Premium Essay

The Ethical Teacher

In: English and Literature

Submitted By abukharmeh
Words 1930
Pages 8
Reflection is a necessary component of everyday life, as well as the growth an individual makes within their profession. This concept remains true for teachers who, due to the particular changes they must make in order to meet the fluctuating needs of both their students and society, are perpetually connected to reflection. Beginning with John Dewey, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, numerous scholars have articulated their viewpoints concerning the positive and negatives impacts of this reflective teaching, in addition to its influence on the moral dilemmas faced by educators. One of these people, Elizabeth Campbell, asserts her perspectives throughout her text, The Ethical Teacher, wherein she describes the relationship between ethical knowledge and moral agency, the link between moral dilemmas and ethical knowledge, and the methods of lessening moral tensions in education.
Within her book, Campbell (2003) maintains that “ethical knowledge relies on teachers’ understanding and acceptance of moral agency as professional expectations implicit in all aspects of their day-to-day practice” (p. 3). These demands of moral agency are important for students’ learning and development. Consequently, it is essential to understand moral agency. Campbell (2003) declares that moral agency “relates to the exacting ethical standards the teacher as a moral person and a moral professional hold himself or herself to” and “concerns the teacher as a moral educator, model, and exemplar” for students (p. 2). Throughout the text, Campbell explains that teachers must be aware of, understand and accept those demands of moral agency. Furthermore, Campbell (2003) opposes the notion that educators’ ethics “remain embedded in the background of [their] practices,” while endorsing the idea that ethics must “be brought forward, made visible, discussed, debated, and

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Ethical and Legal Expectations for the Teacher Workshop

... 2014 Janis Wiley Learning Team D Jennifer Amick Julie Wylie Kimberly Swanson Melissa Davis Priscilla Johnson EDU/315 July 7, 2014 Janis Wiley Policies Regarding Conduct PRINCIPLE I: Ethical Conduct toward Students The professional educator should accept personal responsibility for teaching students character qualities which will help them evaluate the consequences of and accept the responsibility for their actions and choices. Parents are the primary moral educators of their children. Nevertheless, we believe all educators are obligated to help foster civic virtues such as integrity, responsibility, cooperation, loyalty, for human life, for others, and for self. PRINCIPLE II: Ethical Conduct toward Practices and Performance The professional educator does not use institutional or professional privileges for personal or partisan advantage. The professional educator assumes responsibility and accountability for his or her performance and continually strives to demonstrate competence. PRINCIPLE III: Ethical Conduct toward Professional Colleagues The professional educator will not reveal confidential information concerning colleagues unless they are required by law. The professional educator will not willfully make false statements about a colleague or the school system. PRINCIPLE IV: Ethical Conduct toward Parents and Community The professional educator recognizes that quality education is the main common goal of the public, boards of education, and educators, and that a cooperative...

Words: 2069 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Teachers, Privacy, and the Ethical Use of Digital Media

...Teachers, Privacy and the Ethical use of Digital Media OUTLINE Digital Media and Teachers - Ethical implications for teachers and their personal use of social media - Is it ethical for teachers and students to be friends on social media sites? Expected Privacy While Using Digital Media - Privacy Breaches - Ethical use of personal identifiable information Conclusion References Digital media has greatly enhance the way that we share things in both our personal and business lives. It has enabled us to share things with our communities so fast and so easily that we to forget about the ramifications that could come of this technology if we don’t fully understand its power. As more and more people and organizations turn to digital media the implications of our actions begin to present themselves. There are various ethical concerns that need to be addressed as we consume digital media in our everyday lives. These challenges are widespread and can be applied to virtually every corner and medium of the internet. In this research paper we will address just a few areas of concern listed below: • Should teachers be allowed to communicate with students via social media? • Should a teachers personal posts affect their professional life? • What amount of privacy should we expect and who is responsible to maintain that privacy? • Just because you can say it does it mean you should? These questions touch on the huge subject of ethical...

Words: 2849 - Pages: 12

Free Essay

Ethics

...Teaching and Teacher Education 27 (2011) 648e656 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Teaching and Teacher Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tate Teachers’ critical incidents: Ethical dilemmas in teaching practice Orly Shapira-Lishchinsky 1 Department of Educational Administration, Leadership and Policy, School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Received 21 March 2010 Received in revised form 10 November 2010 Accepted 11 November 2010 The aim of this study is to explore ethical dilemmas in critical incidents and the emerged responses that these incidents elicit. Most teachers try to suppress these incidences because of the unpleasant feelings they evoke. Fifty teachers participated in the study. A three-stage coding process derived from grounded theory was utilized. A taxonomy of critical incidents by means of the ATLAS.ti 5.0 revealed a multifaceted model of ethical dilemmas, among them clashing with rules, standards, or norms in school, as well as a multitude of derived responses. The results encourage the development of educational programmes based on teachers’ critical incidents. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Teaching Ethics Ethical knowledge Ethical dilemmas Schools 1. Introduction 2. Theoretical background Teachers deal with many ethical problems in their practice. They encounter issues such as inappropriate allocation of resources, situations...

