Examining The Ethics Of Undercover Reporting Media Essay

Examining The Ethics Of Undercover Reporting Media Essay In a day in which we are spending thousands of man hours uncovering deception, we simply cannot deceive. How can newspapers fight for honesty and integrity when they themselves are less than honest in getting a story? Benjamin Bradlee, former executive editor of the Washington Post. Last month, two high profile public figures in Britain were the subject of tabloid sting operations which have caused widespread controversy and debate. This essay will analyse the actions of the journalist or newspaper editor in each case, from both a deontological and consequentialist standpoint, which will serve to illustrate the ethical complexities surrounding the whole concept of undercover reporting. Duchess of York plots to sell access to Prince Andrew, Mazher Mahmood, News of the World, 23 May 2010 On 23rd May 2010, the News of the World reported that the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, had been duped into accepting a $40,000 ( £27,000) cash down-payment from an undercover reporter posing as a Sheikh. The papers Investigations Editor Mazher Mahmood had offered the Duchess a total of  £500,000 to be introduced to Fergusons ex-husband Prince Andrew, who is a British trade envoy. The meeting where the deposit was handed over to Ferguson and details of the bribe were discussed was captured on tape, and this video was posted on the News of the World website alongside the article. The News of the World may claim they have done Britain a good service in exposing Fergusons illicit business deals, but in reality, they have not presented any proof that she had been engaging in bribery and corruption before the News of the World entered the fray and staged this elaborate sting operation. They claim that they have proof that she had already cashed in by introducing two international tycoons to Prince Andrew, which resulted in lucrative business deals for which she gained a commission. Would it not have been enough to report on this evidence which had been provided by their close royal associate who blew the whistle on her? They say they have procured all the details of her transactions with these tycoons, and information about the new company Ferguson set up last month to handle her illicit business, but have not presented any of these details in the article, or in any of the myriad of articles published about the Ferguson affair since the videos were posted on the website. Yes, the News of the World did indeed expose that Sarah Ferguson was disposed to a corrupt deal with an international business man. But who is to say that she would not have been involved in any illicit dealings had the News of the World not set her up in this way? In April, another of Mahmoods undercover sting operations brought a premature end to the career of snooker champion John Higgins when Mahmood filmed him in a hotel room in the Ukraine agreeing to fix a lose in an upcoming snooker match in exchange for à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬300,000. He had been set up by a group of undercover reporters posing as businessmen. Higgins has since claimed that he had been intimidated into the deal against his will, but has been suspended from snooker pending an investigation, perhaps indefinitely. Mahmood claims that the decision to set Higgins up was based on a tip-off from a sports insider that Higgins was engaging in match-fixing. However, no details or evidence was presented in the article to back up the claims. This is just another recent example of the kind of undercover reporting that Mahmood is engaging in for the News of the World, where a sensationalist scoop, usually involving a celebrity or public figure, is caught on camera, causes a brief media fren zy, but is quickly forgotten when the next sting operation hits the headlines. Mahmood, who has been posing as the fake Sheikh for undercover scoops since 1984, claims to have exposed criminal activities in his sting operations which have led to at least 250 criminal convictions. His disguise has duped paedophiles, con men and drug pushers the exposition of whom could be deemed as being in the public interest as well as philandering government ministers and celebrities with recreational drug habits, whose stories may be of salacious interest to the public, but are almost certainly not in the public interest. The motivations behind the News of the Worlds obsession with undercover scoops are simple: deceit can often be the quickest and easiest way to get a story; the journalist has control over the scenario that will eventually end up in the paper, so essentially they can create the headline before the incident has even taken place; and secret footage (audio recordings, video, and grainy or pixilated photographs) sensationalise the story even further and make f or great multimedia content for the web. The man supposed to bring sound judgment to the FA, Ian Gallagher, Mail on Sunday, 16 May 2010 In another undercover exposà © last month, the chairman of the Football Association in England, Lord Triesman, was secretly taped claiming that Spain and Russia were plotting to bribe referees in the upcoming World Cup in South Africa. The recording was made by Triesmans former aide Melissa Jacobs during a lunch meeting. Jacobs proceeded, with the help of celebrity publicist Mark Clifford, to sell the tapes to the Mail on Sunday for a reported  £75,000, who ran the story on the front page on 16th May. While it must be noted that the person who made the recording was not a journalist, but an associate of Triesmans, similar principles around the ethics of clandestine recording and undercover