Macbeth vs Hamlet Essay Example for Free

Macbeth vs small town EssayBoth Hamlet and Macbeth (the plays) be con steadred tragedies and both main characters atomic number 18 considered tragic heroes so you power begin there with your comparison. oneness of Hamlets problems in the play is that he takes a long time to want the revenge he promised his fathers ghostwrite that he would affectk. He t ratiocinations to overthink matters. Macbeth, on the other hand, tends to act in truth readily and rashly. Hamlet is a generally likeable character and dies a heroic death having finally carry through the promise to his fathers ghost. Macbeth however, dies a far less noble death as he is considered a homicidal tyrant by the end of the play. I suggest that you follow the links below for further help. One way of loo might at it is through the lens of honor. Both Macbeth and Hamlet fight and ultimately are killed, but only one is honorable Hamlet. While Macbeth kills many people in pursuit of meet King, Hamlet delays killing his Uncle beca persona of philosophical concerns and doubts about what is the right thing to do and how to do it.Hamlet finally is able to avenge his fathers death, but dies honorably in the process. In contrast, Macbeth also dies, and although he does die in battle on the battlefield it can not be called an honorable death as he has caused the deaths of so many other people purely for his own potential benefit. One thing they imbibe in common is that their journeys, both of which end in blood and death, start with something mystical Hamlet with the ghost of his father, and Macbeth with the witches.There are so many ways to contrast the characters Both Hamlet and Macbeth have characters who out to have a mental breakdown. However, Hamlet is acting the part to deceive Claudius, while Macbeth has truly bypast mad in his lust for power. Macbeth and Hamlet are different in many of their characteristics as people. Macbeth is very war orriented and wants to rule everything that he tou ches while Hamlet is very calm, artistic and sensitive (you can see this by the way he handles his fathers death and by the way he handles his emotions).You could say that Macbeth and Hamlet are on opposite ends of the good/evil spectrum. Hamlet is very much on the good side as he is trying to admit right what his uncle has spoiled and unveil the wrongdoing he has done. Macbeth on the other hand is the one who has done the wrongdoing and is trying to remain in power as king while McDuff is trying to put it right. Neither of them are able to survive at the end of the play. Hamlet and Macbeth are both murdered because they are trying to, in their minds, put the right king on the thrown.Macbeth and Hamlet are similar in their halucinations. Both see the ghost of a groundless king that brings on important plot movement. Hamlet sees his father who was killed by his uncle and Macbeth sees the king whom he/ maam Macbeth killed. Thesis Shakespeare used the same definition of tragedy when he wrote Macbeth, and when he wrote Hamlet Shakespearean tragedies use supernatural incidents to intrigue the readers interest, and his plays consist of a hero that has a tragic flaw (sometimes the want for the supernatural) which causes him to make a fatal mistake.

The first miracle by Jeffery Archer Essay Example for Free

The first miracle by Jeffery Archer EssayJeffery Archer was once an M.P and deputy contributeman of the conservativist party he now lives in Cambridge with his wife and two sons. He has written many books and a fictitious play called The accused in which he plays himself in a legal battle to produce himself of murder .At the hold on of the play the audience must vote if he is guilty or not and the evidence is stacked so they will find him innocent. He is a populist writer -writing for the throng . He has been in the newspaper a lot recently as he is going to flirt again because new evidence has been given against him and it has been found out that he lied whilst under oath. He may go to prison.The mother in this Roman family (Mater) betms a kind, caring fashion of person. She is real savvy and protective especially of her son. She is excessively truly pragmatic this is shown when she chooses to wear the clothes of the locals to livelihood cool entirely she changes back into imperial dress onward her husband comes property from work because she doesnt want to disrespect his wishes. This shows how more than she respects and wants to obey her husband .It also shows her secret respect for Bethlehem and its people.She must love her husband because she came remote from Rome to Bethlehem where her husband has been sent by the emperor to govern .She also feels a stain panicked of him as though he over power her His mother followed and stood silently drying her eyes just deep down the door -This is when the father is beating the boy.She has a lot of power in the family Although she is living in a patriarchal society .She seems to have a lot of control over her son and she is very informed of everything going on around her .She is the sort of peace keeper in the family and she holds the family to take a leakher.She cuts that her son is mischievous and does avenge him. She sometimes gets angry Go and play outside, she had snapped But she kn ows he is good at heart. At the end of the fabrication she tells her son not to mention the miracle to his father because she knows him and she knows he wouldnt believe it and that he may punish them both because he will want to show that he is powerful. This shows that she knows her husband well enough to know how he will react to certain things, this shows that they must be quite a close family.The boys father (Pater) is a Roman governor in Bethlehem and he waits down on the villagers and has a reputation to keep up this is why he doesnt similar his wife dressing like them .He is very prejudice against the villagers which rubs mop up on his wife Never forget that the people here are all thieves He is very forceful and likes to be in control. This is because of his job, which is to keep order in Bethlehem and to count each inhabitant and tax them accordingly. These is why the locals dont like him and are even scared of his son when he goes to the market ,The boy give him a f ew of the worthless Herod coins. The man was about to protest but the boy gave him a look he had seen his father give someone once and walked off, (This is probably that they dont want to anger him by line of reasoning with his family)I conceive of he is good at his job because he is in control of the locals -they obey him and the boy respects his father and wants to be like him because he sees how much power he has and he sees him as an important ruler that Rome just couldnt live without. When the boy goes to market -I havent got all sidereal day said the boy, trying to sound like his father The only(prenominal) problem is that he brings his job home with him. This is shown by the text still referring to him as the governor when hes at home The governor rose from his chair and removed the leather belt from around his waist this is why he is frequently a bit overpowering on his family.He loves his wife very much and his son but he doesnt genuinely understand his son and likes them both to know that he is in charge in the family even though it sometimes seems that the mother has more control over their son. He often gets angry with the boy and thrashes him because he wants him to grow up as the governors son and serve the emperor just like him and the boy is often naughty.He doesnt believe his sons story because he doesnt like to think that one of the locals is special and its not in truth a very believable story, also the boy has pomegranate juice on him showing that he has eaten a pomegranate -the father thinks that he must have eaten the rest of the food too and thats what really happened to the boy. This shows that he doesnt entirely trust his son and he doesnt want to believe that there is another powerfulness better than Caesar.The boy is mischievous and sometimes naughty He had to admit hed been naughty that day, even by the standards of a normal 13 year old. but he does mean well. He is very paying attention and daydreams a lot as a result of th is as he does at the beginning of the story .He is like his dad in what he does this is probably because he has been brought up to respect his father and he knows how powerful his dad is and so tries to be like him. He is also like his mum in the way he thinks because he probably spends the majority of his time with her and so he has come to see things her way. He prefers to use brains than Braun When his friend says, Ill conquer them and you sack up govern them the boy replies A sensible division between brains and Brawn It is the boy that sees the real Christmas story because he still has his childishness innocence and is willing to learn. Also, he is Roman -The invader-and most people disliked the Romans so the fact that a Roman witnesses the birth of Christ is a symbol that Christianity is for everybody and so is Christmas. His experience does change him It broadens his mind and opens him up to see there are other things in the world and good things about Bethlehem .He doesnt see these things before because his father has told him terrible stories about it and he would rather be back home with all his friends in Rome.The description in this particular part of the story is very vivid., Mezmarised Archer has mixed the language of a child with the thoughts of a child in a more adult language which gives a very good description The woman was very fat He doesnt see that she is actually pregnant and this shows his puerility innocence and thoughts.It is easy to imagine because he has used lots of short, one-word descriptions and sentences so that the text is easier to understand and we can get a better picture of the family. There is also a lot of speech to get over the characters personalities.We are shown that this is a Roman family by the way they think of the locals -They are prejudiced against them, this is shown also by the diction of the family That useless HerodThe market scene makes the story seem more real because its the sort of thing that happens ev ery day to everybody showing that for the boy its just an ordinary day until he sees the Christmas story-taking place.I think that Archers aims for the story -apart from money were to convey a moral message that Christmas and Christianity are for everybody. I think that this story is for older children and adults because a small child may struggle to understand it. I like this story and think that its a really good modern way of writing the Christmas story. A really good picture of the family is built up they are quite close and understanding. It seems like the boy is an only child but this just brings the family even closer.

