Ethical considerations: actions and questions

In the campus session we looked at the idea of questions and how they give context to our practises.

In Module Two you are asked to find a ‘question’ (really this is an area you would like to know more about). What happens is that people find ‘big’ questions offer that involve proving something that give further meaning to their own practice. Like showing the dance is important for young children to do (in the question How does dance support children’s development?). These sort of ‘big’ questions are acting as ways to better understand the context of the practice you already have. Really this kind of big question is more appropriate for Module One which is all about positioning yourself and your practice. These big questions are a route to link your practice to further thinking/feeling. As a group we looked at big questions for our practices like:

Community dance how do is it defined? = how am I defining community dance in my practice.

The role of women in acting = As a woman how am I noticing women in practice

Technology and disability = my work involves creating access and experiences.

Identity = how has my identity developed now I have left the environment of training. How have I constructed myself?

These ‘big’ questions are about finding your own position and great to start to develop from Module One onwards. Module One is about this positioning of self (through looking at your practice through the lens of communication., reflection, networks).

In Module Two your question has to be specific to your practice now. Or it will be too big to manage in Module Three. In Module Three keep asking yourself to come back to the smaller inquiry which is part of the bigger questions that the course is raising for you.

We then went on to look at how ethical considerations can help with finding a smaller relevant question.

An ethical consideration – is something you are considering. The word ‘consider’ (to think about).

If you think of ethical considerations as for instance a form to make sure people have consented to have their picture taken, you are looking at the solution someone has put in place after considering something. We are not asking you to make-up the solutions (the forms) we are asking you to do the considering part. The considered part was – ‘people might not like having their picture associated with what I am doing’,’ some people feel an image of them is part of them’, ‘I need to have pictures to capture what I am doing’, ‘people like to see what they did in pictures’… all these are things to consider. They do not all sit well together in considering them you work out how you will acknowledge all these points.

This is what we are doing all the time thinking about all the elements of a situations.

Running for the tube I see someone is in my way – I consider: ‘I cannot be late for this meeting if I miss the train’, ‘this lady looks like she can’t move very fast’, ‘If I run into her might hurt her’, ‘If I run into her  she might punch me’, ‘who is bigger me or her?’ ‘if I head to the next door I might not get there in time before the doors close’… these are all my considerations.

So we are engaging with ethical considerations all the time to better understand/ to take the actions we are taking. As we think about all the possibilities we understand the situation and ourselves better – that is how the ethical considerations help you better understand the inquiry question and what its focused will be – because the considerations help you think/feel through the situation.

Talking to my son about this he said – ethics is like breath: we are breathing all the time: we are making ethical considerations all the time. But when we are doing something special – if we are about the do a grand allegro we have to think about special breath in relation to what we are about to do, just like if we are about to do some research we have to think about special ethicial considerations in relation to what we are about to do.

So ethical considerations are much less complicated than some people seem to think but need much more focus than some people seem to give them – like breath (Breath is simple and yet deeply considered when we are acting or dancing or making music etc…).

Have a look at what other people at the session said. Alysia, Matt, Izzy, Elenor, Jess, Georgie, Amanda can you put the links to your posts on the campus session in the comments below.

What do you think/feel? Please comment.....

Adesola