Task 5c - Reader

Task 5c

Reader 5 has taken me a while to finish and finally after finishing i feel like i want to read it all over again. For me a few key points stuck out for me.

Theoretical Areas of Ethics was engrossing. 3 different ideas of ethics - Deontologist, Consequensilist & Virtue Ethics which i had to look deeper into. 

Deontology - The principle, doing the right thing. This is a duty based ethic which comes from the greek word ‘deon’ which means ‘duty’. People who are deontologists believe in only doing the right thing, even if it produces more harm than doing the wrong thing. They won’t weigh up the odds and consider acting differently. 

Consequentialism - Choosing an action that provides good consequences. This results-based ethic is something we come across the most in everyday life because it is simple and normally common sense. When i’m teaching this would be an ethic i might use more than others.

Virtue - I was extremely confused by this. Further research suggests this is a character-based ethic which looks at the person rather than the action. A good person is someone that lives virtuously and possesses good virtues, therefore building a good society to help good people. 

Upon researching more on different areas of ethics, i was surprised to see there was so many different areas. This was not something i was aware of in everyday life and didn’t realise that lots of people build their ethics based on a system. 

Looking back at my own ethics, these are something that i’ve grown up with and that i’ve built myself from child to adult. As the reader suggests we gain these ethics from different areas of life.

Personal - Every day values and ethics are something we might acquire from our parents, family and friends. Depending on the society we live in, most people follow the same sort of ethics which are common sense.

Professional - My teaching ethics have formed from years of dance classes and observing how different teachers work, professional training at college for 3 years and working professionally since graduating.