investigation techniques are at issue here (leaving aside the ethics of chequebook journalism). However, there is one crucial difference between this article and the undercover sting operation articles written by Mahmood mentioned above, in that the scenario was not staged in advance by the newspaper. It appears to me, from the details presented in the article, that Jacobs attended the lunch meeting with the intention of getting taped evidence of their affair to sell to the newspaper, and the conversation about the World Cup bribes arose unknown in advance to her. While she prompted him during the exchange for more information, she did not incite the topic of conversation, nor did she steer the conversation in any particular direction. This is demonstrated in the following transcript from the tape, which is quoted in the article: Lord Triesman: Spain are looking for help from the Russians to help bribe the referees in the World Cup, their votes may then switch to Russia. At this point, Miss Jacobs asks: Would Russia help them with that? Lord Triesman: Oh, I think Russia will cut deals. Miss Jacobs: Why will Russia help? Are Russia in the World Cup? Lord Triesman: No theyre not. Miss Jacobs: Oh no theyre not, theyve got nothing to lose? Lord Triesman: Absolutely nothing at all to lose. Exactly. Since the article was published, Lord Triesman has resigned as chairman of the FA, but stated that he had been a victim of entrapment and his comments about the conspiracy were never intended to be taken seriously. Fifas ethics team is investigating the allegations, and if it is proven that they were based in truth, the Mail on Sundays decision to print the story will be vindicated (though this is looking increasingly unlikely). The article was met with widespread derision in Britain, most likely because the scandal seriously jeopardised Englands chances of securing their bid to host the 2018 World Cup. But the reasons given by most critics were that the methods used by the Mail on Sunday to obtain information for the article were dirty and unethical. Consequentialist analysis According to the consequentialists, the ends must justify the means in order for an action to be considered morally acceptable. The morally correct action is that which brings about the highest possible total sum of utility(Wolff, p.49). It could be argued that in attempting to expose Sarah Fergusons corrupt activities, the News of the World were acting in the public interest, ridding the world of a corrupt act and thus bringing the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number of people. If readers really believed that the journalist was acting to prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil or unhappiness to the party whose interest is considered, which according to Bentham, (The principle of Utility, quoted in Singer, p.307) should be the main premise for any course of action, it could be argued that he was right to masquerade as a Sheikh in order to expose Fergusons illicit business deals. Similarly, if the main motivation of the Mail on Sunday was to prevent corruption an d match fixing during the World Cup, then the newspaper acted in the right way according to consequentialists. However, as I have explained, it is highly dubious that these were the main motivations of the News of the World or the Mail on Sunday, as I would argue that they were more interested in printing sensational stories that would grab public attention and sell more papers than the ultimate end. While the strongest argument against untruths has been forward by Kant and the deontologists (see below), utilitarians were also strongly against falsehood and deceit, because of the harm done by misleading particular individuals, and the tendency of false statements to diminish the mutual confidence that men ought to have in each others assertions (Sidgwick, Issues for Utilitarians, in Singer, p.316). There is another ethical issue raised by the Sarah Ferguson exposà © article that would be of interest to a consequentialist, and that is the use of anonymous sources. Tabloids like the News of the World are well known for paying large sums of money to well-connected sources, and the information fed to them by their close royal associate may well be legitimate. It is widely recognised amongst journalists and editors alike that it is worth retaining the identity of a source in order to get a story that is in the public interest, and I believe that this is also agreeable from a consequentialist standpoint. However, who is to say that this information, supposedly provided by a source close to Ferguson, was not entirely fabricated? As I have argued in a previous ethical enquiry, journalists should strive to attribute their information as much as possible in order to increase trust between reporter and reader. The reliance upon unnamed sources in articles like this leaves many questions in a readers mind, and if anonymous attribution was to be universalised, readers trust in journalism would be greatly diminished Deontological analysis The concept of truth is central to Kants Categorical Imperative. Truth telling is more than just a good thing, as telling the truth creates trust, and trust is a social necessity. Communication between human beings in any society depends very much on the assumption that what we tell each other is true. Deception itself is an impossibility without this assumption, as a person cannot be deceived unless they are prone to believing what they are told. Kant steadfastly believed that any untruth, even if seemingly harmless in intent (or even uttered in protection of oneself or another) is harmful to society, as untruths diminish mans capacity to trust. A lie always