Race Relations Essay Example for Free

Race Relations Essay populace has been enduring an ongoing battle for centuries the strained transaction among the grazes. Despite efforts to put the past behind, signs remain at nearly all juncture that there still exists a strong sense of racial dissension. mend most gabardines do non see the problem being as severe as it is represented, African-Americans angrily reply that the lighter skinned race has not had to endure such prejudice and, therefore, cannot begin to list with the situation.Frank Newport, vice president of the Gallup Poll Organization, says Caucasian Americans do not interpret racism as a big problem, therefore, they do not see a need for government intervention ( unknown, 1997 04A). Similarly, Asians, Hispanics and former(a) United States minorities believe they often receive unfair treatment because of their race.However, President Clinton and several organizations including the National multicultural Institute, whose main focus is to sort out th e jumble of expectations and alarms that swirl bonny about the initiatives struggle to reconcile ethnicity and deflection with the notion of iodine American nation (Green, 1998 PG) argon pushing hard to mend racial latent hostility with a comprehensive program that is designed to bring all races together. Will it work? Or willing minorities look upon the effort as nothing to a greater extent(prenominal) than a Band-Aid covering a much large issue?To some extent, beliefs such as affirmative action pack their place in society, further they will do nothing to alter an individuals perception of one race or other. In the past, childrens racial viewpoints scram routinely been shaped by their p arents perceptions. This is precisely how racial prejudice is passed down from multiplication to generation. However, todays teens appear to be breaking free of the antiquated procession by voicing their own opinions some race relations. trance racial hate crimes continue to run r ampant, the newer generation tends to believe there is slight interracial tension than do their parents (Farley, 1997). What has instigated this considerably lax attitude among the younger generation is not rather clear yet a TIME/CNN peak has discovered that the adolescent population is remote more than forgiving of racial prejudices than their adult counterparts.Of 12 hundred, eighty-two adults and six hundred one teen suppuraters aged twelve to seventeen the younger sect demonstrated a considerable amount of racial tolerance toward one another when compared with the grizzlyer respondents (Farley, 1997). If given the fortune, children and young adults will not adopt negative views of other races if they are not placed in such an environment that encourages such thought. However, with the deep-seated hatred that has been bred into so m whatsoever an(prenominal) generations, it has become difficult for some of those prejudice intentions not to trickle down the family trans mission line.Yet the TIME/CNN canvass was instrumental in establishing that a good number of adolescence of all races have successfully bunkd beyond their parents views of race (Farley, 1997 88+). To the kids with such an open mind, race is no more important to them in both a social or personal level yet it is not to be overlooked that these same respondents were still able to recognize the fact that racism was one of Americas biggest problems today. Even so, over one-third tell the problem though it exists is insignificant (Farley, 1997 88+).As it relates to their own lives, eighty-nine percent of the African-American adolescents who responded verbalise the problem was small or did not exist at all. Amazingly, the Caucasian respondents both young and old considered racism a more dominant issue (Farley, 1997 88+) than did the African-American adolescent respondents. What does that say in force(p) about the varying cores of race relations? Depending upon which race is vi ewing the issue, it appears the seriousness of the problem could be considerably alter or an insignificant obstacle.Still, optimism is high that the younger generation deems race relations as being in good standing. This may be a sign of hope (Farley, 1997 88+) or nothing more than youthful naivete (88+) regardless, it demonstrates a long awaited shift in the social climate relating to race relations and its consequences. Sociologist Joe R. Feagin says the answer may lie with both options. His interpretation of the lack of adolescent racism is that humans has not fully set in for those who have not yet experienced the real world.You have to be out looking for jobs and housing to know how much variation is out there (Farley, 1997 88+). Feagin needs that those who have a better grasp of racial reality are those who are over the age of nineteen. Reasoning behind this is that comparatively few African-American teenage respondents said they had been victimized by discrimination contr arily, half of the African-American adults admitted they had (Farley, 1997). Experts are concerned that adolescents are being too gullible when it comes to realizing the truth of the matter.Others contend that perhaps they are willfully setting a precedence for others to follow that will ultimately rise a genuine improvement in race relations. It is not as though contemporary teenagers do not have knowledge of history and its negative treatment of minority races rather, it appears they have more trust in their own future than their parents did before them. Additionally, todays youth are trying to move away from the classifiable scapegoating (Farley, 1997 88+) that has become so commonplace in society.Suspicions arise with poll results, however, in that they do not always reflect the truth many people are more apt to give socially acceptable (Farley, 1997 88+) answers rather than what is truly in their hearts. Yet this is not likely to be the contest of teenagers who, for the mos t part, speak more freely and true to form than adults. A believer in this concept is sociologist Howard Pinderhuges, author of Race in the Hood Conflict and Violence Among Urban Youth, who firmly contends that teenagers are genuine.Teenagers are a mirror of our souls. They speak plainly about things that adults would like to hide. Political correctness isnt an issue to them. Youre more likely to get what they think unfiltered (Farley, 1997 88+). Still, through all this optimism, there exists an invisible boundary line that, even though race relations seem to be improving, keeps the races separated. Seventeen-year-old Danny, one of the TIME/CNN respondents, commented that his friends consisted more of African-Americans than Caucasians.This, in and of itself, was not as enlightening as was his admission of the fact that we just talk in train (Farley, 1997 88+), not allowing the relationship to progress into ones personal territory. It was a normal occurrence for none of Dannys Afric an-American friends to visit him at shell or for him to go to theirs the lines of separation were clearly drawn. Experts consider this to be responsible in large part to the amount of violence that takes place in the crime-plagued housing projects (Farley, 1997 88+) where many of his friends live.The situation is far from unusual. Even among African-American youths, the interpretation of neighborhood safety has its variations. According to the TIME/CNN poll, forty percent of African-American teenagers claim to have known someone in their age group who has been killed, whereas just fifteen percent of Caucasian teenagers said they had experienced the same. Interestingly, African-American youths believe they are treated below the belt by enforcement officers, while one-third believe they are at risk (Farley, 1997 88+) of receiving unfair treatment. simply one of five Caucasian youths feels the same. John Hope Franklin, head of President Clintons race relations working class force, claims genuine racial betterment will not arrive until you have improvement in the home conditions of kids of all kinds (Farley, 1997 88+). An intriguing informal study gives an indication of how racial difference runs deep within an individuals psyche. Psychologist and author Beverly Tatum, who recently wrote Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? , routinely poses the following question to psychology students I am _______. What is most interesting about the answers she receives is the fact that Caucasian students fill in the blank with an adjective describing their personalities or characters, whereas students of other races are more apt to dispatch the sentence identifying their ethnicity. According to Tatum, such racial recognition is born out of adolescent peer pressure, societal influences and self-reflection (Farley, 1997 88+). Polls are regularly put to use to determine the public climate on race relations.A recent ground forces TODAY survey of more than two cubic yard college freshmen from around the country reported that forty-five percent perceived race relations as having a tyrannical stance within society in all, two percent thought relations between African-Americans and Caucasians were subtile (Kohen, 1998 PG). A poll in The Independent, a British publication, noted that one-third of the Caucasians believed one should marry totally within ones race (Forna, 1998 1, 2). Granted, views of younger generations may be quite a bit more respective(a) than those of the older sect, but those younger views are what will ultimately shape the future of the country.Being on campus allows people the opportunity to intermingle more frequently with those of other races, which may give them the false impression that the rest of the world is as friendly with one another as they are at school. foreign out in the real world, campus life encourages the fraternization of racial groups, attempting to overthrow the narrow- mindedness ofte n found on the streets of reality. Noel Barrion, Asian American scholar Union president, observes this difference each and everyday he looks to see who is sit down next to one another in the school cafeteria.Racial discrimination is out there. People just arent aware (Kohen, 1998 PG). Barrion says the AASU works hard to bridge the gap that separates the races as they exist on campus. Naima Stevenson, Black Student Union President, says the solution to combating racial discrimination (Kohen, 1998 PG) is to keep the lines of communication as wide open as possible in order to confront the complexity and richness of in the United States (Delgado, 1997 39A). Because of this forward despicable attitude, the relationship between the two campus racial organizations is in good standing.Says Barrion The vehicle between us adequate friends is the desire to be involved (Kohen, 1998 PG). Both Stevenson and Barrion admit to the difficulty of establishing just how much race relations have chan ged for the worse or better during their short stay at college, but they both have reason to remain positive that future change will be for the better. For Stevenson, looking back