Week 5 Applied Context in Practice

Legal and Ethical Considerations 

According to the Code of Ethics for Certified Teachers, the professional interactions of teachers are governed by four fundamental principles:

• ·        Autonomy to treat people with rights that are to be honoured and defended
• ·        Justice to share power and prevent the abuse of power
• ·        Responsible care to do good and minimise harm to others
• ·        Truth to be honest with others and self 

When I read about the ethical problems considered by teachers today, and then also reflected on the huge paradigm shift we as teachers have been required to undertake as technology has been embraced in many fields in education, the technology field is to me the largest development to manage appropriately, however in whose eyes? Our students and their parents are of a generation who are voracious users of social networks, as are many teachers, so how do we respect their  rights, and freedom of choice for their child/ren , whilst prevent the abuse of the power of social networks.

"Teaching in schools has long been considered a moral activity (Wilson, 1967;Tom, 1984;Goodlad, Soder and Sirotnik, 1990) largely because it is recognized that how teachers fulfil their public duties influences the lives of vulnerable young people.”  Hall, (2001, p1).

How far do we take our moral beliefs, and positively influence our "vulnerable young people".? The dilemma is, with so many of our parents (and some staff) avid social media users who post images of themselves and/or family members regularly without, it would seem much  in-depth consideration of any repercussions, apart from the safety aspect, if something could be misinterpreted.when do we step in?

I recently saw some online "grown-up" pictures of a young lady that raised warning bells.Eventually my moral code made me have dialogue with the family in a general way about their knowledge of Facebook and what as parents they were happy for their child to engage in and post. I was relieved in one way to hear they checked and monitored activity, but disappointed to see the pictures still available, however there also has to be a line in the sand as to where the responsibility lies,.Attention has been drawn to my concern, their rights as parents must be respected too. My moral and ethical duty to my school Whanau is that I am caring for the safety and well-being of their children, the challenge is to also be sensitive to the needs of a hugely complex and varied public

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I believe that our own morals will guide and support us to stay within the correct standards as Teachers and Role Models, the culture of our school will also wrap us in a moral code that enhances these standards, however the ethics of our profession underpins the way we are obliged to act and interact in all things we do within the community of our school and actual community of our township.

In reflection, I do believe we have the PB4L framework to guide us with appropriate strategies when deciding "what we should do, all things considered", and this is a work in progress as we embed this in our practice, but we also need to look deeper at the values and principles that underpin our "obligations as teachers to students, their families and our professional colleagues" Hall (2001), this is professional dialogue we need to have more often as staff, and meantime keep ourselves safe by not befriending students or parents on Facebook, thinking hard about what online activities we publicaly engage in and modelling a very visual standard of our phone use.....in class on task, not calling/texting or accepting calls/text  in work time, having a robust digital citizenship program and now that I am back living in the school community...... think about what I dash out the front door wearing , or pulling curtains... no longer do I have the luxury of a 3 acre plot and no neighbours.



.References:

Collste, G. (2012).  Applied and professional ethics.  Kemanusiaan, 19(1), p17-33.  Retrieved from https://app.themindlab.com/media/12728/view

Educational Council.  (n.d.).  About the code of ethics for certified teachers.  Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/about-code-of-ethics

Hall, A. (2001). What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. Paper presented at the IIPE Conference, Brisbane. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Developing-leaders/What-Ought-I-to-Do-All-Things-Considered-An-Approach-to-the-Exploration-of-Ethical-Problems-by-Teachers