harms another; if not some other particular man, still it harms mankind generally, for it vitiates the source of law itself (Kant, On a supposed right to lie from altruistic motives, in Singer, p.281). Mahmood engaged in active deception in order to get his Sarah Ferguson story. Everything about the set up was a blatant lie his name, his profession, his intention, his promise to pay her  £500,000 he even lied to her outright by denying there were secret cameras filming her when she asked in jest if it was a set up. Lies deliberately intend to deceive, where the aim is invariably to take advantage of another persons trust. According to Kant, what the honest but reticent man says is true, but not the whole truth. What the dishonest man says is something he knows to be false. Such an assertion is called in the theory of virtue, a lie it is a serious violation of a duty to oneself; it subverts the dignity of humanity in our own person, and attacks the roots of our thinking. (Kant, Letter to Maria von Herbert, Spring 1792, in Singer, p.283). Jacobs engaged in a form of passive deception in order to gather the taped material. She did not actively lie to Lord Triesman, but deceived him by hiding her intentions, and the fact that she was taping their conversation without his knowledge. Similarly, when journalists pose as members of the public in order to get a story, they are also being passively deceptive, as they are misrepresenting their true intention. However, this form of undercover reporting is widely accepted by editors the world over, even those that would vehemently oppose actively lying or setting someone up in order to get a story. According to deontologists, the outcome of the action should not be a factor in deciding what is right or wrong in any given situation. Behaviour has a moral weight all of its own, which the moral law within can determine (Kant, The noble descent of duty, in Singer, p.41). Central to the deontological school is the concept of duty. From a deontological perspective, journalists have a duty to their readers, an obligation to present the truth to the public, regardless of the consequences that the revelation of this truth may produce. In the case of the Sarah Ferguson article, the News of the World published the article with no heed to the consequences to the reputation of the Royal family, and similarly, the Mail on Sunday published the article about Triesmans knowledge of match fixing with little regard to the reputation of Triesman himself or the chances of England securing their bid to host the World Cup in 2018. According to Kant, truthfulness is a duty which must be regarded as th e ground of all duties based on contract, and the laws of these duties would be rendered uncertain and useless if even the least exception to them were admitted. (Kant, On a supposed right to lie from altruistic motives, in Singer, p.281). If the News of the World and the Mail on Sunday truly believed that they were bringing the truth to the public in exposing Sarah Fergusons corrupt business deals, and Lord Triesmans knowledge of game-fixing, then their intentions were correct according to deontologists. However, in reality, selling papers overrides most tabloids altruistic motives, and it could be strongly argued that both are more concerned with entrapping public figures in order to sell papers, and thus they are not acting in accordance with the categorical imperative. Objective reporting, one of the most central tenets of good journalism practice, rests on the premise that the journalist remains a passive observer of the material about which they write, and that they record reality the way it is rather than attempting to shape that reality themselves in order to create a story. Most, if not all, ethical guidelines for journalists state that an undercover journalist should be a witness to the action, not an instigator or an active participator, nor should they do anything to prompt an action that would not have occurred should they not have been there. Above all, the journalist should never incite people to commit a crime. However, News of the World exposà ©s, many conducted by Mahmood in disguise, have raised ethical questions over the entrapment of celebrities by journalists working at the paper. Critics have claimed that such undercover operations are an invasion of privacy, and that public figures are being lured under false pretences into doi ng and saying things that they would not have, had they not been prompted or encouraged by the undercover journalist. His elaborate scenarios are staged to entrap the subject, who is manipulated, often into committing a criminal act (Mahmood often stages drug purchases last November he set up a cocaine deal with Ted Terry, father of English footballer John Terry, also for a News of the World exclusive). One of the main considerations a news organisation must take into account when deciding if deceptive undercover reporting is warranted is if this is a legitimate and worthy news story, i.e. is the story in the public interest, or is the news organisation merely pandering to its audiences desire for a salacious story? Many editors, and television producers especially, act under the premise that deception may be warranted when the story is of such importance that it absolutely must be told, and deception or undercover reporting is the only way to prove what is going on. The article about Lord Triesman combined his claims about match-fixing with an exposà © of his illicit romance with Jacobs in 2008. Details of text messages sent between the two, and accounts of their secret dates were recounted. This aspect of the article is a blatant invasion of Triesmans privacy, and is most certainly