DOING IT RESILIENTLY

MODULE 5: RESILIENT ETHICAL PRACTICE

5.1 ETHICS AND PROFESSIONALISMKEY LEARNINGS AITSL: 4.4, 4.5, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2 Understanding the attributes of a professional teacher Recognising standards of teaching the differences between ethical and legal practices Identify strategies for navigating ethical dilemmas and maintaining codes of ethics for teachers Recognise the ways in which ethical dilemmas impact on mental health

ENGAGING

How do you think you deal with ethical and sensitive issues?

Which cartoon resonates strongest with you in relation to this?

Not many of you should become teachers…because

you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

(James 3:1, NIV)

Not getting religious in any way, but what are your initial reactions to the quote above?

Does this quote resonate with any of your experiences so far? Why/why not?

Think about the key difference between ‘ethics’ and ‘morals’. Are teachers held to ethical standard, moral standards, or both? What implications does this have for teacher standards?

EXPLORING: Teacher Professionalism DOING IT RESILIENTLY: PAPATRAIANOU AND STRANGEWAYS (2017) PAGE 1

What does a Teacher ‘Look’ Like? Many people think that they can be teachers because they have attended school, or have children and so know all about it. Many films, books and poems focus on teaching and portray different aspects of teaching. Each one you have read or seen will have made an impression on you and what you think of teachers, but now YOU are becoming a teacher!

No printed word, nor spoken plea,Can teach young minds what they should be

Not all the books on all the shelves –But what the teachers are themselves.

- Anon

The Teacher (Dennis, C.J. 1958)I’d like to be a teacher, and have a clever brain,

Calling out. ‘Attention Please!’ and ‘Must I speak in Vain?’I’d be quite strict with boys and girls whose minds I had to

train,And all the books and maps and things I’d carefully explain;I’d make them learn the dates of kings and all the capes of

Spain;But I wouldn’t be a teacher if…

I couldn’t use the cane.Would You?

Consider the many Hollywood and other movies about teachers and consider how teachers are portrayed in these movies

Can you name any Hollywood “Teachers”? Examples: [Click Here] [Click Here] What are your reactions to “The Teacher” written in 1958? Those of you located in South Australia may recall the SA DECD video

from couple of years ago "Teaching is Inspiring" (unfortunately they have removed links to the promotion video which is possibly as good thing given its portrayal of teachers and classrooms!).

The Professional ‘YOU’ What makes you different from another teacher are your professional knowledge, background, personality and where you teach. How these components combine to create ‘YOU as a teacher’ is an unknown, yet we consider a variety of elements of your teaching to assist in the process being successful.

What makes you an individual in your teaching are three factors (with the aim to promote engagement and learning):1. Your professional and personal teaching style2. The resources used in teaching3. The types and levels of interaction between the teacher and students.

What would be 10 things you would NEVER say as a teacher?

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1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.

Share these with the group. Are there any from other students’ list that you thought would be OKAY to SAY?

Your Professional and Personal Teaching Style

Think about these personal attributes and how these various personal and environmental factors have influenced the way in which you use voice, gesture, movement, energy and animation (as your personal self and as a teacher). Are they similar, or different?

hink about the way you speak. List five distinguishing characteristics of your speech.

1.

2.3.4.5.

Have you noted your pitch, volume, and speed or speech?

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Oral markers you use to focus attention?

Ways of using pauses to capture attention and make an impact?

Do any of these conflict with ‘characteristics’ of what makes an effective teacher?

Keep this handy so we can revisit these responses in relation to effective teaching and standards and

professionalism in teaching.

Standards in Teaching States and Territories in Australia and around the world require teachers to be registered to teach in schools. This registration is similar to many other professions (e.g. medicine, nursing, accounting). The expectations vary, but the basic premise is that teachers are guided by a set of underlying ethical and professional standards that they must attain during the Initial Teacher Education and throughout their professional lives.

List the academic standards you would see as necessary for a beginning teacher.

List the professional attributes you would expect to be part of the standards for a beginning teacher.

