Rachel Buchanan

Adapted from a lecture by Daniella Forster

OverviewIssues for teachers as a special professionTensions vs dilemmasDilemmas in teaching

Systematic immorality Boundary dilemmas and relationships Assessment dilemmas

Professional and Personal morality

Professional roles carry their own specific requirements, which, once those roles are properly established, may have some degree of independence from what broad-based morality would ordinarily permit or require people to do in a professional context.

(Oakley & Cocking, 2006, p. 117)

3 Morally salient features distinguishing the teaching professionMystification of knowledgeSocial distanceReciprocity of effort

Issues identified by DET (2010)Reporting concerns about

employee conduct Respect for peopleDuty of careProfessional relationships

between employees and students

Appropriate use of electronic communication and social networking sites

Use of drugs, alcohol and tobaccoIdentifying and managing

conflicts of interestRecruitmentRecord keeping

Declaring gifts, benefits and bribes

Private and secondary employment

Protecting confidential information

Managing your political, community and personal activities

LobbyingPost separation employmentSignaturesPersonal referencesUsing public resources wiselyCopyright and intellectual

property

NSW Code of Conduct (DET, 2004)21. Guide to ethical decision making 21.1 Staff need to recognise the professional and

ethical dimensions of their work and give proper attention to the values which should guide their decisions and actions.

Guide to ethical decision making (NSW DET 2004)

21.2 When faced with a difficult question ask : Who needs to be consulted in making this decision?

Is the decision or conduct lawful? Is the decision or conduct in line with the Department’s

principles as set out in policy, including this Code of Conduct?

What will be the outcome for the staff involved, work colleagues, the Department and its stakeholders?

Do these outcomes raise a conflict of interest or lead to private gain at public expense?

Can the decision or conduct be justified in terms of the interests of the Department or its clients?

Would the action or decision withstand public scrutiny?

Words in the classroom…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jEBh1VtdT0&feature=related

What do you think?

http://www.vit.vic.edu.au/files/video/1407_Vox-Pop-1.2-B%282%29.wmv

“I guess when I think of conflict, I think of an immediate situation where there’s a head-on clash. But I think also of the kind of conflict that I think is a lot more like ones that classroom teachers face more frequently; which is conflict spread out over time, that involves getting to know a student and establishing a relationship, a working relationship, and a sort of being in a tenuous situation that by no means is going to succeed. There is no guarantee of success and that sort of requires day-in and day-out input and feedback on your part and also interaction and feedback [from the student], so that you can have at least the slightest hope of getting through the year successfully”

Chris Smith, English teacher, 2nd year out (Lyons, 1990, p.163)

Everyday dilemmas

teachers’ dilemmas come out of working relationships between people… that are fed by the everyday interactions between them, that happen over time, and that have no real guarantee of success even though they require daily response and action. However resolved, the teacher lives with conflict.

(Lyons, 1990, p. 165)

Teaching is a complex ‘web’Some situations are ‘issues’

Between right and wrong: eg. Preventing littering on the school grounds

And more difficult decisions are ‘dilemmas’; Between right and right: eg. two excellent students, but

only one awardBetween wrong and wrong: eg. Reporting a colleague’s

behaviour (behaviour is always open to interpretation)

Sometimes these can be settled by legal obligationsRemember: the Law is not always ethical, and the

ethical thing to do is not always legal

Moral Sensitisation and De-sensitisation

Today’s “teachers are parts of systems and caught in complicated structures, which may be morally desensitising” (Colnerud, 2003, p. 560).

“Just as some business persons may not exercise the same sensitivities in their business dealings as they do in other contexts, educators too may leave important moral sensitivities at the school door. Actions they may see as insulting, belittling, arrogant, patronizing, or unfair in other contexts may not be perceived as such in the educational context. Consequently an important aspect of the task of enhancing the moral sensitivity and perception of educators is that of engaging them in a consideration of how the educational context, with its particular constellation of power, authority, and responsibility relations, affects the applicability of their moral concepts.”

(Campbell, 2008, p. 11, citing Coombs)

Colnerud’s (1997) 6 conditions of ethical conflict in teachers’ work.

(1) Since teachers meet students in large groups (unlike other professions such as lawyers or doctors), they are in a position where the needs of many individuals raise questions of fairness and justice.

(2) Since teachers need to differentiate between students by grading and assessing they are placed in situations where they may doubt the assessment’s reliability or that their judgement of worth causes harm to students.

(3) Teachers are faced with the question of appropriate boundaries in their role as socialiser and are often uncertain about which values to impart.

