and get on with the tasks in hand!

Happy Sunday Everyone!

P.S. Please feel free to comment thoughts on this, mainly so I know i'm not alone in having a crazy hour by hour specified life!