List the ethical practices you would consider necessary for a beginning teacher.

Academic Standards Professional Attributes Ethical Practices

Local Standards and Ethical Responsibilities South Australia Northern Territory

https://www.trb.sa.edu.au/professional- teaching-standards

https://www.trb.sa.edu.au/sites/default/ files/Code-of-Ethics.pdf

http://www.trb.nt.gov.au/professional-standards-and-ethics

http://www.trb.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/ 0020/33059/CodeOfEthicsNTteachers.pdf

Have a look at the standards across the two states. Each State and Territory interprets this in different

ways. What are some of the key similarities and differences in relation to the ways in which these two

examples are presented? Keep these in mind as we move into the Professionalism section.

Ethical or Legal? Consider the ‘Attributes of a Professional Teacher’ Model below where the “Legal” and “Ethical” segments make up 2 of the 5 key areas of the Professional Teacher.

Consider the following issues and categorise which are Ethical Issues or Dilemmas and which are legal issues. What is the key difference between ethical and legal issues?

Have you experienced ethical or legal issues while on placement, and how were these dealt with?

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Legal or Ethical?

Adhering to child protection legislation (e.g. reporting abuse and neglect requirements).

Behaving in a disgraceful or improper manner (e.g. inappropriate interaction with a student)

Engaging in ongoing professional learning. Having effective classroom management strategies Keeping accurate records (e.g. injuries, attendance, and assessment). Work to ensure students are not discriminated against on the basis of gender, age,

race, religion, language, ability, culture or national origin. Sharing confidential information about a student to another student or parent Using and distributing materials that have copy write limits Your Teacher Registration lapses and you remain teaching Using drugs on school grounds

In your own time, have a look at the following link. All case summaries regarding teaching dismissals and revoking of teacher registrations in South Australia are available here: https://www.trb.sa.edu.au/cases

Legal Issues Ethical issues are not to be confused with legal issues. Teaching has many legal aspects including issue of criminal and civil law as well as issues relating to copy write and professional practice.

Professional misconduct could also be a legal issue if the behaviour contravenes the civil or criminal code of the law. It may not contravene legislation, it may be inappropriate if you:

Behave in a disgraceful or improper manner that prejudices the good name or academic standing of the school;

Harasses or vilifies members of the professional setting; Refuse to follow reasonable directions in authority.

Ethical Dilemmas Rarely are there easy step-by-step answers or responses to ethical Dilemmas. However there is broad consensus of a code of ethics for teaching that is based on:

Respect Caring

o Integrity and Diligence Open communication

Consider the following Dilemmas on the following page. Highlight and share three dilemmas that you

have already experienced during your professional experience placements.

Which resonate most strongly? Which concern you the most?

Which have you experienced?

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How can reflection help?

Here are some other Ethical Dilemmas you may face:

You observe another teacher publically humiliate a child who is known for bullying behaviour. Do you say anything?

A colleague tells you they have a diagnosed medical problem (lose consciousness) and will not take the medication. It has safety implications for the children in her class. What do you do?

Is it ethical to rank students and publish their ‘place in the class’?

Is it ethical to punish a whole class for the misdemeanours of a few?

Can you think of other ethical dilemmas that demonstrate the ways in which expectations and experiences can shape the

ways in which we behave? It certainly is a Grey area!

Make a list of ethical dilemmas you may experience when planning and evaluating a curriculum unit on the environment. Imagine you are a teacher in a small country town that is dependent on the local timber industry, which is significantly logging native forests.

Maintaining Code of Ethics for Teaching View the brief overview of strategies for ethical practice. Select one column to read and share one point

that you feel confident about supporting and one that you feel concerned about implementing (ethically or practically). Each student in the group should select a different column.

Students and Teachers Parents, caregivers and families

Colleagues Community/Society Teacher as Professional

Avoid using influence as teacher to indoctrinate personal, political and social values.

