Tuesday 13 November 2012

Session 2 Module 2


Session 2

The last session really helped me to gain a better understanding of exactly what module 2 entails and to asses at what stage I am in my research. The group started by discussing what stage they were at with their enquiry and the difficulties they were facing.

We moved on to discuss the meaning of ethics in small groups.  This involved making a listing of words that we associated with ethics. Here is a short list of some of those words and a summary of our discussion about them:

Honesty:  We discussed how being honest is an important ethical value in the exchange of information. We must be honest in our intent for gaining information and how we intend to use it. We also rely on the informant to gives us an honest response.  

Values:  Values are what we use to judge what we think is right or wrong. We questioned how much we were prepared to compromise our values to remain professional. The group also discussed how spirituality and cultural believes influence our values. Ethical values can be adapted over time and within different cultures of varying spiritual and cultural beliefs.  Adesola expressed this during the session by saying that “ethics don’t change, but how we approach them is influenced by time and geography”.

Rules: Rules are similar to values, but they are often put in place for a society to follow regardless of an individual’s ethical beliefs. Set rules are often a form of ethical guidance that controls our behaviour. These rules may influence how we conduct ourselves in a work environment or how we converse in certain cultural environments.

Ethics is an interesting and complex theme because it is part of a moral system which governs how we interact with other people. Our ethics influence the way in which we view the world and the standards we set as professionals.  

Definition of ethics

plural noun

·              1 [usually treated as plural] moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity: medical ethics also enter into the question

·              2 [usually treated as singular] the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles: neither metaphysics nor ethics is the home of religion

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/ethics

 

 

  

2 comments:

  1. Hi Thulani, Hope you are well.

    I think that "values" will dominate my decision process. I plan to create a disclaimer to gain constent from my students prior to undertaking my inquiry. I will also be honest about my intentions.

    How can these findings from our group discussion be used in your inquiry?

    Gemma

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  2. Hi Gemma,

    I will also have to create a disclaimer as the students I work with are under 18.

    In my inquiry I will be focusing on Art within specialist schools.

    I would like see Art introduce more into these kind of schools, but I understand that there may be parents that may not consider this of high value.

    It will be interesting to see if, through my inquiry, that this would really be the case.

    I hope the inquiry will bring our studies of ethics to life, by receiving peoples direct response, thoughts and feelings.

    I agree with your decision - part of having good ethics is being honest about your intentions.

    Thulani

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