Explain a situation where you have made an ethical decision.
Discuss how you weighed up the values involved in that decision, the decision you made, and how you reflect on the decision now.
In a previous workplace a misogynistic comment was made towards one of the students I was teaching by the senior teacher who is a man. The student was the only other non-man in the room other than myself.
I had two options: I could stay quiet and not have any potential impacts on my current and future job stability, or I could speak up against what he said. I didn't want the student to be subject to a sexist comment, as well as let the men in the class think that sort of comment was acceptable. I also didn't want student to feel isolated or alone, or that they should expect to be treated like that - as it was my responsibility as their tutor to ensure a safe learning environment, and microaggressions (especially from teaching staff) don't allow for that.
The decision I made was to call him out in an appropriate way immediately after he said it in front of the students. He reacted yelled at me in front of the class and proceeded to storm out. I then ended up not receiving any communication from him from several weeks, including not instructution about what I was meant to be teaching.
I think I made the right decision at the time, and I think it was the right choice to show this student the support and safety they should expect in a learning environment. I think that it might have been better to potentially have a further discussion with the senior teacher outside of the class as that may have stopped him from reacting in the way he did. I also think I should have escalated it to the appropriate channels, rather than trying to deal with both the situation and the fallout for me alone. However given that I was only 19 I am proud that I supported my student in the best way I could at the time.
Describe how your culture and the people around you have influenced your values and identity.
The culture and people around that have shaped my values and identity the most are those which I encountered once coming to university. The majority of my friends from my undergraduate degree are queer arts majors who are all very politically educated and opinionated. A lot of us are also from very poor backgrounds, and experience university not only as a learning experience, but also as a way of opening up the possiblity to move into a social class with more financial and social stablity. I think that this has given me a lot of understanding, knowledge, and patience with meeting people where they are at. Interacting with people who have the language to describe themselves and the different ways the world impacts them (both from the privelege they have, and the systemic oppression they experience) allowed me to be able to explore and become confident in knowing and describing who I am and what impacts me.
I think the understanding I have gained from the vulunerability my friends have trusted me with has led me to having a core belief that ultimately believe people are always trying their best. I think this is especially the case when people are acting in a way that is hurtful or out of character for them. People are normally only at their worst when they are stressed and isolated, and not receiving the love, patience, and support needed for them to grow as people. At the same time, seeing how people's lives have been impacted by others not speaking out and supporting them has also led to me having a very strong moral backbone, and although I can understand people are often hurting other's out of their own isolation, it isn't something that I will let slide.
I also think growing up in a very isolating and individualistic pākehā culture has impacted my sense of community and willingness to rely on others. Breaking away from hyper-independence has been, and continues to be, a conscious effort, but this growth has also led me to choose to prioritise my friendships and put effort into making and sustaining genuine and fulfilling relationships - superfical connections with others definitely aren't my thing, and every person in my life is a continual conscious and committed choice.
Identify your strengths and how they will support you during your learning journey.
I am very honest, almost to a fault, which allows me to be very genuine with others, and build genuine and sustainbable relationship of whatever kind. Hopefully this lets me work well with others both collaboratively, as well as being able to be honest about when I need help.
I am very committed and convicted in myself and my beliefs and know that they are very well founded. One of these is that I always assume the best in people and that if others aren't at their best it is because they are not being loved and supported enough. I think this will help me when I collaborate with others, and hopefully allow me to contribute to a working environment that allows for vulunerability and for others to show up and communicate authentically.
I am also very intrinsically driven and do things for myself and my own reasons rather than from external pressures. Hopefully this lets me be able to prioritise my course work when needed, but also prioritise other aspects of my life when required. It'll also hopefully mean that I can push myself to get what I want out of the course without worrying as much about what other people are thinking of my work (outside of constructive feedback).
Evaluate your limitations in terms of your learning and career development. How might these affect your learning journey?
Learning
I am used to not being able to do things and not getting the support I need, so I will default to assuming that I will just have to struggle excessively to get anywhere and that things will never click properly. I also got into the habit from undergrad that if I couldn't do something it was because I didn't have the knowledge or ability e.g. being given assignment problems that had to be solved with maths I had never learnt, so if I hit too much of a roadblock and can't solve it in some arbitrarily decided time frame then I give up and just accept I can't do it. This isn't always the case but can crop up when there is a lot of new material that I can't get a holistic view of the connections between. This can impact my learning journey as if I get too stuck and can't figure it out or other's can't help me then I just won't do something.
Career Development
I haven't been consistently mentored before, and in same cases have been told to my face that people aren't going to and don't want to help me. Even when there have been cases of support, I have often been dropped and not given equivelent support as the men around me. This has led to me not expecting anyone will help me or reach out to me, that I'll just be left to work by myself, and struggle through my career with no guidance, and this expectation of being left to struggle by myself will likely impact my ability to reach out for help and trust that the people around me will want to.
I have a lot of insecurity and imposter syndrome about being able to have the career I want in STEM. I wasn't an A+ student in physics, and struggled substantially more than others who went onto postgraduate and research science. This has led to me believing that I don't belong in STEM space. As I also haven't really fit in with the culture of the workplaces I have been, this has exacerbated my impost syndrome and has led to me feeling like there is space for me in STEM.
Not fitting in with the culture in the STEM spaces I have been in has also impacted confidence in working collaboratively, as I don't trust that anything I contribute will be wanted or worthwhile. I also don't necessarily think others will want to work with me or want me there. This obviously feeds into my imposter syndrome, and can absolutely impact my learning as I won't inherently reach out for help or to work with others, and if I fall behind or struggle, I will expect that it is because of how I am, not that it is a hurdle I can and will overcome.
Share an example of when you were trying to work productively with others, but there was resistance or tension.
Discuss strategies you tried at the time, how effective they were, and your reflections on what other strategies you would try now and why.
I was tutoring a high school student and they didn't want to go through necessary reflection of in class test where they hadn't gotten the mark they wanted.
I tried to appraoch the situation by asking what part of the reflection they didn't want to do and why, how they were feeling about reflecting and why, while still assuming the best of them. I also checked in as to if we needed to park going through their test until another time, or split up into smaller sections, such as one question per tutoring session to make it approachable.
This was moderately effective - my student still didn't want to do it, and just ended up begrugingly going though it, but wasn't very present or engaged. They rushed through our discussion and points to get it over with rather than having it be a constructive exercise.
Now I think I would give the choice of how to approach it, rather than trying to convince them to do it, or give them the chance of putting it off. I think this would give autonomy over the situation and depth of reflection, and let them approach in their own way to build self confidence, rather than getting them to relent. This would also hopefully mean that they would begin to understand why reflection is important and develop their own way to approach it constructively rather than just disliking it and pushing through. I think this would also encourage reframing of situation in a way that makes them able to approach uncomfortable learning, supporting the development of a growth mindset.