later several years to find a marked improvement in campus race relations would be ideal. They both believe that if relations continue in the manner they currently are, this would not be such an unexpected occurrence (Kohen, 1998 PG).However, it is not uncommon to find just the opposite opinion from other students. The USA TODAY poll revealed that far more African-Americans sense the negativity with regard to race relations than does any other race. Yet despite actions in place to bridge the racial gap, those like Barrion and Stevenson believe far more can be done than the efforts currently available on American college campuses. While the opportunity is there for expansion, there is just not enough diversity on campus (Kohen, 1998 PG).It looks like it will still be the same problem going into the new mil lennium. Theres plenty of opportunity to meet someone of another culture or that you would have never known about before (Kohen, 1998 PG). President Clinton has set his sights on bridging the racial gap in an effort to improve the countrys deteriorating race relations (McFeatters, 1997 68). By using his slug as Chief Executive and standing behind the affirmative action policy, Clinton hopes to turn around some of the prejudice that continues to spread across the land.A speech he gave at the Million Man work on in Texas in 1995 effectively forecasted Americas situation as one where an inordinate number of people fear deep down inside that theyll never quite be able to see each other as more than enemy faces, all of whom carry a sliver of bigotry in their hearts (McFeatters, 1997 68). Clinton contends that America must clean its house of racism that a house divided against itself cannot stand (McFeatters, 1997 68). While these words ring true, it is not clear as to what the Presiden t intends to do in the long run to curb racism in the United States.One thing he does propose is a more fair system of dispersing wage earnings among African-Americans, of who only one-fourth make upwards of thirty-five thousand dollars a year compared to one-half of all Caucasian Americans (McFeatters, 1997 68). Speaking on the topic of integration, President Clinton agree with Franklin who proposed the only way to clear the cloudy air of racism was to encourage open and honest colloquy (McFeatters, 1997 68) among the races that it was, indeed, the critical first step (68) in the direction of genuine racial integration.Other critics say it is age to end the reliance on racism as an explanatory concept (Wortham, 1996 253) for all racial problems and move beyond the black-white paradigm (Gold, 1998 B-2) when the topic turns to race relations. When we say true integration, we mean the opportunity of every American to develop to the fullest extent of his capacity. We mean that every individual regardless then of regardless of religion, regardless of ethnicity, every American has an opportunity, should have an opportunity to move forward as rapidly as his talents, his or her talents, and as rapidly as the opportunities open (Page et al, 1998 PG).BIBLIOGRAPHY Introduction to Psychology Inner Reality, Outer Reality in Diversity, Jennifer Iljas ISBN 0-7575-2864-3 Anonymous (1997, June). Poll finds pessimism on status and future of U. S. race relations// Perceptions are black and white. Star Tribune, pp. 04A. Delgado, Richard Perea, Juan F. (1997, November). racialism goes beyond black and white. Rocky Mountain News, pp. 39A. Farley, Christopher John (1997, November).Society Kids and race A new poll shows teenagers, black and white, have moved beyond their parents views of race. TIME, pp. 88+. Forna, Aminatta (1998, August). Bridge over troubled water. Independent on Sunday, pp. 1, 2. Gold, Matea (1998, February). L. A. shares its experiences with race relations pan el Diversity Video points out what the city has learned and seeks to widen presidential advisory groups discussion beyond black-white issues. Los Angeles Times, pp. B-2. Green, Sharon (1998, May).Washington, DC, Presidents initiative on race Progress. Talk of the Nation (NPR), pp. PG. Kohen, Rochelle (1998, February). USA like a shot survey reveals poor perception of race relations. University Wire, pp. PG. McFeatters, Ann (1997 May). Clinton hopes to close racial divide. Rocky Mountain News, pp. 68A. Page, Clarence Hansen, Liane (1998, June). Race Initiative. pass Sunday (NPR),pp. PG. Wortham, Anne (1996, January). Distorting the Dilemma. The World I, vol. 11, pp. 253.

Education and Its Affects Around the World Essay Example for Free

culture and Its Affects Around the World EssayEducation is something that affects all of us as a whole gender, race, and poverty plays a division in education. As a citizen of the join States of America it is important for us to appreciate a good education that some of us take for granite. Gender is crucial in how people view education in the text Philippine Womens College corrects gender miseducation. Professors and education enthusiast ar breaking down the barriers and bias that is associated with gender. Text books in the Philippines signal women playing the stay at home role and the father portraying the bread winner role this a form a of bias. Scholars at the Miriam College atomic number 18 working to correct this matter by direction all female students ab let out stereotypes relating to gender. Students often are shown at a young age to memory access matters in a biased free manner, through this approach both male and female potbelly share duties in the househo ld that were once delegated to one based on gender. Trained teachers are suitable to spot the gender difference and compensate with materials that are fair for all. Miriam College and its faculty also discuss intimate harassment and a list of other things as well.What was happening in theWomens Movement and what was creation taught in the classroom were two totally different things. In 1986 Corazon Aquino became the first female president of the Philippines this was in stark contrast of what was being taught. As far as equality for women the Philippines are ranked ninth in the world, with that being said advocates of gender feel that it is best suited to teach and educate when the students are young. Patricia Licuanan president of Miriam College implemented in 2001 gender courses to the curriculum that focuses on equality and quality education for women. withal in 2001 several colleges in the Philippines have shown interest in providing studies for women as well. Due to the work that has been taken place in the Philippines young women are questioning and taking up professions that were once generally associated with men. In the text Lost Generation Fears as boys reject education Professor Reynolds of Plymouth University states that the gender gap is a worldwide phenomenon, non just in the UK or a Welsh one. Research has shown that boys are neglecting inculcate, while girls are less likely to drop out of school after 16.A assess showed more girls than boys seek a higher education. Studies also show that vocational programs also play a role in why boys choose not to seek college versus girls. Boys are also not playacting on the same level as girls this factor leads to fewer boys in college. Poverty is a fraction to lack of education as well in the article Escaping Poverty is possible when there are local opportunities for people with initiative. This article shows the stereotypes that are associated with poverty 60,000 people that spread over 15 countri es worldwide were surveyed there are a lot of hurdles we must overcome for this to work.People are likely to fall into poverty the study get out take preventive measures to ensure people will not make these mistakes. The stereotypes that haunt poverty stricken places is that people are lazy, shiftless, and have no want this is not the case. In fact these people surveyed accept responsibility for there actions, and want to better themselves. every(prenominal) of us need local opportunities and social networks to ensure that this will not happen on a global front, even if someone works hard to get there selves out of poverty with out help from the federation and economic woes this process will be pains taking to say the least.Education is factor when combating poverty, we as Americans need to take advantage of our educational system though it whitethorn not be the best we are still a free coun approximate and should utilize any and every opportunity we have. Race also plays a vit al role in education the text Officials try to improve black males academic performance The achievement Ginger Littleton has been a teacher in northerly California for more that twenty years. She has been stumped by the numbers of black males that scored drastically lower than other races in test of achievement.A look at last years test results from signs 1-10 math scores and FCAT were select by race. The results showed that 89 part of white third graders were a the appropriate level, while Hispanics represented 66 percent, and blacks 69 percent but only one out of that percentile was a male. 59 percent of Anglos, compared to 33 percent of Hispanics were at the appropriate level. African Americans represent only 30 percent. This trend change magnitude more by there sophomore year, Caucasians represent 38 percent, Hispanics 32 percent, and 13 percent of African Americans sustained this level of reading.By this point many African Americans have stopped going to school by then. The FCAT test of reading shows that only 1 percent of males were reading at the 10th grade level, white males scored 7 percent on the same level. African American males results were 0 percent, white males were 8 to 7 percent at levels 4 and 5 of reading. A study was conducted in 2004-2005 Focus on Blacks by The National Education Association labeled the poor standings as the achievement gap and a national crisis.The study showed that African American 17 year old students performed in comparison to 13 year old whites in science. In the math part of the study blacks scored 61 percent down the stairs the standards, versus 20 percent of whites in the 4th grade. The results show that African Americans face challenges before they start school. close to of the findings show that it is less father figures and mentors in the African American community, lack of after school programs, and viscidity in the family all plays roles in the significant decline in education in the black community. at that place is a saying it takes a village to raise a child the African American community needs to rebuild it village from the foundation up to eliminate this disparity that runs rampant among so many. As you can have just read there are several factors in ones education it may be a gender problem, a socioeconomic problem, or ones ethnicity may all play a role in the type of education we receive as well as our chances of making it in todays society. We still live in one of the greatest countries in the world in the end it is up to us to utilize what avenues are available and make the most out of it.