Words: 10192 - Pages: 41

Free Essay

Ethics & Integrity

...With Students While Maintaining Ethical Boundaries Ethical Boundaries The ethical boundaries of the teacher-student relationship have received a lot of negative press over the last decade. Intimate relationships between students and their teachers have been propelled to the national fore front, and with it, increased suspicion when it comes to teachers’ relationships to their pupils. What is Professionalism? Being an educator is increasingly being viewed as a professional occupation. The relationship between the client (in this case the student and their parents) and the practitioner (the teacher or academic institute) is a professional one. Ethical boundaries need to be established in order to protect both parties from the potential (or supposed) abuse of “power, control, and [or] influence” (Aultman). Why Establishing Ethical Boundaries is Difficult The problems with these boundaries in regards to teaching are twofold. First, they are not firmly established within the trade and are only recently beginning to be discussed at length. Secondly, establishing a strict set of ethical codes seems contradictory to the teaching process. It fosters impersonal connections with students when research shows that this is exactly the opposite of what they need. What are These “Ethical Boundaries”? There is not a definitive source on what the ethical boundaries are in regards to the teacher student relationship, and the ethical guidelines of other professions do...

Words: 1262 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Ethical Decision Making

...Ethical Decision Making Paper Michael D. Love PSYCH 545 Sept 10th, 2012 Erica Wansel, Psy. D. Ethical Decision Making Paper Introduction The development of ethical reasoning abilities is very important for both living an ethical life and creating an ethical world. This paper will attempt to examine the foundations of ethical reasoning. It will also to introduce some intellectual tools that can be used to gain the skills necessary for reasoning through ethical issues and problems in an insightful manner. Education is considered the moral enterprise that supports our values, beliefs and cultural norms of our society. It is important in building the character of our society and the persons involved in this are not only diverse in nature but also possess greater significance in terms of deciding the overall contents of the education system of our nation. Within this context, ethics are therefore considered as one of the prime concerns for all the stakeholders. The following is an example of a possible ethical dilemma in the psychological academic arena. “As the result of a colleague’s sudden serious illness, a clinical psychologist is asked to teach a psychological course, which is definitely outside his area of expertise. The course begins in one week. The department chair recognizes that the psychologist is not competent in this area, but he is as qualified as anyone else in the department and is the only person whose schedule can accommodate the course...

Words: 1476 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

The Emperor's Club

...Club The Emperors club shows the complexity of teacher- student relationships through a moral lens; the DVD subtly reveals the complex connections among fairness, trustworthiness, personal integrity and self-respect. All of which are represented in the organizational culture of St. Benedict’s, and relate to organizational ethics in that the school and the teachers define the values, beliefs and norms which are shared by all the employees. Teachers must make a series of judgments over time. Teachers, striving for fairness conceived of as strict impartiality, must aim to apply the appropriate standards over and over again in a consistent way to student’s performance. One can also note that teachers play many other roles besides that of being a judge of students ’work and conduct, as a result, they may have considerable difficulty achieving strict impartiality. Some might suggest of these roles involving caring for students that caring might trump fairness. In The Emperor’s Club, Mr. Hundert’s emotional involvement with Sedgwick Bell, the student he is trying to inspire, clearly clouds his judgment, because he changes Sedgwick Bell’s grade. The fact that teachers play multiple roles with students with whom they have developed strong emotional relationships adds a special level of complexity to judging their work impartially. Teacher’s serve a diverse group of people, including students, employers and parents. Therefore teachers, are expected to be trustworthy to others and...

Words: 869 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Ethical Consideration Reflection

...Ethical Considerations Reflection Paper University of Phoenix EDU/ 315 Equality is what I consider to be the primary ethical consideration for teachers in a K-8 setting. In order for children to receive the same education the teacher will need to treat each student in the same manner. According to Dictionary.com Equality is “the state or quality of being equal; correspondence in quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability” (Dictionary.com, 2011). If a teacher refrains from following the Florida educational ethical standards (6B- 1. 006 section 3, subsection G), which states that a teacher “shall not harass or discriminate against any student on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national or ethical origin, political beliefs, marital status, handicapping conditions, sexual orientation, or social and family background”, (Florida Department of Education, 2011) then the teacher will be written up and/ or terminated from their teaching position. Learning disabilities is one equal consideration teachers need to think about in their classroom. When a teacher treats a student with learning disabilities exactly as a student without learning disabilities it is unfair and discouraging to the disable student. Teachers should make accommodations for these students to equal the class work and expectations. Teachers can help all students in the class to understand and respect each individual no matter their learning disability by having library books read and available...