Engage in respective practices that in no way degrade, endanger, exploit, intimidate or harm

Respect students right to privacy

Provide an environment that promotes physical, emotional, social and intellectual wellbeing

Understand and acknowledge social and cultural differences that affect parental expectations

Respect privacy and treat information with appropriate level of confidentiality

Respect parents’ and guardians’ rights of enquiry, consultation and information

Support relationships between students

Interact with respect and without discrimination

Be loyal and supportive

Work cooperatively Share expertise and

knowledge Support and assist in

raising status of the profession

Assert their professional, industrial and civil rights and support their colleagues in the defence of these

Provide learning that is responsive to community needs

Promote cooperation between agencies, schools and families

Promote interest in community and environmental issues

Support laws and policies to support student wellbeing

Develop students’ sense of democratic society, respect, freedom, equality, integrity

Update and improve expertise through formal and information PL

Engage in critical reflection to ensure awareness between own beliefs and ethical practices.

Support and involve themselves in research to strengthen and expand knowledge

Be advocates for students and the teaching profession

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of students. and family rights

WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS

Work StressWork stress is an issue encountered by a substantial number of teachers, particularly pre-service teachers who lack experience and strategies to cope with unexpected situations and students’ problem behaviours (Capan, 2012; Cefai & Cavioni, 2014). Stress can be recognised through manifestations such as mental feelings of anxiety, insecurity, vulnerability and depression, and physical symptoms such as stomach pain, headaches or high blood pressure (Richards, 2012).

In their relationships with students and colleagues, a (dis)stressed teacher may seem irritated, impatient and sometimes withdrawn (Richards, 2012). In order to counteract stress effectively, teachers should be active agents in their personal and professional wellness and accept that most things in life are transient (Boyd & Eckert, 2002). Some effective methods to deal with stress reported by 54 Charles Sturt University pre-service teachers include communicating with others, self-help, relaxation, recreation, time management and organisation (Hemmings & Hockley, 2002).

Emotional ManagementEmotional management is a term used by Hochschild (1990; 2003) to describe the social and organisational implications of caring in the workplace. The social aspect of emotion management refers specifically to the way in which individuals must manage their emotions in the workplace in a way that is socially acceptable (Hochschild, 2003), however doing this can increase teachers’ feelings of vulnerability. Hargreaves (1998) states:

Emotional labor is an important part of teaching, and in many ways, a positive one. For many teachers, it is a labor of love. Classrooms would be (and sometimes are) barren and boring places without it…though, it is also important to recognize that emotional labor also exposes teachers, making them vulnerable when the conditions of and demands on their work make it hard for them to do their ‘emotion work’ properly (p. 840).

Good teaching is charged with both positive and negative emotion and therefore it is important to manage emotions, particularly in relation to managing ethical and professional dilemmas which cannot be solved, but only managed.

SCENARIOS: Legal or Ethical Decisions?

1. WHAT HAPPENS IN THE CLASSROOM DOES NOT ALWAYS STAY IN THE CLASSROOM!

It is Friday afternoon; two weeks from the end of term. Your students are tired, irritable and over school for the term. They can smell the school holidays just around the corner and they do not want to listen to you.

You are teaching Year 8 English. On a daily basis you are shocked at how grown up your students appear to be.

Your students are studying Shakespeare. You decide to show the movie “Romeo & Juliet” by Baz Luhrmann. You have the film on your laptop and you are to display it on the big screen in the classroom. You explain to your students that it’s a1996 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy of the same name. It was directed by Australian Baz Luhrmann and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the leading roles. It’s an edgy adaptation, somewhat violent but a wonderful alternate modern view.

You explain that the film is an abridged modernization of Shakespeare's play.

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It has been a while since you last sat down and watched this movie, but you remember “loving” it when it came out. If you had more time you concede to yourself that you would have vetted the movie before showing it (just to be sure), but you decide to throw caution to the wind and go with it.

The movie starts, kids are quiet and engaged. You are relieved.

You remember that the movie is somewhat violent but there is no swearing. You believe your students are old enough and mature enough to handle the movie. You stop the movie intermittently to ask questions of your class and they are engaged.

Before long the storyline heats up and you start to remember the sex scenes between Romeo and Juliet that are about to come onto the screen….What do you do?