Describe What Is Meant By Market Orientation Marketing Essay

Describe What Is Meant By Market Orientation Marketing EssayMarket orientation is a strain approaches that conden work throughs on identifying and sweat to meet the take or wants of customers. Market orientation occurs when the customers identify difference in a bon ton when all the advantages offered to customers are measured. Market orient companies way customers wants and for the companies it is a life-threatening opportunities arise from changing needs of the market. The advantages of market oriented companies are it would draw a higher customer value. Besides that, market oriented companies weed do better than their competitor hence it will increase their profit. Company will focus the needs of the customers and try the best to meets their needs due to the take aim of competitive among the companies is high. Market orientation throne be come throughd by market research. In market research, the companies are gathering, record, and analysis of data from the customer and market. after(prenominal) analysis the data from customer and market, the bon ton can easily to meets the customers needs and wants.Based on the fount given, cuddle already d unmatched their market research about their consumers and the result shows that their customers needs want more information about what they eat and drink. snuggle try to understand the economic, geographic and social factors which affects the diets of the consumers and try to stand on the nutritional and health value of the merchandises. Example, snuggle have utilize their research and technological expertness to their ice cream products to lower the calories and fats and yet to have the same taste. In order to promote their product as a healthy product, Nestle tender the information about their products to the customers by using opthalmic form of Guide contrast Daily Amounts (GDAs). GDAs symbolic will make consumers to easily understand and make coiffe decision on the average amount of nutrient s that they consume over an average day.Moreover, Nestle also focus on their customers and to understand their physical desires. Nestle have many products and consumed by all age of groups. They have introduced sugar free products like Polo and lower sugar product Kit Kat Light. Thus, it is clear that Nestle is market oriented companies since they are trying to understand the customers and market needs in order to achieve organizations goal.Using an example, explain what is meant by pedigree moral philosophy.Ethics are the moral precept or value held by those within the organization. For Nestle, in order to be honorable in operations, Nestles decisions are guided by a series of business principles. The well-being of consumers and employees is central to its business principles. For example, one of the principles is Nestle recognizes that its consumers have heart-whole and legitimate interest in the behavior, beliefs and actions of the order behinds its brands in which they plac e they trust, and that without its consumers the company would not exist.Business ethics is a study of what is constitutes right or wrong, good and bad. It also government agency the human conduct in a business context. Business ethics can influences the decision making of one company. One of the examples of business ethics is in the situation when the company deals with their customers. The ways that the company deals with their customers is they must cross them fairly and honestly. It means prohibiting the employees from cheating the customers or providing them misleading information. The employees should not hide the true price of a products, services and indemnity and trick customer to buy the product. They should not promise more than the product or services can deliver.Nestle practices a good business practice which the company play an important roles in the discipline of Guidelines Daily Amounts (GDA). The company added the visual form of the GDAs in the front of the pack of each product. Hence, every customers hump the information of the amounts of calories, sugars, fat, salt, saturates of each product. The company also did not exaggerating the GDA in their product. It can show that Nestle is practicing a good business ethics.Question 3What is the purpose of having business principles?Business principles are basically the guidelines single-valued functiond by business organizations. These principles play an important role as they influence the decision making of a company. Besides that, they serve as a supporting tool which provide a reference stratum and guide to the detailed implementation for the companies. There are some(prenominal) purposes of having business principles. First of all it acts as a guideline for the employees to follow in order to achieve the goal of the company. Business principle of a company is an approach to create a shared value between the shareholders and consumers besides influencing how the employees of an organizat ion should behave.Nestle has its own business principle. The Nestle unified business principles are the basis of the company culture. It has been developed over the span of 140 years. Nestle is pull to the following business principles in all countries, taking into bank note local legislation, cultural and religious practices. All these principles provide clear guidelines for employees and help them make choice which reflects the companys respectable stance.The first principle is Nutrition, Health and Wellness. The purpose of this principle is to enhance the quality of consumers lives every day, everywhere by offering tastier and healthier food and encouraging a healthy lifestyle. Nestle express it through their corporate proposition Good Food, Good Life. Next business principle is quality assurance and product safety. Nestle name represents a promise to the consumer that their product is safe and of high standard. The third principle is consumer communication. Nestle is committ ed to responsible, reliable consumer communication that empowers consumers to exercise their right to informed choice and promotes healthier diets and respect their consumer privacy. The fourth principle is human rights in the business activities. Based on this principle, Nestle fully supports the United Nations Global Compacts (UNGC) manoeuver principles on human rights and labour. The aim is to provide an example of good human rights and labour practices throughout their business activities. The fifth principle is leadership and personal responsibility. Nestle companys success lies on its people. Nestle corporate treat each other with respect and expect everyone to promote a sense of personal responsibility. They recruit competent and motivated people. Nestle also provide equal opportunities for every employees development and protect their privacy.The next one is safety and health at work. This principle is basically designed to prevent accidents, injuries and illness related t o work. The ordinal principle is supplier and customer relations. Nestle require their suppliers, agents, subcontractors and their employees to be honesty, integrity and fairness. The eighth principle is kitchen-gardening and plain development. This principle shows that Nestle wants contribute to cleansements in agricultural production, social and economic status of farmers, rural communities and in production systems to make them more environmentally sustainable. The next principle is environmental sustainability. Nestle commits to environmentally sustainable business practices. At all stages of the products life cycle Nestle wants to strive to use immanent resources efficiently and target zero waste. The final business principle is water. Through this principle we can see that Nestle is committed to the sustainable use of water and continuous improvement in water management. This is because the knowledge base faces a growing water challenge and that responsible of management .Question 4Use examples of business organizations cognise to you to illustrate examples of ethical decisions and comment upon why you feel those decisions to have been ethical.The decision of the Tesco to going green is an ethical decision. Basically, going green is mean to live life in a way that is friendly to the inhering environmental and is sustainable for the earth. Going green also means contributing towards to maintaining the ecological balance in environment and minimizes the harm that the community do to the environment as a result of inhabiting in the earth. Tesco took several ways to achieve the objective of going green decision. Climate week is one of the ways that the company going green. Climate week took place to help tackle climate change. Tesco sold the Climate Week- brand Bags for Life on Buy One Get One Free. Tesco have achieved highest weekly sales of Bags for Life. If hardly 10% of the customers reuse their Climate Week bags, it will save an additional 2.3 million carrier bags per year. By this Tesco can helps to focus the use of plastic bags. The reduction in the use of plastics would help in the preservation of energy. Besides that, Tesco had lots of green offers in stores and sales of the climate Week T-Shirt to raised cash for the Environmental Justice Foundation. Besides that, Tesco also become the first supermarket that has carbon labels their own brand products. Tesco labelled hundreds of products which help customer to make greener purchasing choices. Tesco carbon label show how much of carbon dioxide is emitted from the production, use and disposal of each product. The products which have carbon label are orange juice, washing detergent, light bulbs, milk, kitchen and toilet roll. Tesco also provide automated recycling centre that help customer to recycle their plastic bottle, cans and glass. Tesco provide a recycle machine to make the recycle process simplest. The automated recycling centre enables the customer to recycle their things easily and hence it can also encourage them to recycle. Recycling help in turn out greenhouse effect. Gas emission occurs during the disposal of product that is not biodegradable. If the greenhouse gas emission reaches the precarious levels, it will cause the change in temperature globally. Therefore, Tescos automated recycling centre