Words: 373 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Ethics and the Educational Leadership

...Student-Centered practice This research is the design, justification and proposal for change in the process of learning for the leaders, teachers and students. It highlights the need for ethics in the learning process and the results brought by adopting the student-centered education system. Its positive effects could be evidenced in the performance of individual students, teachers, schools and throughout the globe. This learning process is the change needed in the education system all over the world and therefore it is highly recommended for all institutions and the government. Past studies have illustrated the importance of ethics in the educational leadership. For instance, in the article the Union of Teaching, Learning, and Doing, it is stated that things must be done, individuals have got to learn, and those close to them should become teachers…education is not only focused on teaching learners how to learn, however it is teaching them to actively take part in life… Hansen,(2007). The term student centered is the main focus of my proposal and foundation of the ethics in educational leadership. Therefore, I am analyzing the term for better understanding of the whole theme. According to Maryellen Weimer( ), student centered teaching is 1 idea which is based on the following five principles; the balance of power, the contents’ function, the teachers role, the learning responsibility and finally the processes and purpose of evaluation. Student focused learning has a social and academic...

Words: 1959 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Implications of Classroom Management

...for Classroom Management Legal and Ethical Implications for Classroom Management Phedelia Singleton Grand Canyon University EDU-536 Classroom Engagement and Management December 21, 2011 Ethics is a word for human behavior which includes classroom behavior. Ethical behavior is a realm of classroom ethics. In every complex society proper ethical is difficult, but it starts when a child is young. The implications below are a few of many ethical principles in the classroom which are significant among our students today. Teaching Ethics: The Role of the Classroom Teacher For many years, ethical development (children’s character or moral development) has been a controversial topic. It is important to emphasize character development among students as part of preparing students. Controversy has developed over the years into, whether the teacher or parents is responsible. Preparing children as productive adults has challenges for schools. There are few questions as to who should feed character development. There are concerns for the counselor and parents as prime candidates of building children ethical characters. But, teachers are in position as a key influence among students. The Ethics of Classroom Silence Teachers can question student refusing to actively participate in their own learning. It is said that students are acting unethical in this area. Students benefit from learning and the teacher is effective when silent impedes student...

Words: 1327 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Classroom Management

...Ethical Implications of Classroom Management 2 There are many things as teachers we have to watch out for when it comes to being good role models for students. The wrong move towards a student can lead to the beginning of a long drawn out process that can get your teaching license revoked, or worse than that jail. Knowing the rights and regulations for student and parent will neglect such things. We as role models have to be careful of the tone we use, grabbing a child, mistreating a child, or even abusing the child. As long as we keep control of the classroom and outside of the classroom none of these things should happen. Unfortunately these things do happen, but if you use the right methods not only as a teacher but human being these things will be after thoughts. An article in The Journal of Education Research, described that aggressive teaching methods have been documented in Israeli, China and Australia. These tactics have made the students distant and have a negative feel for teachers. Some of the things the article talks about are horrible classroom management skills by teachers and disrespectful students. Part of the journal states that “students behaviors are purposeful acts based on their interpretations of school and classroom life, especially their relationships with teachers (Schlosser, 1992). Part of the problem researchers attribute this too is teacher misbehavior. There...

Words: 1362 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Technology Ethics in the Classroom

...research on projects frequently. Because of this, teachers should teach the ethical use of technology to their students. Teaching ethical uses of technology will help students understand copyright laws and plagiarism. Because the internet is being used more often in the classroom, teachers should start teaching their students the ethical way to use it. Teachers should discuss plagiarism and how to avoid it, and teach the proper way to cite sources that are used for research. One way the University of Delaware does this is to hand out booklets that explain the proper and ethical use of a computer, then the students are given a quiz before they are allowed to use the computers for internet access (Mendels, 2000). Teachers can also teach students the ethical and proper use of computers by only allowing students to use specific websites for research and requiring students to cite all websites used (Faust, slide 7). Teachers can use Johnson’s 3 P’s of technology ethics. The 3 P’s, which are privacy, property, and appropriate use, provide a framework for discussions in the classroom (Johnson, 2002). It is important to take proper measures to ensure internet safety and security in the classroom. Firewalls are a great way for school’s to add security when using the internet. They prevent certain information, files, and programs from going in or out of the school’s computer environment. Firewalls are used to stop students and teachers from downloading free software, giving out certain...

