Running head: PROFESSIONAL CODE !

Professional Code of Ethics

Rebekah Pohlen

EDU689: Personal Ethics & Leadership Capacity

Instructor: Brett James

January 30, 2017

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Professional Code of Ethics

Ethical expectations. Ethics are "standards or codes to provide people to guidance in

their professional lives" (Gulcan, 2014, p. 2623). A code of ethics is required at my school, and

everyone will follow it, including most stakeholders. Those that do not have to follow the code

will still be informed of the ethics used at the school. Notifying all interested parties will give

them an idea of how dilemmas will be handled and taken care of.

Teachers need to establish and enforce acceptable ethical standards in order to be self-

regulating and accountable as professionals. Teachers also need ethical standards that can

act as a guide and resource to help them cope with the ethical complexities and dilemmas

inherent in the practice of teaching. (Campbell, 2000, p. 218)

I require complete honesty from my staff and will be completely honest in return. There

are four principles that are to be followed, and I expect them to be utilized.

Principle 1: Ethical Conduct to Students - All educators need to follow this principle. It

will guide them on how to treat the students and how to handle student dilemmas.

Principle 2: Ethical Conduct to Coworkers - Teachers and administration will follow

the second principle. It is here to guide them on how to properly treat their coworkers.

Principle 3: Ethical Conduct to Family & Community - Teachers, parents, and

administration will follow this principle. This will guide everyone on how to act

towards the community outside of school.

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Principle 4: Ethical Conduct to Technology - All stakeholders will receive training on

the proper use of technology. Students will revive special training on the safety issues

related to technology.

Following the four principles "publicly acknowledges the responsibilities that we in the

field have assumed, and in so doing supports ethical behavior in our work" (National Association

for the Education of Young Children, 2014, p. 2).

Ethical paradigms. Along with my ethical expectations, everyone will follow the

paradigms associated with my code of ethics. The paradigms are an important part of the code of

ethics. My code of ethics will focus on three paradigms; care, justices, and critique.

Ethic of Care- "Loyalty, trust, and empowerment" (Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2011,

Chapter 2) are the concepts we must instill in our students.

Ethic of Justice- "The professional educator endeavors to maintain the dignity of the

profession by respecting and obeying the law, and by demonstrating personal

integrity" (Association of American Educators, n.d., Principle II).

Ethic of Critique- "We shall follow all program policies. When we do not agree with

program policies, we shall attempt to effect change through constructive action within

the organization" (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2014, p.

5).

It is important that our students know we care about them. We have to show them that

we are here to help and guide them towards a successful life. It is our duty to ensure them that
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our school is a safe place. We must also follow the law in all aspects of the school. Dilemmas

must be handled with care and policies will be followed. I also want to create a place where

everyone has a voice. If there is something that is happening in the school that the students or

teachers disagree with I am willing to listen and talk about the possible changes. The ethic of

care, justice, and critique are important because they will help me create a an effective school. I

want my school to be a place where everyone is free of ridicule.

Paradigm defense. The use of the three paradigms will ensure my code of ethics is

valid. The ethic of care is there to ensure all students and staff a treated the way they deserve.

The ethic of care helps build relationships with student, staff, and community. The ethic of

justice will "ask questions related to the rule of law and the more abstract concepts of fairness,

equity, and justice" (Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2011, Chapter 2).

The ethic of justice will serve as the guide for all legal actions that need to be taking. The

last paradigm is the ethic of critique, and it is the one I value the most. Rather than completely

accepting my ethics, I want my people to "challenge the status quo by seeking an ethic that will

deal with inconsistencies, formulate the hard questions, and debate and challenge the

issues" (Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2011, Chapter 2).

Stakeholder agreement. "No profession can really exist without a code of ethics to

guide the conduct of its members" (Campbell, 2000, p. 203). Therefore, it is imperative to

receive the support of all stakeholders for the code of ethics to function. Gaining the support of

the stakeholders is a process that should begin early on in the process. The following steps will

ensure stakeholder buy-in.

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1. Ensure all stakeholders are included in the design process for the code of ethics.

(Stidworthy, 2013, Tip 1)

2. Speak to each of the stakeholders in a way that reaches them on a personal level and

in a way they will understand. (Stidworthy, 2013, Tip 2)

3. Discuss the issues with the stakeholders before the process begins. Complete surveys

and questionaries to assess what issues there are. (Stidworthy, 2013, Tip 3)

4. Explain the goals and rationale of the code of ethics. I will "include background

information about the current situation, including the project drivers and challenges,

and what the likely benefits would be" (Stidworthy, 2013, Tip 4).

5. Listen to each stakeholders concerns and ideas. "Make sure they know their

comments and suggestions are valued" (Stidworthy, 2013, Tip 7).

6. Create a statement of commitment. It is "a personal acknowledgement of an

individuals willingness to embrace the distinctive values and moral obligations of

the field of early childhood care and education" ((National Association for the

Education of Young Children, 2014, p. 1).

Decision making. Decision making is done through several different methods such as

data driven, "intuition, tacit knowledge, and gut reaction. People decide with their hearts no

matter how much their brain tells otherwise. A large percentage of decisions are based on

unconscious needs and wants, such as prestige, habit or perceived values" (Gopal, 2007, p. 4-5).

Therefore, some decisions should be made with the code of ethics at the forefront but not all.
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Decisions will be based on what is right and how it will benefit the students. Guiding our

students to success is our primary job. Other decisions, like how to deal with dilemmas, will be

handled in agreement with the code of ethics, especially if the law needs to be involved. The

code of ethics should not keep teachers from doing things but guide them on how to do things.

There a few different strategies that I plan to use. With data-driven decision making we

will be able to individualize and personalize learning "experience for each student that helps

them truly internalize and deeply understand new concepts" (Kerns, 2013, para. 7). We will also

use the data to develop instructions that will make it difficult for students to cheat.
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References

Association of American Educators. (n.d.). Code of ethics for educators. Retrieved from https://

www.aaeteachers.org/index.php/about-us/aae-code-of-ethics

Campbell, E. (2000). Professional Ethics in Teaching: towards the development of a code of

practice. Cambridge Journal Of Education, 30(2), 203-221. doi:

10.1080/03057640050075198

Gopal, T. V. (2007). Ethics in deploying data to make wish decisions. Retrieved from http://

www.i-r-i-e.net/inhalt/007/27-gopal.pdf

Glcan, N. Y. (2015). Discussing the importance of teaching ethics in education. Procedia -

Social And Behavioral Sciences, 174(International Conference on New Horizons in

Education, INTE 2014, 25-27 June 2014, Paris, France), 2622-2625. doi:10.1016/

j.sbspro.2015.01.942

Kerns, D. (2013). Data-driven decision making can improve student learning. Retrieved from

http://www.dreambox.com/blog/adaptive-learning-enables-data-driven-decision-making

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2014). NAEYC code of ethical

conduct and statement of commitment. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/

file positions/PSETH05.pdf
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Shapiro, J. P. & Stefkovich, J. (2011). Ethical leadership and decision making in education:

Applying theoretical perspectives to complex dilemmas (3rd ed.). New York, NY:

Routledge.

Stidworthy, R. (2013). 7 tips to get internal stakeholder buy-in for a new IT project. Retrieved

from https://kellycrew.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/7-tips-to-get-internal-stakeholder-buy-

in-for-a-new-it-project/