can help reduce the manufacture paper, plastic bottles, glass and also can save energy needed to manufacture sweet products. Tesco also give Green Clubcard points for those customers which recycle two aluminum cans.Another example of company that illustrates an ethical decision is Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad. In line with its new mission of Helping Malaysians set off forward in life with trusted dairy nutrition, Dutch Lady has launched its two-year project which is excoriation Reduction Campaign to aggressively reduce sugar manipulation via its product ranges. Dutch Lady plan to reduce the sugar consumption by 40% or 2700 ton s by 2013 from its current level as one of its effort to improve nutritional profile of its products. Research carried out shows that sugar consumption in Malaysia is averages 26 teaspoons a day, which is obviously more than the recommended average of not above 10 teaspoons a day. This has caused many people will suffered from obesity and diabetes in our country. Dutch Lady said currently nearly 32% of its total stock are made without any added sugar and by the end 2013, the company aims to reduce annual consumption of added sugar by over 2700 tons. This effort will begin with the masturbation of its sweetened creamers starting from December 2011. Currently, 110 of its total products were made without added sugar. Dutch Lady is trying to flip-flop sugar with natural sweeteners and also reformulating the products based on emerging nutritional science and as a new idea of healthy choice options which can be consider. The company also believes that consumers will interchange sweete ned creamers with evaporated or UHT milk and take one teaspoon of sugar every day as this will help to reduce the sugar consumption in the long run. This will be followed by the introduction of the improved range of existing products with 25 per cent less sugar namely Dutch Lady Kid, Dutch Lady School and Dutch Lady Low Fat Drinking Yogurt. By showing these products with lower sugar contents in the product, consumers will expect that the sugar levels to be decrease in most of Dutch Ladys products. This will attract more consumers to buy Dutch Ladys products as it is good for health.In our opinion, Sugar Reduction Campaign carried out by Dutch Lady reflects that they are making ethical decision for their business. This campaign is also part of Dutch Ladys corporate social responsibility course of instruction and business sustainability efforts as a commitment for helping Malaysia become a healthier nation in future. This campaign also aligns with government and medical fraternitys effort to promote healthier lifestyles amongst Malaysians as well as to help educate Malaysians about the negative effects of high level of sugar consumption. Besides, it is also aimed to improve the health of consumers by reducing the amount of sugar consumption in a day which is not good for our healthy. The lower the level of sugar consumption in a day the better it is as it will encourage consumers to have a healthier lifestyle. This means that Dutch Lady also relate about their consumers health besides aim for earning high profits only for their business. The action taken by Dutch Lady reflects that company is responsible to continuously work towards improving the nutritional profile of its products line by making some improvement to its existing products. Thus, it will also encourage positive report to the company as consumers will loyal to Dutch Ladys brands in future.

Audience Misdirection in Magic Acts

Audience Mis prudence in Magic ActsFor hundreds of years, illusionists have performed acts which atomic number 18 perceived to be impossible, cause the viewer to question how the act was performed. The viewer would generally know that act performed by the delusionian go out use some sort of trickery or illusion, but stable viewers are comm whole unable to detect the neuter when it occurs, even when the trick is in full view of the auditory modality.Sometimes when a adept performs a magic trick, he uses misdirection to trick the reference. The prestidigitator would usually draw your solicitude elsewhere while the trick is being performed to keep back the audience seeing how it is done (Kuhn, Amlani Rensink, 2008).Kuhn and Tatler (2005) recorded warmheartedness fixations of the audience as a whiz was performing a magic trick developed in particular to see the effect of misdirection on the audience. It was a relatively simple trick lasting only 15 trices, where the ma gician was to fell a lightener and stooge into his lap without the audience seeing, causing the audience to think the items had magically dis outed.First the magician removes the cigarette from the packet and deliberately puts it in his mouth the unseasonable way round. He then pretends to light the cigarette, which enhances the audiences interest in the mouth/cigarette region. Both magician and the audience then realise the mistake, and the magician turns the cigarette more or less with his left hand while holding his scan fixed on his hand and cigarette.During this time the magician drops the lighter into his lap, which is in his right hand. He then causes attention to go to the fade of the lighter by attempting to light the cigarette. When he is unable to light the cigarette, he looks to his right hand, snaps his fingers and waves his hand pulling the audiences attention to his right hand. While the audience are aspect at the slice of the lighter in the right hand, the magician drops the cigarette from a height of around 15cm. He then turns his attentiveness to his left hand, and opens it to show that the cigarette is also disappeared.The magician uses look direction to disguise his actions while performing the trick (Tatler Kuhn, 2007). Generally, concourse have an urge to obey the gaze of others, in particular when there is pointing or other similar gesture involved that pulls the viewers attention to a specific attribute. While dropping both the lighter and the cigarette from his hand, the magicians gaze is focussed in the pivotal hand to which the trick is being performed. This causes the audiences attention to also be focused on where the magician is looking, and makes them fall back the lighter and cigarette being dropped. The dropping of the lighter was not very visible and could very considerably be missed however the dropping of the cigarette was done in full view of the audience, from round 15cm above the table top, but this action is also not usually spy, usually due to gaze misdirection. This shows that the magician successfully misdirected the audiences overt and covert attention at the correct time during the trick, right when the disappearance occurs.Surprisingly, when the audience were told that the magician was going to misdirect them while performing the trick, most people are nonetheless unable to stop themselves looking where the magician was looking and therefore miss detecting how the disappearance was performed. When in close interaction people tend to look at each other a mess hall in an conversation setting, the average time people tend to look at each other is 75% of the time when listening, and 40% of the time when talking (Land Tatler, 2009). As the audience are viewing the magic trick, their attention is focussed on the magician who is performing the trick, and so have an urge to follow his gaze in whichever direction he is looking. The sharing of attention is a strong social cue , whereby people appear to look in the direction they see others looking.When an event or fully visible item is not noticed by the audience, it is often called intentional blindness (Kuhn Tatler, 2010). By the magician drawing the attention of the audience to his hand by snapping and waving it, he creates an knowledge base of high optical interest, which the audience are inattentive with by processing those actions of the magician. Because of this, they fail to notice the event occurring in the diametric hand, which is an area of low visual interest to the audience.Kuhn and Tatler (2005) also considered visual factors which could cause the audience not to detect the change, such as blinking, and the outmatch of the fixations of the audience when the drop is taking place. However, these do not seem to shape whether the drop was detected or not by the audience. Blinking when the drop took place did not influence whether the audience detected the change or not. There was also not much difference in where the audience were looking and whether they detected the drop or not. When the magician dropped the cigarette, most viewers were looking at the magicians face, his right hand or the space in between. In the first trial only 2 people detected the drop and 18 participants did not detect the drop.What is elicit though, when the participants were shown the magician performing the trick again, all participants detected the cigarette being dropped. In the second viewing, most of the audience still look at the same place they were looking before around the right hand and the magicians face, but this time, they are able to detect the drop. scarcely three participants looked where the cigarette was at the time of the dropping. This shows that the magician was successfully manipulating the audiences covert attention as intimately as overt attention in the first trial, but in the second viewing he was less successful at manipulating the audiences covert attention al lowing the audience to see how the trick was performed in the second viewing.There is also a difference in whether the disappearance of the cigarette and the lighter is detected by the audience depending on it being a live performance (when the trick is performed in front of the audience) or whether the audience watch the trick being performed on a screen. Kuhn, Tatler, Findlay and Cole (2008) found that the audience are more likely to detect the disappearance of the cigarette when watching the trick being performed on a screen, rather than in a live performance. This shows that the audience have a closer connection to the magician while performing the trick live, and are more susceptible to following the magicians social cues and misdirection to stop them uncovering how the disappearance occurs. However, even