not in the public interest. It would also be against Kants Practical Imperative, which states that we should act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only. (Kant, The Categorical Imperative, in Singer, p.279). Individuals are ends in themselves, and they may not be sacrificed or used for achieving of other ends without their consent. (Robert Nozick, The Rationality of Side Constraints, in Singer, p.261). By publishing the juicy details of their affair alongside the quotes from Triesman about the match-fixing, the Mail on Sunday were using Lord Triesman as a means to an end, and also doing themselves a disservice by highlighting the sleazy element of undercover reporting. Another fundamental question that journalists and editors must ask themselves is whether deception is the best way to uncover the story? In the case of Sarah Ferguson, I believe that based on other knowledge and evidence that they claim to have in their possession, the News of the World could have built the case against her without staging a fake bribe. However, in the case of the Lord Triesman article, there would have been no other way to find out his thoughts on match-fixing. Unless he was attempting to impress her in some way with empty rhetoric, there must be some foundation behind Triesmans claims that Spain and Russia were engaging in bribery, which is in turn worthy of serious investigation and a matter of public interest, which has been reinforced by Fifas decision to carry out a full investigation of the matter. Conclusion It can thus be concluded that neither the News of the World article nor the Mail on Sunday article were handled in a manner that would have been acceptable from a consequentialist or a deontological viewpoint. Though I believe the subject matter of each (Sarah Fergusons propensity towards using her royal connections for corrupt means, and Lord Triesmans claims of match-fixing) were indeed in the public interest, the deceptive means by which the end was achieved in each case were morally deplorable, and neither end justified the means. According to Kants Categorical Imperative, we should act only according to the maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law. (Kant, The Categorical Imperative, in Singer, p.274). The principle of universalisability is at the core of deontological theory. If active deception was to be universalised, trust, a central tenet upon which society rests, would crumble. Honesty is the moral virtue at the centre of any societ y, and it should be promoted by all as all stand to gain from it, as trust rests on truth, and trust is a social necessity. Impersonation and subterfuge irrevocably undermines the implicit trust that is so essential between journalists and their sources and interviewees. Undercover reporting disseminates a widespread distrust of journalists amongst the public, which is detrimental to the whole practice of journalism, which relies so heavily upon information received in confidence from that public.

Readiness of Kindergarten Teachers along K-12 Curriculum Essay

One of the major reforms in our country’s educational system is Republic Act 10157, otherwise known as â€Å"The Kindergarten Education Law† or the K to12 (K+12). This Law made the Kindergarten compulsory and mandatory entry to basic education. This Law was initiated by the Aquino administration in order to address the perceived decreasing quality of education in the country, and to meet the international standard regarding the number of years in basic education. This program will require all incoming students to enroll into two more years of basic education. The K+12 System will include the Universal kindergarten, 6 years of elementary, 4 years of junior high school with an additional 2 years for senior high school. The program is implemented and formulated along with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). The current k-12 model that had been implemented in the country is an educational landscape for basic and secondary system patterned after the United States, Canada and some parts of Australia had done it. According to Patricia. Velasco’s article, the K- 12 Curriculum envisions â€Å"holistically developed learners with 21st century skills† (DepEd Primer, 2011). This further means that every student would have an understanding of the world around him and a passion for life-long learning while addressing every student’s basic learning needs: â€Å"learning to learn, the acquisition of numeracy, literacy, and scientific and technological knowledge applied to daily life† (p. 6). The main objective of the K to 12 curriculum is to achieve the DepEd’s goal of eradicating illiteracy rate in the country. â€Å"No child is left behind. † (source). Every Filipino has the right to receive quality education in order to become an asset in all dimensions, competent, efficient, effective and productive citizen leading to a decent and comfortable living. The most interesting part concerning the K to 12 program is on its practical assistance for the poor but skillful students. For instance, the student cannot afford to go to college; he is given an option or privilege to be employed not as a professional but on technical job because his skills acquired and developed during his Senior High School can be a guarantee for his  qualification for a vocational employment. Moreover, the program aims to uplift the quality of education in the Philippines in order for graduates to be easily employed. Our country is the only country in Asia and among the countries in the world that has a 10 year pre- university program. The program also aims to meet the standards required for professionals who would want to work abroad. The system