Critical Reflection and Ethics - Skype Call 30/03

Critical reflection is a major part of the BAPP course. My understanding is that critical reflection is the process of making meaning of a situation. It is considering how events and experiences lead to personal growth. The handbook suggests that it creates connections between the course and our experience. Adesola brought up the point that Ethics is a sub-set of critical thinking. I think this is an important point because I think critical reflection asks you to step back and look at the wider picture.

We discussed that you can view ethics both internally and externally during the call. Internally is viewing what you as a person can do in your practice to ensure you are acting ethically. For example as a researcher you can almost 'check the boxes' that the way in which you conduct your research and handle the data will be ethical. Or as a teacher, ensuring that you abide by the code of conduct set out in your contract and acting appropriately with your students. Externally is viewing what has been done to you or what is relevant within the wider community. For example we spoke about comments or actions that we had to endure whilst training that once we decided to become teachers, vowed we would never do to our students because we recognised how it felt and the possible damage it did to us. Another example was things said about or to us in auditions that is not necessarily appropriate and that if we were in a position of power, we would never say to other people. This can also be issues that relate to the wider community that we acknowledge, but may not necessarily be able to 'fix'.

I think it is worth mentioning that Ethical Considerations and Ethical Procedures run parallel to each other. Ethical Considerations are issues that we will have to understand and acknowledge, but may not be able to change or solve. Ethical Procedure are steps that we put into place to ensure that we are acting appropriately and ethically.

We spoke about 'assumptions' and our position of privilege. Assumptions, as mentioned in Module 1, are the way in which we view the world  based on what we have been taught and our own previous experiences. We recognised that the act of stepping back, looking past our own assumptions and viewing the bigger picture is part of critical thinking and will bring up ethical issues. I think part of this critical thinking is to accept our position of privilege, as mentioned in Module 2, that allows us to think critically and that some of the ethical issues we may encounter are real life issues for others.

We related all this back to our areas of learning. I have been trying out the exercise of tracking my learning through the Modules. To compare where I was in Module 1 compared to where I am in Module 3. I think this could be an interesting exercise for everyone on the course to do. Especially because we often talk about what we don't know. It could be useful to step back and to see how much we have learned through the process of stumbling through the process of not knowing. 

I urge you all to try this exercise of seeing what you have learned through this process. A few of mine are:

1. How to conduct research interviews
2. How to step back and identify further ethical issues - reflection on action
3. The usefulness of conducting a Literature Research
4. How to write academic papers

What are a few things you have learned?