Week+6



Jake Gordon 30/04/09 Hi again all,

Well week 6's focus was a pretty fundamental one when it comes to our future teaching careers! This lecture and tutorial were all about the codes and ethics that are part and parcel to teaching. The lecture I thought was very informative and gave great insight into the issues that we will face as teachers and appropriate behaviours and measures to deal with them. We focussed on many different aspects and I have listed briefly main focuses I took from the week.


 * Morality - ** we must be concerned with the right conduct and be able to clearly distinguish between right and wrong. For teachers this is crucial for us and ensures that we are in complete understanding and make clear decisions about our actions and also about our professional morality. These are very important as children are like sponges and will pick up anything that we project to them.


 * Code of Ethics ** is based on three understandings; Integrity, Respect and Responsibility.


 * Integrity - ** Acting in the best interests of the students, and this inturn means maintaining a professional relationship with the students and behaving in ways that respect & advance the profession.


 * Respect - ** As teachers we must, be acting with care and compassion, treat students fairly and impartially; hold our colleagues in high regard and acknowledge the parents as partners in the education of their children.


 * Responsibility - ** We will provide quality teaching, maintain and develop our professional practice and work cooperatively with our colleagues in the best interest of the students.

I think that if we can encompass and implement these three main criteria into our teaching than I think our careers are going to turn out very well, because these aren't just relevant to teaching. For me, I believe that they all apply very closely with day-to-day life, whether that be family, friendship, work or a sporting team, these are quite crucial in the building blocks of success.

During the tute, Pete was able to talk to us about Personal and Professional conduct and also differentiate between them. I found this tute to be immensely valuable as it clarified what the two mean as there is no distinguishable boundary. Again I found these key concepts can easily relate back to day-to-day life.

- being a positive role model - not exploit their position for personal or financial gain - ensure that their personal or financial interests do not interfere with the performance of their duties - act with discretion and maintain confidentiality when discussing workplace issues
 * Personal Conduct: **

- Teachers value their professionalism, and set and maintain high standards of competence - teachers are
 * Professional Conduct: **

- Aware of legal requirements that pertain to the their profession
 * knowledgeable in their areas of expertise
 * committed to pursuing their own professional learning
 * complete their duties in a responsible, thorough and timely way
 * discrimination, harassment and vilification
 * negligence
 * mandatory reporting
 * privacy
 * occupational health and safety
 * teacher registration

We as future teachers have an obligation to have a vast knowledge of the issues that have been discussed in week 6. As I mentioned before, if we do have our heads around this information and apply as our careers progress, then I think that the journey ahead is going to be an enjoyable and prosperous one for us!


 * Amy 30/04/09**

What a fantastic outline of the lecture. This has been particularly useful for me as unfortunately I was not able to attend the lecture or tutorial this week. In all professions there is a code of conduct that needs to be followed, however as teachers I feel that we need to be accutely aware of the different elements as we are dealing with children and in a unique position of trust and influence. To overstep the boundaries that have been set for us can and will have dire concequences. In the discussion paper //' Promoting the Ethical School: Professional Ethics for School Adminstrators'// by Dr Kathie Forster, she explains some of the ethical characteristics of an ethical culture in schools to include: "Acceptance by school personnel of responsibilities for their actions, both individually and collectively. That is, an acceptance of responsibility by each individual for their personal ethics as professionals and for the ethics of the organisation of a whole". Ultimately we are all responsible for our own actions.

I thought that I would share with you a fun play on the letters in the word ethics that I made up:


 * E **mbrace every opportunity
 * T **eaching is our passion
 * H **old on to your beliefs and don't be afraid to speak up
 * I **ndividual responsibility is needed
 * C **hildren's welfare is our concern
 * S **chool policies need to be followed

Brent Plowright 01/05/2009

Thanks guys. Interesting topic this one and I certainly agree it will be a fundamental part of how we run our classrooms and interact with the stakeholders of the school. I thought it was interesting how in the Sherry article //Working in an Ethical School// how the distinction is made between ethics and values with particular focus on the school as a workplace. The article distinguishes the two as this:

'Values refer to those principles that guide our judgment about what is good and proper. They reflect our aspirations around what we’re here for, what defines us, who we are, what we stand for. Workplace values are the standards we set for our interactions with students, colleagues, parents and others and are unique to a workplace. Ethics on the other hand tends to refer largely to a range of rules-based behaviours. This is where you put your values to work when making decisions, understanding and knowing whether you’ve broken a rule or not, whether or not you’re in the right or wrong area.'

An interesting and informative distinction I thought. As we have learnt in past lectures it is indeed your value system that forms your method, ideology and pedagogy of teaching. So it in turn makes sense that this will also form the basis of our actions when dealing the whole school community. Something I found to be a great exercise in the Forster article (p.5) //' Promoting the Ethical School: Professional Ethics for School Adminstrators',// and I believe this was brought up in either the tute or the lecture, is to actually create your own code of ethics as a group of teachers. I think that it would be a good exercise for student teachers to do too.

Bec 1/05/09

As you guys mentioned week 8's lecture was based on ethics and how we, as teachers, should be professional and role models both at school and in our leisure time. Presenting ourselves professionally is integral in our teaching career as it is fundamental that we fulfil our ethical values daily. Ethics is about behaving correctly and establish the difference between right and wrong. It is integral that we care about our teaching, the students and our behaviour and model the correct conduct.

This lecture is really quite simple to reflect on, behave correctly, care for the students and treat them with fairness and compassion. It is our role, as professionals, to enrich the students'journey through school and enable them to respect us and deem us as responsible and well recognised role models.

ONLINE RESOURCES
[|The Victorian Teaching Profession Code of Conduct] [|VIT - The Standards Framework]

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Names: Brent Plowright Rebecca Beed Amy Mclean Jake Gordon