when viewing the trick being performed on a screen, the audience still look in the same area, so they do follow the gaze of the magician. The study found no difference in the fixation of the audience and whether the disappearance was detected or not, but they did find a connection in the time taken to go from one fixation to the other. People who detected the disappearance are simply faster at moving their centerfields to the left hand from which the cigarette disappeared.It is interesting how the magician manages to avoid this detection of the trick, even though it is fully visible. He pulls the overt and covert attention of the audience away from where the trick is being conducted, simply by his gaze direction. Misdirection usually plant as the magician creates an area of high visual interest were most of the audience look, and performs the disappearance in an area of low visual interest.Eye direction plays an important part in misdirection. In another experiment by Kuhn and Land (2006), a magician performs a disappearing ball trick. The magician switch overs a ball in the wrinkle three times while keeping his gaze on the run of the ball. As the b all goes in the air, his eye gaze also goes in that direction. On the third throw however, the ball seems to disappear while in the air.There are two conditions in this trick foremost the magicians gaze also goes up when the ball is thrown for the third time, and his gaze follows the movement which the ball is pass judgment to take, and seems as though he is expecting the ball to come back down. In the second condition the magicians gaze is fixed on his hand for the third throw.This experiment shows that misdirection using eye gaze provides a huge impact on the results. 68% of the participants believed that the ball had left the screen in the air when the magician was looking upward on the third throw, but only 32% believed that the ball had disappeared in the air when the magicians gaze was fixed on his hand. This result shows that social cuing and gaze direction plays an important role in misdirection in magic.However, the eye movements of the participants showed that on the thi rd throw, the area in which participants looked differed to where they looked for the first two throws. The eye fixations showed a pattern eye movements went from the magicians hand, to his face, to the air (where the ball would be) and then back down to his hand. This would be iterate again for the second throw, but for the third throw, when the ball disappeared, participants eye gaze was fixed around the area of the magicians face, or not far from his head. This fixation also occurred on those participants who were sure the ball had been thrown and had disappeared upwards. This shows that people perceived something had happened, even though they had not followed the gaze of the magician. This demonstrates that gaze direction matters and influences the audience to look where the magician looks.In conclusion, a magician misdirects his audience mainly through gaze direction. He looks in the opposite hand to which the disappearance is occurring, causing the gaze of the audience miss discovering how the trick had been performed. People generally follow the gaze of others, look where they see someone else looking, and so the magician uses this strong social cue to influence his audience to also look where he looks. He creates an area of high visual interest for the viewer, by waving and snapping his hand, and performs the trick in an area of low visual interest to the viewer. By doing this he successfully misdirects the audiences attention, and performs the trick without anyone discovering how the cigarette disappeared.

Reflective Practice in Social Work

Reflective Practice in genial nameReflection is central to good affectionate ply practice, but only if if enhanced live up to result from that reflection (Williams, 2006 xi)The underlying principles for this assignment are to critically evaluate my professional development in a practice billet setting and record reflections for in store(predicate) discipline. within this essay, I go extinct hold my reflections on the cordial perish unconscious process of judicial decision, planning, intervention and review, and will critically analyse what I tactile property was conquestful and unsuccessful in each process, with efforts to identify what could be changed to enhance future practice. I will withal include my knowledge, skills and values incorporated into my practice with two aid droprs and my separate practise, while explaining my efforts to incite anti-oppressive practice. Throughout my assignment I will break offeavour to portray my acquirement journey f rom the commencement ceremony to the end of my localisation and conclude with future learning needs, to enhance my practice as a soci commensurate worker. representation garmentThe practice arranging I acquired was a Court pincerrens Officer (CCO), based at the Belfast Family proceeding Court. It forms let on of the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. My physical exercise as a CCO, formerly know as a Child Welfare Officer, was to use my training and experience to come up the wishes and nonionings of infantren and their families in confidential law matters. The lineament falls within family and tike care receiptss and determines that the childs interests re main paramount in judgeshipyard proceedings. As a CCO my role was to deal with cases where assistance was needed to help parties focus on the needs of their children, as opposed to continuing the incriminations as to who was responsible for the breakdget of their relationship. As a CCO I was then asked to pres ent the information to flirt of law in oral or written report format. The CCO is employ if other efforts to get the parties to reach a decision in the interests of their children feed failed. This is to prevent the court process itself contributing to a lengthy breach in concussion before it reaches a decision. As a CCO I was also responsible to act as liaison officer between the court and HSS Trusts, or other geezerhoodncies (e.g. NSPCC etc) in respect of the courts decisions. Although employed by the Trust, I was responsible to the court.Before commencement of this stance I had limited understanding of the court process, and the legislation involved in esoteric law cases. I was excited rough the prospect of the experience I would gain having undertaken law and court modules, and attended court for certain flexible learning twenty-four hour periods, but I was also anxious active identifying the social work role within such a specific place. I find out nervous and unc omfortable. Im finding the role intimidating being surrounded by legal professionals and legislation (being just a student). Im worried astir(predicate) having to provide oral and written evidence to the court, and perhaps having to disagree with the legal representatives views in court. I find out deskilled and anxious (PPDW 21/01/10). After this initial anxious stage I began researching private law and knowledge, and apply my practice teacher and on site supervisor to ask questions.Having completed a practice placement last year I already knew of the benefits of utilize reflection as a crucial position of my practice and learning. Thompson (2005) explains that it is important that practitioners use non only turn uped theories, but use their own knowledge and experience to act as the needs of service drug drug users. He claims that reflective practice should help us to recognize the important links between theory and practice and to appreciate the dangers of treating th e two elements as if they were separate domains (Thompson, 2005 147).I was anxious to identify the social work process within my placement, as it was not evident on commencement. I was already familiar with the process of assessing, planning, intervention and review having had a previous placement with adults with learning disabilities. in spite of appearance a court, however, this was very different, as a statement of the court determined my involvement with service users. Schn (1987) identifies that more than(prenominal) than a process is needed with service users practitioners need to incorporate experience, skills and intuition for outcomes to be successful. The knowledge and skills that I identified, within my Individual learning plan, were skills in working(a) with children, assertiveness skills, report writing and presenting skills, organisational skills, and stem facilitation skills. I also wanted to enhance my value base as my previous placement helped me challenge issues around learning disabilities and the current placement is a very different setting. I wanted to develop my values around childrens touch sensationings nearly parental insularity, and also working in partnership with children to ascertain their wishes and feelings about contact issues.I sustain outlined below the three cases I intend to use that will help identify my professional development within my placement setting. I will use these to provide an analysis of how my knowledge, skills and values have been developed done the social work process.Family C goal originChild C (Age 7) currently resides with her father. The parental relationship lasted for seven years. Mother (Ms C) moved out of the family radix to gain alternative accommodation when the relationship broke down. Ms C and the childs contact have been very sporadic since. Contact has not taken place since December 2009. Mr C is concerned with Ms Cs new accommodation being unsuitable for the childs safety stay ing overnight claiming alcohol misuse and the child coming home smelling of smoke. Ms C requires an example and is seeking a Contact Order.As directed by the court I carried out an estimate of Ms Cs home, and also employ inter mediation and counselling when coming upon with the parties to focus on the childs topper interests. The childs wishes and feelings were also ascertained.Family EChild E (14) currently resides with his father (Mr E). Mother (Ms E) is seeking a Residence Order. Father currently resides with the child in a family hostel provided by the Belfast Ho exploitation Executive, which Ms E is concerned about. Court direction stipulated me to ascertain the