Notes on Ethical Action Plan
I was initially motivated to highlight cultural and historical studies at UAL and the experience of mature students. This reflects my own experience and these factors were sidelined in dominant PgCert discussion that presumes studio-based practice and youth. I also wanted to focus on gay male student experience.
I had wanted to focus on a specific MA with which I am most closely involved. I had specific students in mind from the past and current cohorts, that I wanted to ask about their experience. It became clear that contacting student alumni and even making an open recruitment call-out for LGBTQ+ students within the small MA cohort, would be too targeted, made presumptions about student identity and potentially risked ‘outing’ students, even if indirectly and without this intention. Students may be unclear about their identities, which might also be in stages of flux, contributing to anxieties I did not want to exacerbate.
In the scope of the ARP timeframe and participant recruitment, this level of focus wasn’t possible, but remains apt for future study. I instead, recruited staff from the UAL LGBTQ+ Staff Network.
Only two suggestions were made by my tutor in the development of this Ethical Action Plan: to note thematic analysis, and to include a date by which Participants could withdraw, that allowed time to mitigate this. No amendments were needed to the interview schedule. The Ethical action plan was developed in response to the 2024 Bera guidelines for ethics in educational research: https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/ethical-guidelines-for-educational-research-fifth-edition-2024-online#responsibilities-participants