OPTIONS:1. Turn the movie off and apologise to the students explaining that you had forgotten there were

inappropriate scenes in the movie?2. Fast forward through the scenes and explain to the students it is just not acceptable to show them in

this context?3. Let the movie run. You realise you should have vetted the movie more closely but it’s too late now.4. Nothing, year 8 students have seen far worse.

2. FACEBOOK FRIENDS!!

A student requests you to be his/her friend on Facebook…What do you do?

1. Decline the offer of friendship. Explain to the student the following day that it is nothing personal, but you don’t befriend students.

2. You accept. Everyone knows how important it is to have HEAPS of friends on Facebook.3. You have two Facebook sites (one for students and one for friends) so you add the student to your

“school” Facebook.4. Other?

You accept a friend request from a student (despite not being allowed to!). Late one Wednesday night you notice a posting on one of your students’ pages that implies the student was drunk and may have had sexual relations with another student at the school. The student is 14 years of age... What do you do?

1. Nothing, the student is entitled to privacy.2. Speak to the student the next day. You tell the student you are around if he/she needs to talk.3. Mandatory reporting obliges me to tell the Principal and the Police.4. Un-friend the student. You don’t want to be a part of this.5. Other?

3. IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME

It is Sunday. You have just finished lunch with some friends and decide to pop into Coles on your way home. By the time you have filled your trolley with food for the week it is absolutely pouring with rain outside. You chastise yourself for not grabbing your umbrella from the car. You grab your shopping bags and are about to make a dash for the car.

Out of the corner of your eye you spot one of your Year 10 students.

“Hey Miss/Sir, can I grab a lift home? Please, I live really close by, I promise”. What do you do?

1. No. You apologise politely but say no.2. Yes. It is pouring out there; you could never leave a student to walk home in that!3. Agree to take the student to the end of the street (which is a couple of kms long) but say I can’t take you

all the way home. You feel you are helping him/her but you don’t want the student in your car any longer than necessary.

4. Other?

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A CASE STORY

BIG PICTURE MENTAL HEALTH: Personal wellbeing and mental health to maintain the professional self

An important aspect of personal wellbeing is mental health. Managing and navigating ethical and professional dilemmas can influence your mental health. What do we mean when we talk about ‘mental health’?

The KidsMatter program defines mental health in the following ways - “Mental health is how we think or feel about ourselves and what is going on around us, and how we cope with

the ups and down of life.

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Mental health is not mental illness or ‘problems’ or ‘difficulties’. Mental health is part of our overall sense of wellbeing and includes the positive aspects that create a fulfilling and meaningful life (eg confidence, optimism, persistence).

Mental health is not about being happy all the time, but being able to manage life’s challenges effectively in ways that enable us to live a life we value.” (KidsMatter, 2012, p. 29)

Given these ideas, why might promoting positive mental health be important for teachers?

How and in what ways might teacher mental health impact on students?

Not all Stress is Unpleasant! The flurry of activity surrounding a wedding or big holiday can be exciting (psychologists call this eustress). Sometimes, however, particular situations or multiple demands can result in distress which, over a period of time can lead to exhaustion or burn out.

Can you recognise signs of stress in yourself and others? Distress can show in different ways in different people. For example, you could be breathless or find your heart racing, have a “short fuse”, be unable to sleep or sleep to escape, eat too much or stop eating, feel on the verge of crying, withdraw from family, friends or activities, or have your mind racing with all the things you have to do.

Once you are able to recognise the signs of stress in yourself you are in a position to put into place some of the strategies in the rest of this module – to learn how to monitor and manage your stress in positive ways. You will need some strategies for within the classroom too.

o Which of these tips for responding to stress do you use?o Monitor your stress levels and when you notice yourself feeling tense, do something about it, like

exercise or talk to a friend.o Be proactive rather than reactive. Know what causes you to feel stressed and do what you can to

prevent it occurring.o Know what activity helps you relax and unwind and do this regularly.o Prioritise – if you are stressed about the amount of work you need to do, make a list of priorities and

attend to the top priorities first.o Avoid unhealthy eating and drinking habits as these can put more stress on your body.o Regular exercise and getting adequate sleep can also help with reducing stress.