aims to fully enhance and develop the students in order for them to be well-prepared especially in emotional and cognitive aspects. Through this, graduates will be able to face the pressures of their future workplace. The K-12 aims the students to have a relevance or importance in the social and economic reality of life. The realm of their role as members of the country. Thus, this vision will be complete through an enhanced curriculum. (K-12 Kindergarten Curriculum Guide 2013) DepEd said that this is the right time to do something better for the field of education, having poor quality education. The DepEd released their stand along the reform. In stressing the need for the new system of basic education, President Benigno S. Aquino III said, â€Å"We need to add two years of our basic education. Those who can afford pay up to fourteen years  of schooling before university. Thus, their children are getting to the best universities and the best jobs after graduation. I want at least 12 years for our public school children to give them an even chance at succeeding. † (source) With the K-12 program, different arguments were formulated. Not all are in favor of the K+12 Education program. There are students complaining of the additional years and there are parents who are not in favor of the additional expenses. But it is an undeniable fact that additional years in the education system will really require more budgets not just from the government but from the  parents as well. Aside from this, students will need additional classrooms, school supplies and facilities. The program would need more qualified teachers as well. Teachers plays an important role 1 / 3 in the K-12 program because they are the ones who will teach the kindergarten pupils, especially the Pre – school teachers. Markovac & Rogulja, 2009, stated that the, early care main goal is to fulfill the Delors principles: â€Å"Learning to be, learning to do, learning to know and learning to live together and to live with others. † The early childhood is a time of rapid growth in all aspects of  children’s development fostered by their natural curiosity and adult support. Therefore, Preschool education is the foundation for a child’s education. The skills and knowledge that a child develops in the preschool years will have a dramatic impact on a child’s success when formal schooling begins as well as life success. Preschool education is important because it can give your child the edge in a competitive world and education climate. The first year of a child’s life is globally acknowledged to be the critical year for lifelong development because the pace of development during these years is  extremely rapid (National Council of Educational Research and Training, 2006 as cited in the K to 12 Curriculum Guide – Kindergarten). While children who do not receive the fundamentals during their preschool years will be taught the alphabet, counting, shapes and colors when they begin their formal education they will be behind the children who already possess that knowledge and skill set. The Pre – school teachers are supposed to have the courage and knowledge to teach the little ones. They will serve as the guide and the second mother at school. Children’s learning will greatly depend on the teachers strategies. Hence, kindergarten teachers should provide them with an engaging and creative curriculum that is developmentally – appropriate, age – appropriate and socio – cul;turally appropriate (DepEd K to 12 Curriculum guide for Kindergaten, 2012). Many new parents start hearing about K-12 since before their kids are born. However, they are not very clear about what K12 means, and why is necessary for them to start inform themselves about it as it will impact their kids’ future. What Is K12 Education? This term was coined to describe primary and secondary education. This includes kindergarten (K) all the way to the 12 grade. This extremely popular type of education is very common among several countries around the world. â€Å"K to 12† stands for kindergarten plus 12 years of elementary and secondary education. This educational system for basic and secondary education is widely adopted around the world. Early childhood education is intended to support and complement family upbringing and the main goal is to create good opportunities and conditions for each child’s well-being, create a stimulating environment for the child’s comprehensive development and learning while taking into account their age, gender and individual features. The role of early childhood care and education settings in improving children’s development has begun to be viewed with increasing importance. The recognition that centre-based childcare is associated with a host of positive developmental outcomes for children, such as increased cognitive abilities, language development, and emotional and social development (Kagan & Neuman, 1997; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Childcare Research Network [NICHD], 2000, 2002, 2008; NICHD & Duncan, 2003), has led to the introduction of a new policy in Ireland that provides every three-year-old child with access to a free preschool place for one year (Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs [OMCYA], 2009). The importance of preschool learning is that first, parents must remember that preschool education is the foundation for your child’s education. As Adams (2008) stressed that early childhood education is the key to building a strong foundation for a child’s educational success. The skills and knowledge (not to mention aptitude and attitude) that your child develops in the preschool years will have a dramatic impact on your child’s success when formal  schooling begins