Week 28: Influence of Law and Ethics in Practice

TML Wk 28: Influence of Law and Ethics in Practice

My post this week relates to the Influence of Law and Ethics in Practice.  In response to this I will be reflecting on a previous experience with a teacher in my team and the use of social media. I will discuss this using Rolfe’s (2001) reflective model to unpack it.  Taking the form of three simple questions, “what”, “so what” and “now what”
As teachers we try to control the way we are portrayed online, by allowing students access to our social media accounts we lose an element of that control. According to Resnik (2015), the most frequently accepted definition of ‘ethics’ is “norms for conduct that distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.”  People who are often described as having integrity or a good character, may be considered ethical people. As teachers, the NZ Education Council’s Code of Ethics are guiding principles to:
What:
An ethical dilemma that teachers are faced with is social media for example: facebook. In the past, I have been sent ‘friend requests’ by parents and working in the community I live in made this very tricky. I decided to keep my facebook private and not post anything inappropriate about my personal life. My dilemma came when a new teacher in my team who had grown up with facebook and hadn’t had a problem with parents being very interested in her before. This particular teacher was posting weekend shots of great parties which were not always pg rated. The teacher didn't have the setting on her page as private. There has been plenty of debate about teacher-student interaction via social media and a lot of negative, even tragic, reports of the impact of social media on teachers.  Some argue that social media be used as a teaching and learning tool for teachers/students to share, debate, discuss set work – as long as the appropriate privacy settings are in place and all communication is transparent, especially for parents (PPTA, 2014).
The ethical dilemma I face was do I tell / advice the teacher about the community and their expectations of the teachers. Am I allowed to tell a teacher what to do about their social media presence.  I wanted to protect the teacher from the backlash and also teach her about ethical dilemmas and what she would be putting on facebook/social media .
So What:
Professional Ethics - as a teacher we want the best for all our students. As Our Code, Our standards THE CODE OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY HAS BEEN DEVELOPED TO: • set out the high standards of ethical behaviour expected of all members of the teaching profession • provide learners, their families and whanau, their communities and the public with trust and confidence in teachers and the profession • honour teaching as a profession of high trust and integrity. state, teachers make a commitment to:
This dilemma  highlighted the need for the school to look at and remind teachers about online presences ensure we were doing our best to protect our teachers. Also highlighting the professional standards. Our school culture is one of caring and supporting. Our desire is to empower our students to become independent lifelong learners. So this dilemma was used as an opportunity to educate and engage our teacher learners to consider the implications of such actions. Individual belief. I believe that I have an obligation to my school, team, to  act professional myself and advise the team how to protect themselves online.
What Next:
Some argue that social media be used as a teaching and learning tool for teachers/students to share, debate, discuss set work – as long as the appropriate privacy settings are in place and all communication is transparent, especially for parents (PPTA, 2014).  Regardless of how we use social media, the Code of Ethics must always be taken into consideration, as with our level of professionalism. As teachers, to keep ourselves safe, we must always be aware and informed of the implications of social media as outlined in Professionalism and the Use of Social Media.
REFERENCES:
About the Code of Ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved October 03, 2016, from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/about-code-of-ethics
P. (n.d.). PPTA – Teachers online: Separating the personal from the professional. Retrieved October 03, 2016, from http://www.ppta.org.nz/communities/ict-teacher-reps/2112-teachers-online
Professionalism and the use of social media. (n.d.). Retrieved October 03, 2016, from http://www.education.auckland.ac.nz/en/for/current-students/facilities-and-resources/social-media-guidelines.html
What is Ethics in Research & Why is it Important? (n.d.). Retrieved October 03, 2016, from http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/

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