WordPress.com



What are the ethical responsibilities of teachers?For a proper understanding of the issue, I will define Ethics, Ethical responsibility and Professional ethics. defined “ethics” as “a system of moral principles” or “the branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions” CITATION Unk152 \l 1033 (, 2015). On the other hand, “ethical responsibility” can be defined as “the ability to recognize, interpret and act upon multiple principles and values according to the standards within a given field and/or context.” CITATION unk151 \l 1033 (Suny, 2015). Professional ethics can be defined as “the personal, organizational and corporate standards of behavior expected of professionals CITATION Wik15 \l 1033 (Wikipedia, 2015). These professionals are deem to be able to exercise specialist knowledge and it is how the use of this knowledge should be governed when providing a service to the general public that is considered a mortal issue and termed Professional ethics CITATION Wik15 \l 1033 (Wikipedia, 2015)In our context, the professional is the Teacher. A teacher is someone who provides education to students; the teacher facilitates learning often in a school or other such environments like the home, or outdoors CITATION Wik151 \t \l 1033 (Wikipedia, 2015). A teacher’s fundamental responsibilities include constructing courses and classroom environment that encourages learning, evaluating learning fairly, and treating students respectfully. Ethical teaching simply is engaging in behavior that meets these responsibilities in ways expected by the students, the institution, and profession. It has been posited that ethical teaching includes avoiding actions or inactions that may cause students educational or emotional harm. These aforementioned responsibilities are the bane elements of ethical responsibilities CITATION Hilnd \p 125 \l 1033 (Hill & Zinsmeister, n.d, p. 125). Ethical issues are at the heart of teaching and are concerned with the way teaching is practiced, organized, managed, and planned CITATION Art15 \p 434 \l 1033 (Arthur, 2015, p. 434). For teachers, ethics will motivate and guide them to become the best they can as human beings CITATION Art15 \p 432 \l 1033 (Arthur, 2015, p. 432)So what are the teacher’s ethical responsibilities?As a professional, teaching the difference between right and wrong is what teachers do much of the time. It is expected that the teacher is trustworthy in the sense that he/she does not misuse information provided about the children and parents. The teacher is expected to keep confidences and respect all individuals he/she has to deal with CITATION Art15 \l 1033 (Arthur, 2015)Teachers are a major influence on the pupils and the values they form; these values are reflected in what the teachers choose to permit and encourage in class. Teachers are considered to represent the school’s philosophy to the pupils and the larger public CITATION Art15 \p 433 \l 1033 (Arthur, 2015, p. 433). It is no wonder then that the critics of the teaching profession and opponents of the advocates for better pay, tenure and rights for teachers in the Teacher Wars vehemently opposed teachers’ unionization. It can be recalled that in 1949, the New York state legislature passed the Feinberg Law which allowed school districts to dismiss teachers who belonged to any subversive organization CITATION Dan15 \p 104-5 \l 1033 (Goldstein, 2015, pp. 104-5). This came in the wake of unrests that teachers took part in, one of which was the solidarity march in support of the 35,000 Teamsters, an unrest that led to the savage beating of many workers. This incident led to the Teacher federation members being labelled as teaching the students sedition, revolt against constitution, disrespect for law and subversion of private and public rights. Teachers were perceived as being able to highly influence the children in their care by their conducts, being role models of sort CITATION Dan15 \p 75-76 \l 1033 (Goldstein, 2015, pp. 75-76)In today’s educational environment, teachers are held to high ethical standards and have an ethical responsibility to the children they teach and their parents, the school and its officials, their teaching colleagues, their profession and the community in which they serve.The ethical teacher musthave intellectual integrityhave vocational integrityshow moral courageexercise altruismexercise impartialityexercise human insightassume responsibility of influenceexercise humilityexercise collegialityexercise partnershipexercise vigilance with regard to professional responsibilities and aspirations CITATION Art15 \p 434 \l 1033 (Arthur, 2015, p. 434)The Texas Educators’ Code of Ethics and the National Education Association both enumerated ethical conducts expected of teachers and to which teachers are responsible to uphold and observe. These can be summarized under three headings as stated in the Texas Administrative Code:Professional Ethical Conduct, Practices and PerformanceEthical Conduct towards Professional ColleaguesEthical Conduct towards StudentsEvery conduct is based on honesty, trustworthiness, good moral character, respect, being peaceful, not given to violence, confidentiality, obedience to laws, rules and regulations, not given to abuse of any kind, and good communication which is not meant to conceal or foster discord, discrimination or abuse of any kind CITATION Tex15 \l 1033 (, 2015).In line with the primary goals of the State Board of Educator Certification, I believe the enactment of the Code of Ethics is to protect the rights of both students and the Teachers. As a rule of law, it guides conduct and behavior; good knowledge and strict adherence to these prevent legal issues that may have a devastating effect on the life and future of any teacher. In as much as it may be difficult to ensure the employment of personnel of good character and moral standards into the teaching profession, I support that any professional teacher who acts inappropriately in defiance of the code of ethics be duly punished as a protection of the profession and the students they are meant to protect, and as a deterrent to future offenders.References BIBLIOGRAPHY \l 1033 Arthur, J. (2015, Oct 3). Your legal and ethical responsibilities. Retrieved from . (2015, October 6). Ethics. Retrieved from : , D. (2015). The Teacher Wars- A history of America's embattled profession. New York: Anchor Books.Hill, W. G., & Zinsmeister, D. D. (n.d). Becoming an ethical teacher. In W. G. Hill, & D. D. Zinsmeister, Effective College and University Teaching (pp. 125-132). New York: Sage Publisher. Retrieved Oct 3, 2015, from . (2015, October 6). Ethical responsibility. Retrieved from Suny Empire state college: . (2015, Oct). Educators' Code of Ethics. Retrieved from Texas Administrative Code - Education: $ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=19&pt=7&ch=247&rl=2Wikipedia. (2015, Oct 6). Professional Ethics. Retrieved from : . (2015, Oct 6). Teacher. Retrieved from : ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download