[MUSIC] Welcome back everybody to Course 7, Being a Professional. We are now moving into Week 2, ethics, codes of conduct and standards for teachers. And our first lecture is ethical, professional behavior for teachers. Now, the term ethics has an interesting meaning. What we are really talking about with ethics is the moral principles or the values that govern our behaviour or conduct. We also want to consider the issue of what it means to be an ethical person. And to help you answer those questions, I've provided a sample of a code of ethics, which comes from Queensland in Australia. It comes from the Queensland College of Teachers which is the main body that registers teachers in Queensland. In looking at that code of ethics, I want you to consider as well, what sorts of behavior are covered by this code of ethics, and what sorts of principles underpin it. And just to reiterate, ethics are the key principles that govern our behaviour. So for example, a doctor may have an ethic that says any person in need will receive their care. On the other hand, if their ethic was to make as much money as possible, that may well work against their professional operation or activity or practice, as a doctor. Now, that you've seen the code of ethics from Queensland, I want you to consider these problematic situations. After, I briefly explain them, I suggest you stop the video, and you might consult with colleagues, you might engage in online discussion with fellow people in this course or you may well want to talk to your principal. In any case, have a think about why each of these situations might be in contravention or against the ethics we expect of teachers. Let me just explain each of these before we stop the video. The first of these is, accepting gifts and money from parents. Why might this be a problem ethically for a teacher? The second is meeting with students socially out of school time. The third problematic situation is being alone with students. Quite possibly, during the school day. And quite possibly, out of the sight of other teachers. The fourth is giving preference to students of a particular background. It could be the more wealthy students, it could be students of particular cultural background, racial background, it could be the brightest students, or the least able. What about hugging students? Physical contact with students to show affection. Another one, is the issue of listening to students' personal problems, possibly to do with their relationships with their parents, their friends, their private lives. Listening to student complaints about other teachers. What could be problematic ethically about this situation? And finally, complaining about your principal to community members. Stop the video now, have those discussions with your colleagues, your principal, or your fellow course participants online. [MUSIC] Now, that you've had the chance to discuss these, just a few points from me but I don't expect that I will cover everything that you may have talked about, or discussed with your colleagues. Accepting gifts and money from parents. Occasionally, a parent may well pass on a small gift to a teacher, at the end of the year, for example, or a particular occasion. This in itself is not necessarily a problem. However, there are ethical issues involved. Money, for example, could be seen as trying to buy influence with that teacher, so that a student, for example, may get better marks or grades. Gifts that are expensive could be seen again to be trying to influence the teacher's behaviour. One of the key things about being a teacher, one of the key expectations for you, is that you treat all students fairly. And, by implication, you treat parents and community members fairly. So, accepting gifts and money could be problematic. You should on the regulations or the advice from people, such as your principal, and the school rules that you might well have that cover this. Now, meeting with students socially out of school is a problem. You have a particular duty of care to students within school hours and on official school business, and we will talk about this later in this course, but meeting students socially can be a problem. It's important for teachers to maintain what we call appropriate professional distance. In other words, you can be friendly to students but you can't be their friend. If you are seen with them socially, it could arise that people may well accuse you of either favoritism or unprofessional conduct with those students. It depends what the situation is. I was teaching in a small country town in Australia, and I used to play sport with some of my students in a representative cricket team. Now, that would be seen as acceptable. However, if I socialised with those players outside that team too much, and they're underage for example, and we may well have had a meeting in a public bar or a hotel. Again, that could be putting me in a very difficult situation as a professional. Now, what's wrong with being alone with students. The issue here may well be that if a student accused you of something, unprofessional behaviour, there will be no witnesses to this. That's the first problem. But the second problem is, it may well lead to unprofessional behaviour or accusations of unprofessional behavior that you wish to avoid. It's better if you do need to speak to a student alone that you still do this in sight of either other students or other teachers. And certainly not in something like a closed office or storeroom. And we'll talk more about teacher-student relationships later in this course. Giving preference to students of a particular background. Obviously, this can lead to accusations of favoritism, or being partial, or being unfair, in your dealings to students. Regardless of students' background, you need to be seen and you need to act fairly and objectively in your treatment of them. Even, in some cases if you don't find them particularly pleasant in their interactions with you. Hugging students. Physical contact is obviously very, very dangerous. And could lead to accusations of physical assault, sexual assault. It's inappropriate professional behaviour. Can a teacher touch a student? Yes, in certain cases, that would be acceptable. For example, if a student was injured. If you were demonstrating maybe a certain technique in gymnastics, or basketball, or whatever. But as a general rule, it is best not to touch students at all. Listening to students' personal problems. We need to know students as learners and people, as I've mentioned earlier. But there is a limit to this. And, you don't want to be in a position where students are telling you, a whole range of personal details from their private life. In some cases however, they may well share with you information that's important for you to pass on to your principal, initially, and quite possibly, to the police. But, generally speaking, it's not a good idea to make yourself available to listen to students' long list of problems. And certainly, it isn't a good idea to offer advice when you're not trained to do so. If you're not a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a medical practitioner, a counsellor, it's best to put a stop to those sorts of discussions. But if you feel a student needs to discuss things with a professional, you should arrange for that student to talk to someone like a school psychologist or a school counselor. Now, what about listening to student complaints about other teachers? Again, this could be seen as being unethical and unprofessional if you are seen to encourage, or to permit your students, to criticise other teachers. You should put a stop to this and let the student know that you're not going to engage in these conversations. But if the student had a real complaint about a teacher, they should direct that complaint to someone like the school principal, if it's serious enough. Finally, complaining about your principal to community members, again, would be seen as unprofessional, and unethical behavior. If you have concerns about your principal, it's best to keep those between yourself and the principal. But certainly not to discuss those with community members. If you talk to parents, members of the community, about your principal, in a critical way, there's no doubt that they will repeat that with other people. And, very soon, you might be in a situation where you're seen to be entering what's called defamation, or making statements that are harmful about somebody's reputation. We don't want to be in that situation. Now, there are some other problem areas regarding ethical behaviour. And, I would refer you to the YouTube clip, "Teachers' Personal and Professional Boundaries." I mentioned before that we would like you to be friendly with your students, but you can't be their friend. There are dangers in that you move beyond what the professional relationship is towards one that's more personal. I suggest that you stop the video now, view that YouTube clip, and think about other areas where teacher's behavior may enter the realm of being either unprofessional or unethical. [MUSIC] Finally, in this session, thinking about the ground that we've covered so far in these lectures, what advice would you give a new teacher to your school about what is acceptable, ethical behaviour, and what might be seen as unacceptable behaviour? In doing this you may refer to some of your school documents and policies or this might be more general advice. So, knowing what you know now, from your experience and from what we've been talking about, what advice would you give the beginning teacher? And finally, teachers are sometimes referred to as role models. This means, they are seen as a powerful example of how to act by other people. How do you feel about being a role model? Are you uncomfortable with that? Are you uncomfortable with the notion that even when you're out in public, people will expect things of you because you are a teacher? In our next session, we'll consider the features and uses of professional standards for teachers. [MUSIC]
