Ethics For Teachers

As I said in my earlier blog on ethics I am only just moving into the area of teaching and as such my knowledge of the profession and the ethics involved are some what limited. I decided to start my investigation into teaching code of ethics by simply using Google. The first site I came across was a teachers' code of ethics as laid out by the Ministry of Education, Employment and the Family. Here is the link;

http://www.education.gov.mt/ministry/doc/code_of_ethics.htm

One of the main things that struck me was the sheer detail of the code. Not only does a teacher have an obligation to his/her students (which is what I imagined) but they also have an obligation to the students parents, the other teachers they are working with, the school they are working for and the community as a whole. There are bound to be so many conflicts of interest when you have obligations to so many different groups. I initially thought that even though you should respect the relationship with the parents and the school your duty must be foremost to your student. I then read the following exert from the Association of American Educators website;

'We strongly affirm parents as the primary moral educators of their children. Nevertheless, we believe all educators are obligated to help foster civic virtues such as integrity, diligence, responsibility, cooperation, loyalty, fidelity, and respect-for the law, for human life, for others, and for self.'

I struck me that within this statement there lies a dilemma. You will have personal beliefs about the way people should behave and live. A personal code of ethics or sense of morality. However, as stated above it is not necessarily your place to morally educate a child, it is the place of the parent. If the parents' beliefs conflicted with your own on certain issues (as long as the actual welfare of the student was not at risk) you would have an ethical responsibility to hold your tongue. In this case you are surely giving more weight to your duty to the parents than to your duty to the student. I know that I would find this very difficult because the things I believe, I really believe. I think this must be the way science teachers feel when they are made to teach evolution and creationism side by side as scientific theories because of the moral beliefs of the parents and the school. If this was me I would feel like I was depriving the child of a true and fair education but it would not be my place to intervene. In protecting one ethical code are you not ignoring another?

I began to think about teaching on a vocational musical theatre course (as this is the direction I am heading in) and wondered what if any were the ethical conflicts involved. The first thing that occurred to me was that the students on a course like this would be over eighteen and as such you would no longer have an obligation to their parents. The decisions the student makes are entirely their own. This significantly reduces the areas of conflict. However, you still have an obligation to the school and the profession as a whole.

I started to think about the discussions that some BAPP students have been having about body image and how quite often people's perceptions of their bodies are strongly influenced by the way they were treated and how they were taught during their training. As a teacher on a vocational course is your objective to make your students the best they can be? To give them the best possible opportunity of getting as much work as they can? Is it to supply the industry with fiercely trained professionals who can strengthen and progress what is already in place? Is it also to improve the reputation of the college by producing graduating students of an incredibly high standard? If this is the case then you have to be hard on your students to make them the best. Who cares if you give them an eating disorder? In fact it would be unethical of you not to.

So clearly what I just wrote is ridiculous. There must be more to it. Perhaps it is less about making your students the best and more about making them the best they can be. It is about considering their individual needs not only as performers but also as people. I guess the ethics are really in place to keep a balance. You are obliged to train your students hard and make them good (you would be failing them otherwise) but you are also responsible for maintaining their emotional well being. In the long run this will also benefit the college and the industry because the graduating students will be well rounded individuals who have the chance of achieving longevity in an extremely challenging profession. This thought makes me come back to the idea that really the most important element is the student. As a teacher if you focus on their needs then ultimately there is advantage for everyone.

Ethics For Performers

Since my previous blog on ethics, where I wrote down what I thought would be good codes of practice for my two professions (Musical Theatre Performer and Teacher), I have been investigating the established ethical framework for these fields and seeing how they compare with my initial thoughts.

This blog concentrates on the established ethics in place for performers. The first thing I came across was an article on the LA Stage Times website. After the death of actress Kathleen Freeman a 1945 code of ethics for theatre workers was found amongst her possessions. Here is the full article and it is an interesting read;

http://www.lastagetimes.com/2009/08/a-1945-code-of-ethics-for-theatre-workers-surfaces/

One of the main things that struck me is that everything on the code of practice is still completely relevant today. It all still applies and is common practice in the theatre industry. The other thing it highlighted for me was the difference between professional and organizational ethics. I have recently read some blogs where people felt like they couldn't write codes of ethics as performers because they hadn't worked yet so they decided to write them from the perspective of a student within the organizational environment of dance or drama school. This is a totally valid point but in looking at the 1945 code of ethics I realised that the majority of the list contained rules that weren't for any specific environment. In others words they apply to the profession as a whole rather than any particular organization.