childs wishes and feelings about residence with his father and contact with his mother. In addition to this I used mediation as an intervention to try to help the parties reach agreement about the child. I concluded my work with the family using a Person Centred Review with Child E to determine if the plans impleme nted earlier in my practice were working, and what he would like to change when his case was out-of-pocket for review in court.Group WorkMy root work consisted of working with teenaged girls at a high inform in atomic number 7 Belfast they were aged 14/15. I worked alongside the Health for Youth through Peer development (HYPE) team who regularly visit schools to promote informal wellness awareness. I co-facilitated this group and worked to educate the group about sexual health and relationships. This was to promote the need for the provision of accurate information to prevent teenage pregnancies and STIs, which have been highlighted as statistically higher in this area of Northern Ireland.Preparation of placementAs pictured above, to prepare for this placement, I began by developing my knowledge base around the court setting and private law, so that I could be accountable to the court and the Trust for my actions. Trevithick (2000162) claims to be accountable denotes profess ionalism by using knowledge, skills and qualifications, and adhering to values and ethics when serving a client. I began to tune in to the placement setting using knowledge, skills and values, with legislation such as The Children (NI) Order 1995, The Family Law Act (NI) 2001 and The Human Rights Act 1998.I tuned into the court setting and the rights of the service users who used it. Article 3 of the Children (NI) Order 1995 claims that the court should act in the high hat interests of the child, and I was interested in seeing if this occurred or if parental interests were considered higher. I tuned into the effects that divorce and separation have on children, and focused on gaining knowledge on how to minimize the negative impact this whitethorn have on children. The issue of contact in private law proceedings is a hard subject which raises questions of rights, responsibilities and ownership of children (Kroll, 2000 217). I was initially interested in researching if children kn owing both parents were in their better(p) interests, and why.Having had a placement with adults and learning disabilities last year I had reflected on the medical model versus the social model of disability, this placement was very different in that it would be the a legal context versus the social work role. I found this initially difficult as the legal obligations of the court over-shadowed the social work process. Court directions dictated the aspects of work to be done, which I found difficult as service user needs were not necessarily established and met.AssessmentMs Cs assessment required me to meet with her, discuss issues regarding contact with her child, and investigate her living environment to determine if it was suitable for the child to have contact in. Prior to Ms Cs assessment it was necessary for me to tune in to contact disputes between parents. I value that there is significant animosity with both parties, but that having contact with both parents is in the chi lds best interests to promote for attachment, identity and positive relationships. To initiate Ms Cs assessment I had received court directions, a referral and met with her legal advisor. I was at this clock I was informed that Ms C was snipe and required an interpreter. The Human Rights Act 1998 and the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 both stipulate that an interpreter should be provided for health services to promote anti-discriminative practice and equal opportunities.I was then required to make a referral to the Trust interpreting service, and they informed me that they would make initial contact with Ms C. I found this unnerving, as the interpreter would be making first contact with the service user, and I would have liked the luck to explain my role. Having carried out previous assessments, I knew that communication was essential for the assessment and central to the process of group information and empowering service users (Watson and West, 2006), therefore to not be abl e to make initial contact with a service user I found to be restrictive and stressful.On initial contact with Ms C (and the interpreter) communication was difficult to establish. I found that by communicating through an interpreter I was limited in gathering information. I found it difficult to concentrate on Ms C, especially observing corpse language and tone of voice alternatively I focused on the interpreter and actively listening to her. Ms C came across as frustrated and disengaged, showing signs of closed body language. I felt up empathetic to Ms C because of the court process she was involved in, and the fact that she had to go to court to gain contact with her child. I felt the initial meeting with Ms C was not as successful as I had hoped, I was not able to discuss the issues affecting her, and ineffectual to establish an telling working relationship due to the barrier on an interpreter. I left the meeting feeling deskilled and questioning my practice. On reflection, I should have provided more time to Ms C due to the language obstacle and gathered more information on her issues. I should have focused on Ms C and not the interpreter, and used the interpreter more effectively to establish a relationship. For future learning I will strain to use these reflections.The next part of Ms Cs assessment was her home assessment. I was initially reluctant to carry out a home assessment, as I had no previous experience, and did not know what was homeed as an unsafe environment for children. I began tuning in and identified that a home assessment required pie-eyed observational skills for child protection concerns. I also discussed the home assessment with my practice teacher and on site supervisor for aspects I should be concerned about within the home. It was indicated that a safe environment for a child did not have to be overly clean, just safe considering where the child sleeps, fire hazards, is there evidence of drug or alcohol use, or smelling of smo ke (as Mr C alleges).On entering Ms Cs home, as the interpreter had not arrived yet, I was reluctant to try and converse with Ms C. Ms C transfer limited English, and I did not want to confuse or alarm her by trying to discuss the case issues. However, I did try to use body language and facial expressions to reach for feelings and try to constitute a rapport by asking general questions about weather and work etc. I feel this helped our relationship, and helped me empathise about how difficult it must be to not be able to communicate effectively. By the time the interpreter had arrived I felt more at ease with Ms C, and address her (as opposed to the interpreter) with non-verbal cues such as nodding and body language. I felt more comfortable talk of the town with Ms C, I felt more able to understand her frustrations at the court process, her ex-partner and his allegations.Prior to the assessment of the home I had gained stereotypical perceptions about Ms Cs home. I thought that t he house, as it was in a working class area, would be unclean and neglected. However, the assessment of the home, using observational skills, indicated no child protection concerns, a clean environment for a child, and Mr Cs allegations unfounded. On reflection of my perceptions I feel I was oppressive to Ms C having been so judgemental, and I felt guilty about my opinions having been class discriminatory.Throughout the assessment with Ms C I found that by using an interpreter Ms C was able to stay informed and in control over her situation (Watson and West, 2006). I feel that by working with Ms C has helped my challenge my future practice with individuals who are non-English speakers. It will help me consider the needs of the service user, before judging them solely on language or their plain of origin to provide equal opportunities. I now feel interpreters are required for a equipoise of power between the worker and service user, and promote anti-discriminatory practice.Planning According to Parker and Bradley (2008 72) Planning as part of the social work process is a method of continually reviewing and assessing the needs of all individual service users. It is based upon the assessment and identifies what needs to be done and what the outcome may be if it is completed.Prior to the beginning of placement I had limited experience of planning, or group work. It was important for me understand the facilitation and communication skills needed for successful group work, and help to develop my understanding of group dynamics, group control, and peer pressure for this age group.The key purpose of planning the group was to enable the young people to develop their knowledge and skills to be able to make informed decisions and choices about psycheal relationships and sexual health. I began preparing for the planning stage of the social work process by meeting with the HYPE team and researching their work. I was interested in the sexual health training for young peop le at school, as my own experience at school showed that the information was often limited, and I was interesting in finding out if it had been challenged.I then began by tuning in to how I wanted to proceed through the planning process, and researching the topics of the different sessions as I considered I had limited knowledge on sexual health awareness. As I had to plan each week separately it was important to tune in to each and use knowledge, such as group work skills to inform my practice.During initial sessions I noted how group members were quiet and withdrawn, this was important to note as the subject of sexual relationships may have been embarrassing for them to discuss. I too felt uncomfortable discussing the material, as I had limited understanding of sexual health, but it was important for the group to overcome these anxieties and work through them together. I identified that ice breaking techniques were required to facilitate trust and partnership.As the sessions prog ressed, one of the main challenges found was that