as well as life success, as supported by the House Bill 5367 (2009), aimed to incorporate preschool education to basic education with the DepEd at the frontier of its implementation all over the country. This bill was in consonance with the state’s policy to provide equal opportunities for all children to avail themselves of free and compulsory preschool education that effectively promotes physical, social, intellectual, emotional simulations, let alone values formation to adequately prepare them for formal elementary schooling, second is that by actively  promoting and encouraging your child’s preschool learning you will promote his or her self esteem as well. Help your child gain confidence by making learning fun and easy at this age and you will 2 / 3 help make your child an eager lifelong learner and the finally preschool education is important because it can give your child the edge in a competitive world and education climate. While children who do not receive the fundamentals during their preschool years will be taught the alphabet, counting, shapes and colors when they begin their formal education they will be behind the children  who already possess that knowledge and skill set. According to Anita Woolfolk Hoy and Megan Tschannen – Moran ,(2002), teachers’ sense of efficacy has been related to students outcomes such as achievement (Ross, 1992), motivation, (Midgley, Feldlaufer, & Eccles, 1998) and students’ own sense of efficacy ( Anderson, Greene, & Loewen, 1998). DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro stated that enhancing the competencies of pre-school teachers will have a great impact on the young learners. â€Å"We should ensure that teachers are ready for the challenge of making our young kids’ first school experience enjoyable  and giving them a positive experience that will motivate them to remain in school and complete their education. † This means that pre-school teachers are the implementers of the socially defined curriculum objectives. They help children to adapt to the society and to become its members, to develop interaction between children and different generations, and absorb the main behavioral habits and roles of the community. Also their task is to educate children to become unique subjects and persons as they truly are (Dewey, 1916; Ojakangas, 1998; Siljander, 2002) To become preschool teachers one must have the ability to deal with pupils ages 5. A preschool teacher needs to be proficient in helping children learn how to cooperate, providing fun learning activities suitable for preschoolers, keeping children safe, working as a team member with other teachers and interacting with parents. Preschool teachers need to be eager participants in children’s growth and development, as well as helping students understand how to use their natural curiosity to help make the appropriate developmental leaps in their skills and abilities. They are expected to create an atmosphere where risks can be taken and discoveries made while children remain safe. POWERED BY TCPDF (WWW. TCPDF. ORG).   

Procedure Skills

Lesson planSchool: Colegiul Na?ional M. Eminescu, Ia?i Date: 6th April 2018 Proposer: Popovics Anamaria Mentor's name: Cetilina Neagu Class: 9th grade, 5 classes/ week Level: B2 Textbook: Upstream Intermediate Lesson type: Integrated skills with focus on consolidating and acquiering vocabulary related to sports and sportspeople Time allowed: 50 minutes Aids: Textbook, blackboard, chalk Aims:Create the opportunity for Ss to use previously acquired language related to sports.Give Ss the opportunity to express their own opinions on different types of sports.Objectives:By the end of the lesson Ss will have retold the text using vocabulary related to sports.Ss will have learnt how to use arguments for their own opinions.Ss will have acquired new vocabulary (adjectives) related to sports.Time and lesson stage Procedure Skills Interaction Rationale and observations2 minutesWarm-up T will ask how was their previous day after school, and also ask them to remember the last text they did Speaking T-Ss To create a relaxing environment and also revise language.10 minutes Controlled speaking practice T: Will ask ss. provide the main ideas from and remember the important words.Speaking T-Ss Teacher can provide key words to trigger the idea and guide them towards what she needs to hear from the students using the appropriate vocabulary.20 minutes Free speaking practice8 minutes Controlled Practice T tasks Ss to describe pictures related to sports and make connections between these and the type of people who would practice the sports.T asks the Ss to solve ex 2 from page 136. The T will explain words along the way and demand synonyms for groups of words and words such as â€Å"centre of the target†, â€Å"daring†. Writing + Speaking +FeedbackPairsStudents will have developed conversational skills through dialogueProvide arguments.Describe by using appropriate adjectives.Paragraph organising.8minutes T puts the students into pairs and asks them to solve exercise 4 from the page 137. The teacher will then place three stickers on the blackboard depicting the words â€Å"interesting†, â€Å"challenging† and â€Å"boring† and ask the students to complete the gaps underneath them with the free-time activities they came up with earlier. Speaking/ PairworkGroupwork Pairs -Agreeing, disagreeing, giving arguments, interrupting, summing up, reporting to the classPeer feedback2 minutes T gives feedback upon the activities and gives homework to the ss : The students will have to revise the conditionals from the end of their practice books and come up with sentences of each conditional type. Speaking T-Ss To revise the previous activities.