(4) Teachers responsibilities to students extend into the future, as they are preparing young people for future life. The immediate and long term needs of students often conflict.

(5) Institutional proximity makes it difficult for teachers to identify a clear mandate about the extent of their responsibility to do good or to protect students.

(6) The nature of collegial loyalty can raise conflicts about protecting students and others from colleagues.

Ethical dilemmas, values and uncertainty…

Truth versus loyalty Should I lie (or stay silent) to protect a colleague?

Short-term results versus long term gain Should I prioritise immediate or long term student best interests?

Justice versus care How should I ‘manage’ my students’ behaviour?

Autonomy versus Adherence to the Norm Should I sacrifice my professional judgement to ‘keep the peace’?

Uncertainty about assessment judgements What forms of assessment are in my students’ best interests?

Uncertainty about socialising boundaries To what extent am I responsible for passing on social norms/values?

For more, see: Colnerud, G. (1997). Ethical conflicts in teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 13(6), 627-635.

Student-Teacher relationships: walking the ‘line’

Types

1. Curricular Boundaries2. Emotional Boundaries3. Relationship Boundaries4. Power Boundaries5. Institutional Boundaries6. Personal Boundaries

Examples

1. Controversial issues2. Controlling emotions3. Names, intimacy4. Abuse of authority5. Violation of school rules6. Self-sacrifice/disclosure

(Aultman et al, 2009)

Student-Teacher relationships: walking the ‘line’Types1. Temporal Boundaries2. Cultural Boundaries3. Expertise Boundaries

4. Financial Boundaries

5. Communication

Examples1. Equitable student time2. Awareness of norms3. Recognising prof. limits4. Gifts, lending $, services

5. Confidentiality, advice

(Aultman,et al, 2009)

Confidentiallybetween colleagues and parents

http://www.vit.vic.edu.au/files/video/1416_1.8-A%282%29.wmv

Boundaries: being “too friendly”Age is significant in teaching.

Both veteran and less experienced teachers believe that there is often a need to be liked or to be friends with students especially if you are young and in the first year of teaching.

But there are times when a smaller age gap between student and teacher can lead to loss of control, boundary crossing, or even boundary violations.

Teachers feel ‘‘out there on their own’’ in attempting to negotiate boundaries

(Aultman, et al, 2009. 645)

Code of Conduct (2009) Relationships

9.8 The boundaries of the professional relationship will be breached if you:

x. have a sexual relationship or develop an intimate relationship with a student

xi. use sexual innuendo or inappropriate language and/or material with students

xii. hold conversations of an intimately personal nature, where you disclose private information about yourself

xiii. have contact with a student via written or electronic means including email, letters, telephone, text messages or chat lines, without a valid context

xiv. give students gifts of a personal nature that encourages them to think they have an individual and special relationship with you.

Relationships:With students

http://www.vit.vic.edu.au/files/video/1410_Vox-Pops-1.5-B%282%29.wmv

Dilemma in assessmentScore pollution is an ethical issue because polluted

scores misrepresent the students’ mastery of the assessed material.

(Pope et al, 2009). Eg: ‘teaching for the test’

The NAPLAN dilemma (again)With the proliferation worldwide of national testing schemes, recent empirical research finds that in the area of assessment, teachers face common ethical conflicts regarding (a) ‘score pollution’; and (b) teachers’ perceptions of institutional demands and the needs of students (Pope et al, 2009).

Conflicting elements in assessment dilemmas

Institutional requirementsStudent needParent needTeacher needBasic values

Example:‘‘One situation that I encountered last year that

made me wonder if my assessment techniques were not fair involved a problemed (sic), but bright, young man. He would not get his assignments finished on time, and because of this he lost points and failed the first quarter. After the first quarter he completely gave up; he no longer even tried to do the work he was assigned.’’ (Pope et al, 2009, p.781)

What would you do?

References Aultman & Williams-Johnson, (2009), Boundary dilemmas in

teacher–student relationships: Struggling with ‘‘the line’’, Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 636-646

Campbell, 2008, The Ethical Teacher, Open University Press.Colnerud, G. (1997). Ethical conflicts in teaching. Teaching

and Teacher Education, 13(6), 627-635.Lyons, N., (1990), Dilemmas of Knowing: Ethical and

Epistemological Dimensions of Teachers’ Work and Development, Harvard Educational Review, 60:2, pp. 159-179

Oakley & Cocking, 2006, Virtue Ethics and Professional Roles, Cambridge University Press

Pope, Green, Johnson and Mitchell (2009) Examining teacher ethical dilemmas in classroom assessment, Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, pp. 778-782