Words: 939 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Ethical Communication

...Ethical Communication in the Workplace Name Course Instructor Date Introduction Communication is a concept that is controversial, especially with the dynamics of the information age. There is confusion on what is right and wrong in communication, creating a never ending debate. Ethics help in providing guidelines for appropriate actions and decisions. Ethical communication allows for one to communicate to the audience the intended message in the right way, without bias. It encompasses honesty, confidentiality where necessary and openness. Adhering to ethical and moral principles when communicating ensures minimal negative consequences, hence, positive action and reaction from the audience. This makes it a crucial aspect of leadership. It is important to note that effective and ethical communication is different. For instance, a charismatic leader such as a politician has the ability to appeal to the emotions of the masses, but if the truth is exaggerated or hidden, this cannot be referred to as ethical communication. It is only effective. Ethical communication includes what is said as well as what is not said, hence the need to act as one preaches and correction of false impressions. Throughout human history, unethical communication has been portrayed as a powerful weapon of destruction. It has ruined interpersonal relationships, been used to support greed, corruption, oppression and tyranny within institutions as well as starting and fuelling economic injustice, violence...

Words: 3407 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Workplace Ethics

...when you hold a position of stature or prestige there are certain elements you must value to the profession as a teacher. “Professional teacher” refers to the status of a person who is paid to teach. They are supposed to represent the best in the profession (Tichenor, J & M., 2005)”. Teachers are theoretically able to analyze the needs of the students for whom they are responsible. The word “professionalism” does not mean to just wear a suit and tie, or dress neatly; it means to conduct oneself with principles, honestly and have accountability for one’s actions. Opposite from what people believe ethics and morals is not about religion, societal beliefs or behaviors; it simply deals with individuals’ character and morals in which governs their conduct. Ethics is a set of principles, whose sole purpose is to identify the rules that govern people’s behavior. Workplace ethics and behavior is vital to any profession and organization especially, now that we have learned about all these scandals on misappropriation of funds of top executives and government officials such as Eron, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., and Ivy Berovich. The actions these people did were not only unlawful but highly unethical. They misplaced their perception of ethical conduct and replaced it with greed having no regards as to how it reflects on others like their peers and employees...

Words: 1046 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Supervisor of Education

...leader who promotes the success of all students by acting with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner.” This states that while allies in education and stakeholders are essential, a school administrator has a professional duty to behave properly and see that all students and staff are treated ethically. In a commanding position such as an administrator, ethical leadership means that administrators have to make intelligent decisions and do what is fair to all parties involved. It is not than just following the rules; it is living by a personal code of principles. Administrators are confronted with many tough ethical dilemmas, so they need a tough ethical background to help them make decisions. Modeling ethical behavior can have a positive influence on students, teachers, and stakeholders. Ethical assessment is a challenging process because many problems in education are not simple. Schools have become diverse and open-minded, and it is hard for many administrators to truly do the right thing. Integrity is a crucial variable when administrators and educators try to create an environment within a school that is beneficial to learning. Principals have to walk a thin ethical line. For a school to succeed, an administrator cannot give teachers and staff anything they want, but instead, make wise decisions that benefit the whole school. The Red Team CLC group discussed ethical issues facing administrators today. With the upcoming standardized testing season underway...

Words: 422 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Leadership and Ethics

...October 13, 2010 Leadership and Ethics 2 Abstract Recognizing the importance of ethical behavior in leadership requires leaders that understand its value. Leaders must have the ability to choose the ethical values that are most important to their organization. Generally speaking ethical behavior gains significance and becomes relevant when people must enforce the laws upon themselves because of the environmental or organizational setting of their workplace; consequently, in the everyday routine of those in an organizational setting, workers are exposed to many different situations and environments that require varying codes of ethics (Wyne, 2010). Leaders are expected to not only enforce those ethical codes of behavior but to live daily by those codes in an effort to gain the trust of those working with and for them. As a result, an organization that is strong in ethical standards is formed. Educational leadership is widely recognized as complex and challenging (Woods, 2009). Building teams that are motivated to exercise ethical behavior takes the fortitude and dedication of leaders whose leadership abilities expand merely talking about implementation of these standards but open the door to action in ethical and moral awareness. The intent and discussion in this paper involves a look into leadership and its connection with ethical models of organization. Leadership and Ethics Professor Mudasser Wyne of the...

Words: 1388 - Pages: 6