I think this is a key point when discussing the ethics of a performer because unless you end up in Eastenders for thirty years it is very unlikely that you will frequent the same work place, or even the same type of workplace for long. The environment that a performer works in is constantly changing. You could be working in a theatre, an arts centre or a TV studio. You could be in one place or on tour. It could even be the case that one minute you are working for a big producer and the next you are producing something yourself. I think because of this performers have developed a universal code of practice that applies to all situations. This means that even though people are forever changing their work environment there is still a strong sense of cohesion across the industry.

The majority of things that are on the list I learnt when I was at college and the things I didn't I had to learn pretty quickly in the profession. I have realised how important it is to give as much of this information to students before they graduate. Not only for their sake but for the continuing strength of the industry.

I thought I would also check the Equity website to see if they list any ethical considerations or codes of practice. I couldn't find anything listed but it did start to make me consider the role of equity within the performing industry. Within society we have laws that safe guard the fair and just treatment of people. Equity functions within the theatre in much the same way as the government functions within society. It creates and campaigns for rules to be set in place that safe guard the treatment of people in the industry. For example, ensuring that people are paid a fair wage, get adequate breaks and appropriate sick pay.

Another thing that Equity has been instrumental in creating is a code of practice for foreign performers working in this country. I found this piece of legislation from the Home Office that lays out what the acceptable use of foreign performers in British theatre is. This legislation is designed to fairly protect British jobs for British performers. It does however give the opportunity for exchanges of performers between countries. It made me realise that as a performer I have worked abroad a lot and as such it has always been part of my ethical responsibility to make sure I have a legal right to work in that country.

Continuing my search for codes of practice in performance I began to come across lots of information regarding the safe guarding of children. Many jobs require children and therefore there has to be rules in place to protect them. As an adult performer it is not usually your responsibility to look after these children but you should be aware of what is considered appropriate behaviour while they are around. When I was working on 'Chitty' there were twenty children in the cast. We were told when we first started the job that we should make sure we were never alone with them. We had to make sure we used appropriate language in their presence and were always fully clothed (something which seems obvious but when you pelting across backstage in a quick change you would sometimes forget). There were also rules in place about which toilets you could use because the adults and kids were not allowed to share. It is interesting as I am talking about these rules in a performance environment but they would also apply in a teaching environment.

My next blog will investigate the established ethics that are in place for teachers and I am sure as already seen there will be some overlap.

Problem With The Special Interest Groups

Hi everyone. I'm feeling a need to write about the SIGs. Please tell me to shut up but I feel we are starting to make things more difficult for ourselves. I believe the SIGs should have fairly general headings such as 'Integrated Theatre' or "Education in Drama and Dance'. If the general topic interests you or is related to your inquiry then join the group. You can then discuss the specifics of your inquiry within that group and get the feedback from others who are interested in your topic. I think sometimes on this course people want to obviously show that they are being proactive and doing the right thing which is great. I do think that in the case of the SIGs however this is going to lead to a problem. At the moment everybody seems to be setting up SIGs that relate specifically to their inquiries. Not only does this probably mean that not as many people will join because the subject is too specialised for them but it also means we are going to end up with about 50 SIGs, one for each member of the course. This to me totally defeats the point. We may as well just be commenting on people's blogs again. I think it would be much better to have ten or twelve general SIGs that everyone's really interacts with (discussing the specifics of their inquiries within it) rather than fifty where you keep having to move groups to have conversations with people that should really be happening under the banner of one group. I hope this makes sense. It's just something that I think will help us all but tell to $*@! off if you like :)

Bernadette Peters

I wanted to post this video of Bernadette Peters singing Rose's Turn from Gypsy because she is a musical theatre performer and she is sensational. It proves that people who train and work in musical theatre have the potential to give the same incredible performances as their 'straight' acting counterparts. On one of the SIGs people have been talking about the age at which we start training. I think that quite often in musical theatre we start too young and this shows in our performances and in the current state of the industry. On Broadway the average age of a cast is at least ten years older than that of a West End cast and I believe this shows in the performances. Bernadette Peters started out as 'just' a dancer but she shows what age and experience can give to a performer.

Angela Lansbury

Angela Lansbury singing Liasons from A Little Night Music.

The Difference Between a Musical Comedy and a Musical Play

I found this link and thought it was relevant to my earlier SIG blog. Read the comment by RainbowJude (the second comment). It is really informative and interesting. Here is the link

http://musicals.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1224528

Judi Dench - "Send In the Clowns" from Hey, Mr. Producer!

Judi Dench singing Send in the Clowns from A Little Night Music.