The Meaning of Okuns Law in Economics

In economics, Okuns Law describes the relationship between production output and employment. In order for manufacturers to produce more goods, they must hire more people. The inverse is also true. Less demand for goods leads to a decrease in production, in turn prompting layoffs. But in normal economic times, employment rises and falls in direct proportion to the rate of production at a set amount. Who was Arthur Okun? Okuns Law is named for the man who first described it, Arthur Okun (Nov. 28, 1928—March 23, 1980). Born in New Jersey, Okun studied economics at Columbia University, where he received his Ph.D. While teaching at Yale University, Okun was appointed to President John Kennedys Council of Economic Advisors, a position he would also hold under Lyndon Johnson. An advocate of Keynesian economic policies, Okun was a firm believer in using fiscal policy to control inflation and stimulate employment. His studies of long-term unemployment rates led to the publication in 1962 of what became known as Okuns Law. Okun joined the Brookings Institution in 1969 and continued to research and write about economic theory until his death in 1980. He also is credited with defining a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. Output and Employment In part, economists care about a nations output (or, more specifically, its Gross Domestic Product) because output is related to employment, and one important measure of a nations well-being is whether those people who want to work can actually get jobs. Therefore, its important to understand the relationship between output and the unemployment rate. When an economy is at its normal or long-run level of production (i.e. potential GDP), there is an associated unemployment rate known as the natural rate of unemployment. This unemployment consists of frictional and structural unemployment but doesnt have any cyclical unemployment associated with business cycles. Therefore, it makes sense to think about how unemployment deviates from this natural rate when production goes above or below its normal level. Okun originally stated that the economy experienced a 1 percentage point increase in unemployment for every 3 percentage point decrease GDP from its long-run level. Similarly, a 3 percentage point increase in GDP from its long-run level is associated with a 1 percentage point decrease in unemployment. In order to understand why the relationship between changes in output and changes in unemployment is not one-to-one, its important to keep in mind that changes in output are also associated with changes in the labor force participation rate, changes in the number of hours worked per person, and changes in labor productivity. Okun estimated, for example, that a 3 percentage point increase in GDP from its long-run level corresponded to a 0.5 percentage point increase in the labor force participation rate, a 0.5 percentage point increase in the hours worked per employee, and a 1 percentage point increase in labor productivity (i.e. output per worker per hour), leaving the remaining 1 percentage point to be the change in the unemployment rate. Contemporary Economics Since Okuns time, the relationship between changes in output and changes in unemployment has been estimated to be about 2 to 1 rather than the 3 to 1 that Okun originally proposed. (This ratio is also sensitive to both geography and time period.) In addition, economists have noted that the relationship between changes in output and changes in unemployment is not perfect, and Okuns Law should generally be taken as a rule of thumb as opposed to as an absolute governing principle since it is mainly a result found in the data rather than a conclusion derived from a theoretical prediction. Sources: Encyclopaedia Brittanica staff. Arthur M. Okun: American Economist. Brittanica.com, 8 September 2014. Fuhrmann, Ryan C. Okuns Law: Economic Growth And Unemployment. Investopedia.com, 12 February 2018. Wen, Yi, and Chen, Mingyu. Okun’s Law: A Meaningful Guide for Monetary Policy? Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 8 June 2012.