I have personally found that professional ethics stand in every work place, wether it be my professional working life as a lifestyle coach, or assisting part time within the school environment. These days ethics are an important dimension which apply to us more when you have been given responsibility or care for another individual. My example of this would be teaching. It states that we must use our own thoughts and outline which procedures/ethics are used most within the environment I am currently focused on.
When I originally applied to assist the dance department in order to achieve a structured development in my BAPPs course, I was not allowed within the school grounds unless I was CRB checked. I had never had to do this before so felt quite put back that the process would take a couple of weeks to be cleared. In my head, I have never done anything wrong but the school have clear procedure to follow which I full understand and accept. It opened my eyes to how schools these days have possibly a stronger security than when I used to go to school. I made a note to possibly look into this point and research the current CRB check regulations, but after speaking with the head of dance, she went into in further detail how nowadays the ethics of school rules have jumped a huge hurdle. To work closely and educate young adults from the ages of 11- 18, safeguarding is a massive ethic requirement which involves the employee to have a full check from the Criminal Record Bureau. I was also made aware that this can be referred to as DBS now which means Disclosure and Barring Service. I am not aware of any other formal checks such as the CRB or DBS in regards to what else you have to complete in order to qualify to be a teacher, but once I have spoken to colleagues and fellow students I believe I will gage more of an idea.
On a similar note to CRB checking, I understand that there is more to safeguarding and child protection which takes place within my school environment. You have to be very careful when you have the responsibility for other children and within most schools the register every morning is a way of recording who has and who hasn't turned up for school. In addition to this, after school clubs or evenings out to shows or school trips for the day all require written permission from parents. This is usually asked for a couple of weeks prior to the event, and with contact information of the guardian if there was to be a problem with their child while out. Another code of conduct which the schools provide is health and safety for children. There would not be a case where the teacher allowed the students to participate in an activity if they were at any point exposed to risk or felt it was dangerous. The parents and guardians should be made to feel relaxed in the knowledge that their children are safe and in care while in education environment. Looking a bit deeper into the care that is provided with health and safety, each school set up should have a nurse or trained first aider on duty every school day so that if a child is ill or has inured themselves, the correct and appropriate action is being taken out.
Data protection rights within the children's work and personal details have been made more strict, especially at the school I am assisting with. Each student work should be kept to themselves and not exposed to others, unless they are working within a group or team activity. School bags are a private possession again, unless there is a problem where one of the senior staff members have to take a look inside. All books and personal belongings should be stored away as a rule within the school environment,
When it comes to my inquiry, I have spoken to the head of dance and have been given advice when it comes to ethics and working with individuals. I feel that I will be doing more observation work based inquires which may require feedback and interaction with students. In this case I will have a form in which they and their parents should fill out. This will include the names, contact details, and signature to state that they are happy for me to be working with them. Having this procedure set allows the participants to feel conformable in the setting and have full understanding of what I am gaging from the observation.
As I evaluate my observation I could add that students do not need to have their names exposed and use alternatives such as student 1 and student 2, this way their identity is protected and I have delt with the safe guarding of the student.
Having not done any back ground research on this subject I found it quite hard to relate to the school environment as I previously mentioned I am sure there is lots more too it. However in my own personal work place, we have ethics that our human resource department that I have to adhere to each and everyday. This can include plagiarism, working within the law and not trying to do anything that may exceed this. In a way of relation to the BAPPS, we have to ensure all our research is referenced as it is illegal to comment and use other peoples findings as your own. I have a fair understanding of ethics and its rights and wrongs however when I look deeper I am sure my knowledge will grow especially as I am working with students on an external inquiry process.
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