Activity 4- Discuss how issues of ethics, society, culture and professional environments (including law, regulations and policy) are being addressed while you are taking action

Activity 4- Discuss how issues of ethics, society, culture and professional environments (including law, regulations and policy) are being addressed while you are taking action

Word Count- 530

What are the facts? What do you feel about them?

When we received the parent engagement surveys back there were some parents that mentioned negative comments about their child’s teacher, clearly identifying who they were in the survey and something they did not like about them. We did not expect this to happen and it forced us to think critically about what we needed to do.

Why did it happen this way? How does this relate to your past experiences?

We used the Ehrich et al. (2011) model as shown below. We needed to maintain professional ethics so the teachers who were mentioned in the parent engagement surveys were not identified, this was to ensure their mana and wairua stayed intact and that they did not feel targeted. There needed to be a decision about who else needed to be informed about these findings, the end result was our Principal played a pivotal role and would maintain a level of high trust so ethical boundaries were maintained. The decision was made that we had a commitment to the family members who wrote the comments and the issue needed to be addressed informally. Although the parent engagement surveys were anonymous, we could address the issues that were raised in regards to teachers that were identified. This was carried out by our School Principal. We deliberated as a group and tried to put ourselves in the parents shoes and think what may have lead them to say that in the parent engagement survey? This helped us to understand that maybe some parents were frustrated but did not feel comfortable expressing their feelings and concerns to our Principal. Although the purpose of the parent engagement survey was not to address these issues, parents may have felt comfortable airing their frustrations without being identified. In this case, there were no implications in regards to this incident. However, we will need to be wary next time if we are to carry out a survey, that we need to ensure the student, profession and family are not implicated (Connecticut’s Teacher Education and Mentoring Program, 2015).

What have I learned? How can you apply this in the future?

Our solution we selected to address this issue I believe was the best decision we made. We had maintained professional responsibility to our colleague and to the whanau who took the time to fill in the parent engagement survey. Both parties were treated with respect and held in high trust. We looked at the Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession booklet and came to the realisation that commitment to families and whanau (number 3) was our focus. We had put a general comment space on the survey but did not address the purpose of this general comment, only to comment in regards to parent engagement. Next time, if we are to survey whanau, we will ensure this is noted at the top so parents are clear on what to write on the parent engagement survey and the purpose of it.

Connecticut’s Teacher Education and Mentoring Program. (2015). Ethical and Professional Dilemmas for Educators: Facilitator’s Guide: Understanding the Code of Professional Responsibility for Educators. Connecticut, US: Author. Retrieved from http://portal.ct.gov/-/media/SDE/TEAM/Module_5_Supplemental_Scenarios-Facilitator_Guide_January_2015.pdf?la=en

Education Council. (2017a). Our Code Our Standards.Retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf

Ehrich, L. C. , Kimber M., Millwater, J. & Cranston, N. (2011). Ethical dilemmas: a model to understand teacher practice, Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 17:2, 173-185, DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2011.539794