YOUR STORY: USING TEXT AND/OR ART

Have a read of the Insights from ECTs and School Leaders in regard to the Case Story. Develop _____that illustrates the complexity of the professional world of teaching and in some way display your strategies for managing such complexities.

STRATEGIESUsing Spheres of Control and Influence to Navigate Dilemmas

Consider the following model in relation to one of the ethical dilemma scenarios, or your own ethical dilemma.

Think about each sphere in relation to the dilemma and work through the process from steps 1 to 3.

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QUESTIONS TO REFLECT ON TO MANAGE DILEMMAS1. NO CONTROL/ INFLUENCE

Matters that are out of our control or beyond the ability to influence

Ask Yourself “Am I ready to let this go, stop complaining about it and not letting it bother me?

Rephrase these dilemmas in a way that moves them to the sphere of control sphere

2. INFLUENCE Issues we can influence, although we alone do not determine the outcome

Look for complaints in the sphere of influence. Can these be rephrased to the sphere of control?

3. CONTROL Things which we have a final say- we determine the outcome.

Finally, look at the items that are now in your Circle of Control.

What is one concrete action you can take this week to address each one?

Write down that action next to each issue, and also put it on your calendar or To Do list to make sure you get it done.

Engaging in Reflective Teaching for Professional Behaviour Engaging in the reflective process is crucial when navigating and managing dilemmas and teaching with professional behaviours. The significance of a reflective practitioner means both thinking deeply and critically about one’s practice and examining from where one’s ideas and beliefs and have. Consider the following as strategies that are embedded within your everyday teaching practices.

Listening It is necessary that students are aware that you listen actively to them. Nodding, agreeing, and acknowledging their attentiveness is a very positive experience for them.

Clarifying Ensuring that your instructions are clearly understood. Model, scaffold and give examples so all students are aware of the expectations.

Encouraging Offer reassurance that you understand the message the student is giving you.

Reflecting An integral part of your continued learning is the process of review of your day to day and the lesson’s successes or failures.

Problem solving Maintain a process of exploring possible options and solutions for problems which may arise in the classroom.

Negotiating Negotiate the probable solutions to issues which have arisen, considering the priorities and investigating the options

Directing Explain choices and make decisions as to the best course of action

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Standardizing Use criteria assessment and marking a guide for the most appropriate methods of equitable assessment in all aspects of learning.

Reinforcing Be aware of possible consequences and present them in a positive manner to the benefit of all stakeholders.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE

What is the one most significant thing you’ve come across in the session today?

Additional Resources and WebsitesUSEFUL RESOURCES

HTTP://WWW.RESPONSEABILITY.ORG/__DATA/ASSETS/PDF_FILE/0013/10561/MENTAL-HEALTH-AND-MENTAL-ILL-HEALTH-FINAL.PDF

HTTPS://WWW.DECD.SA.GOV.AU/DOC/PROTECTIVE-PRACTICES-STAFF-THEIR-INTERACTIONS-CHILDREN-AND-YOUNG-PEOPLE

HTTP://WWW.RESPONSEABILITY.ORG/__DATA/ASSETS/PDF_FILE/0011/10541/WELLBEING-AND-SELF-CARE-FINAL.PDF

USEFUL WEBSITES

HTTPS://YOUTU.BE/N8SFS7RWS08

ReferencesGROUNDWATER-SMITH, EWING & LE CORNU (2015) TEACHING CHALLENGES AND DILEMMAS, 5TH EDITION, CENGAGE LEARNING: AUSTRALIA

WHITTON, D. ET AL. (2010). LEARNING FOR TEACHING TEACHING FOR LEARNING. CENGAGE: AUSTRALIA.

HTTP://DEVELOPMENTCROSSROADS.COM/WP-CONTENT/UPLOADS/2011/01/WORKSHEET-SPHERES-OF-INFLUENCE-CONTROL.PDF

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