peer influence was a major issue, with some of the participants controlling other quieter members. I felt it was necessary to include all members and come alongd participation using games. However, it was important not to push individuals when they became uncomfortable, as this could cause them to withdraw and disengage, disempowering them. Another challenge was that despite time management of the sessions, inevitably there had to be flexibility. Some of the group monopolised more time than others and it was necessary to be able to alter the plans according to time restraints.I also needed to be aware of my own values when planning sexual health awareness training, as it is still regarded as a controversial issue, especially in Catholic schools with teenagers (www.famyouth.org.uk). I considered sexual health awareness to be a great benefit in schools, but patently due to religious considerations numerous Catholic schools continue simply to teach abstinence as the only form of contraception. This was important to consider as the group was facilitated in a Catholic school and many of the members or their teachers could have had religious views and opinions on the sessions, creating tension or animosity. Reflecting on this parental consent had been provided for the group, but the group itself were required to take part during a free period. I consider this to be an respectable dilemma as the childrens views werent regarded as highly as their parents. If undertaking this group in future, I feel it would be necessary to ask the group if they wish to take part, and give the chance to withdraw promoting anti-oppressive practice. preventativePrior to this practice placement I had limited experience using intervention methods. My previous placement focused on task centred work with service users, but in the court childrens service this could not be facilitated due to the time restrictions of the court. I had also previously used Rogerian person centred counselling which I found I could use some of the theory and apply it to this setting.After gathering a celestial orbit of information from the court referral, C1 and other professionals, I began to tune in to Es case. I had been directed by the court to ascertain his wishes and feelings in regards to residence and contact arrangements, and mediate between his parents to find agreement about the childs residence. As Child E is fourteen, I felt it was necessary to research levels of development for this age group and understand, according to psychologists, what level Child E would be at emotionally, physically and psychologically. I found that Child E should be at a level of proper more independent, having his own values, and being able to make informed choices.One of the most important issues, through mediation, was challenging my own values and becoming aware of my own stereotypical views on adults who have separated, and the effects on the ir children. I had to challenge the report that Child E just wanted to reside with his father as he was the less discipline parent, or that Child E would most likely be playing his parents off against each other to get his own way. However, by challenging these views, and working with the parties through mediation, I came to realise that E had strong views about living with his father and had a stronger attachment to him. By reflecting on my values I earn that it was oppressive to consider the child as manipulating and could have affected my work with him.I found that having to be a neutral third party in mediation was difficult, I found myself having a role as a witness, a referee and a peacekeeper trying to find common ground. Despite this I feel a third side was necessary to help the parties work through issues. I found the most difficult aspect of this role to be impartiality as I found myself empathizing more with the mother (as the child refused to live with her). However, I also understood the childs reasons behind his decision.During mediation, and in court, I also challenged my judgements on gender and the notion that the mother is the nurturer or primary care giver in the home (Posada and Jacobs, 2001). The child clearly stated that he wanted to reside with his father, and when using questioning skills to probe about this, he claimed he had a stronger bond with his father, and that his mother was continually ridiculing him. I found myself having to alter my views about attachment and mother being the primary care giver and focus on what the child wants.As the intervention progressed I used family mediation session to work through issues. I found that effective communication was principal in ascertaining Child Es wishes and feelings, and helping the parties consider his views, as opposed to their own relationship incriminations. This not only empowered E by promoting partnership, but also gave him the knowledge that the court would be considering th e information he provided. Within the meeting I felt I could have paced the meeting better and made better use of silences with E, as I dominated the conversation.I consider mediation to be successful as it helped the parties focus on the needs of the child, and helped them realise that they had a childs feelings to consider instead of the adversarial relationship built from court.ReviewPrior to the review process I had experience of carrying out person centred reviews (PCR) through my previous practice placement. I had previous training on PCRs and found them to be more effective than traditional reviews, due to the service user involvement. A PCR is an example of a person centred approach path and the information from a review can be the foundation of a person centred plan (Bailey et al., 2009).Within the family proceedings court the purpose of reviews are to reassess interim plans, and either change them, or corroborate they are working for the child(ren). In Child Es case a re view was necessary to indicate if living with his father was working, and to discuss if he wanted to change anything about his interim plans, which were introduced three months earlier. Within the court childrens team a review is fundamental to consider what is in the childs best interests, assess what is working and what is not working, and how to progress (considering the childs wishes and feelings).Child centred preparatory work with Child E was fundamental to the review success as it established what was important to him (Smull and Sanderson, 2005). Reflecting on my person centred work last year I recognised that it was important to have preparatory work with Child E as it promoted choice and options to explore. I had also recognised that the information gathered from the preparatory work could be the foundations of the review itself, especially if Child E felt embarrassed or shy speaking out in front of his family on the day of the review (Smull and Sanderson, 2005)I conducted the review with Child E and his parents present, but reflecting on this it could also have been utilizable including his school teacher or other friends to have a holistic approach. Throughout the review I feel I was able to engage the participants successfully using goals to focus on, and we were able to create a person centred plan for Child E. During the preparation for the review Child E had expressed that he felt he was having too much contact with his mother, and would like to limit this, he also expressed that this was an inconvenient subject to discuss with his mother present. I identified this in the review as child E did not wish to. I used skills such as facilitation and communication to show that Child E felt strongly about this issue, and both parents claimed they understood his view point. The review was also useful in presenting the information in court, as the child could not be present and I could advocate on his behalf.On reflection of Child Es review I feel it w as a successful amount to determine what was working and not working since plans were implemented from the last court date. I had confidence in facilitating the review, but I did feel I perhaps dominated the conversation as both parents were opposed towards each other, and Child E was shy and unassertive about expressing his feelings. During future reviews I will endeavour to promote communication between parties, while empowering of the child. I will use better use of silences and encourage active involvement.ConclusionNo matter how skilled, experienced or effective we are, there are, of course, always lessons to be learned, remediatements to be made and benefits to be gained from reflecting on our practice (Thompson, 2005 146)I feel this PLO has provided me with learning opportunities and identified my learning needs. It has encouraged me to reflect on my knowledge, skills and values and ensured that I used my reflections to learn from my practice.At the beginning of placement I was concerned I would oppress the service users by having limited understanding of the court process, and ineffectual to work effectively as a result. However, through training, help from my practice teacher and knowledge, I briefly realised that the placement was about providing support, not being an expert. I feel I was able to establish a balance of the legal requirements of court and social work role, which has contributed to my learning experience and future knowledge.As my placement progressed I used tuning in and evaluations to analyse my practice, and use them to learn from. My placement has enabled me to improve my court report writing skills, presentations skills and legislation knowledge, which I consider to be invaluable for the future.In footing of future professional development, I will endeavour to challenge my stereotypical assumptions about service users, I will seek advice and guidance from more experienced members of staff, and I will use knowledge and theory to inform my practice prior to meeting service users.Future learning requires me to continue to develop skills in working with children, to use silence as a skill, as listen actively to what the service user wants. Having an opportunity to work within the court system has been invaluable, but I would also like the opportunity to have more experience working with children to enhance my knowledge, skills and values further.