The influence of law and Ethics
What are ethics? From our class notes I understand that ethics are learned behaviours that have been shaped by a range of societal influences such as school, work, community, family, church, culture and sports. It is our individual interpretation of ethics that helps shape our ideas about justice, morality and virtue. I believe that everything we do and every decision we make has ethics at its core, which motivates our actions and decisions. I also think ethics are quite personal. What I feel very strongly about may not be quite so compelling to someone else. I am by nature a goody too shoes and I see things in black and white and I see very little grey.
As I said ethical dilemmas are very much a personal thing and people reading this blog might not think it is too much of this issue, but it made me question what I felt was right or wrong. My dilemma was quite clear cut a few years ago, now it may not be quite so clear cut, although I would still make the same decision.
About five years ago I reconnected with an ex- boy friend, that I was dating when we were both teaching students, through facebook. He was a deputy principal in a school in South Africa, when we reconnected and I had been teaching in New Zealand for fifteen years. We chatted about our teaching experiences and he asked me to send photos of my classroom, my children and their work and he would do the same. At first I thought nothing of it and started planning what I would show off, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt it was not right.
Catharyn Baird discusses the idea about a moral compass which is a guide that lets us know how we are supposed to act, we also have communities that have expectations about how we should act and behave. This is true because our teacher registration requires us to be "a person of good character "and we are to be "deemed fit to be a teacher" Hall 2001. Catharyn goes on to say that when these two ideas are in sync life is wonderful, but when they are out of sync we have what she calls ethical tension.
So the moral compass, my own beliefs, told me this was not the right thing to do. The community our code of ethics for certified teachers states that we are vested by the public with trust .And the law also indicated this was not the right thin to do. The reading on Ethical and professional dilemmas for educators (2012) talks about student confidentiality and a students basic privacy rights. Our own code of ethics states that Teachers will strive to protect the confidentiality of information about learners.
That was 5 years ago, I decided not to send him the photos, but I did give him my school's website details.
Today social media and Facebook are even more popular and even if I keep the children's names out of the pictures and work, I still don't feel comfortable about sending this type of information. Our school has, as have many schools in New Zealand, followed the digital revolution and now our school website has class blogs and, for our digital classes, student's blogs. If he were to look at our school website today he would have a much better insight into a New Zealand school, better than I could have depicted with a few photos.
As I said earlier, this was my ethical dilemma, another person may not think it is such a big deal.
References
Baird, C. Ethics for people on the move. TEDxMileHigh Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqMj51Ea1K8
Connecticut's Teacher Education and Mentoring Program. (2012). Ethical and Professional
Dilemmas for Education: Facilitators Guide. Retrieved
from http://www.ctteam.org/df/resources/Module5_Manual.pdf
Education Council. (n.d). The Education Council Code of Ethics for Certificated Teachers.
Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/code-of-ethics-certificated-t
eachers-0
Hall, A. (2001). What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration
of ethical problems by teachers. Paper presented at theIIPE 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
As I said ethical dilemmas are very much a personal thing and people reading this blog might not think it is too much of this issue, but it made me question what I felt was right or wrong. My dilemma was quite clear cut a few years ago, now it may not be quite so clear cut, although I would still make the same decision.
About five years ago I reconnected with an ex- boy friend, that I was dating when we were both teaching students, through facebook. He was a deputy principal in a school in South Africa, when we reconnected and I had been teaching in New Zealand for fifteen years. We chatted about our teaching experiences and he asked me to send photos of my classroom, my children and their work and he would do the same. At first I thought nothing of it and started planning what I would show off, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt it was not right.
Catharyn Baird discusses the idea about a moral compass which is a guide that lets us know how we are supposed to act, we also have communities that have expectations about how we should act and behave. This is true because our teacher registration requires us to be "a person of good character "and we are to be "deemed fit to be a teacher" Hall 2001. Catharyn goes on to say that when these two ideas are in sync life is wonderful, but when they are out of sync we have what she calls ethical tension.
So the moral compass, my own beliefs, told me this was not the right thing to do. The community our code of ethics for certified teachers states that we are vested by the public with trust .And the law also indicated this was not the right thin to do. The reading on Ethical and professional dilemmas for educators (2012) talks about student confidentiality and a students basic privacy rights. Our own code of ethics states that Teachers will strive to protect the confidentiality of information about learners.
That was 5 years ago, I decided not to send him the photos, but I did give him my school's website details.
Today social media and Facebook are even more popular and even if I keep the children's names out of the pictures and work, I still don't feel comfortable about sending this type of information. Our school has, as have many schools in New Zealand, followed the digital revolution and now our school website has class blogs and, for our digital classes, student's blogs. If he were to look at our school website today he would have a much better insight into a New Zealand school, better than I could have depicted with a few photos.
As I said earlier, this was my ethical dilemma, another person may not think it is such a big deal.
References
Baird, C. Ethics for people on the move. TEDxMileHigh Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqMj51Ea1K8
Connecticut's Teacher Education and Mentoring Program. (2012). Ethical and Professional
Dilemmas for Education: Facilitators Guide. Retrieved
from http://www.ctteam.org/df/resources/Module5_Manual.pdf
Education Council. (n.d). The Education Council Code of Ethics for Certificated Teachers.
Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/code-of-ethics-certificated-t
eachers-0
Hall, A. (2001). What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration
of ethical problems by teachers. Paper presented at theIIPE 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
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