Running Head: HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIO FOR AN EDUCATOR 1

An interesting discussion A

Learning Task #2: A Hypothetical Scenario for an Educator

Campeau, S., Gay, K., LeBlanc, A., Millions, C., & Taylor, J.

University of Calgary

EDUC 525 Fall 2018

Dr. J.K. Donlevy

November 8, 2018
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Scenario

A single parent teacher is completing his first year of teaching on a temporary contract

for a high school biology position at a highly academic high school. He is hoping to apply for a

permanent teaching position that will be available next year at the school. He is very concerned

about his students’ diploma preparation as the diploma results will affect if he is offered a

permanent position. He discusses this with the learning leader, who is retiring at the end of the

year. The learning leader offers the teacher unreleased diploma exam questions that he has

photocopied from the last couple of years. What should he do?

This paper approaches the above ethical dilemma from three schools of ethical thought

including relativistic, deontological and teleological perspectives as outlined by the questions in

Donlevy and Walker’s “‘Ethics Handout” (2010). Finally, a solution is drawn based on the

Alberta Teachers’ Association Code of Conduct (2014) and the group’s analysis of the ethical

action.

Relativism focuses on the community’s opinion of the teacher based on the actions

chosen, what the community thinks an individual should do, the benefits of the decision, and

what the decision makers do. Although one can assume that some community members value

honesty, research suggests that “pro-social lying is often considered socially and morally

acceptable” (Hayashi et al., 2014). Therefore, the community could be accepting of dishonesty to

benefit the students and the teacher’s family. However, the community of teaching professionals

value integrity within the profession and in general, “one of the casualties of academic

misconduct is the general sense of broken trust” (Evans-Tokaryk, 2014, p.1).Exactly Regardless,
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the research tends to indicate that society is accepting of dishonesty to benefit others but does see

it as eroding trust in the institution.

There are several short-term benefits of either decision. If the teacher accepts the diploma

questions his students may perform better on the diploma exam which will provide more

opportunities after graduation as well as good results that would reflect well on the teacher for

career advancement. Not accepting the questions will result in the exams being a more accurate

reflection of student achievement thereby more appropriately placing the student in post-

graduation programs. Also, not accepting the questions will prevent the cognitive dissonance that

may occur from the misconduct. Most teachers within the profession follow the diploma

guidelines and do not use unreleased exam questions.

The teleological approach to ethics looks at the utility of the decision and weighs the

consequences of the action. The immediate consequences of accepting the questions are a higher

academic achievement for the students and increased likelihood of permanent employment for

the teacher. These would lead to increased immediate happiness, although, the teacher’s

happiness may be compromised by cognitive dissonance having accepted the questions. The

longer-term consequences would be students having more opportunities post-graduation,

however, they may not be prepared for these opportunities, as well as greater financial security

for the teacher. The increased opportunity may increase student happiness but may also decrease

it if they are in programs that they are not academically suited for. For the teacher, the cognitive

dissonance will fade, but the financial security will increase his happiness. Not accepting the

questions would result in lower student achievement and a decreased likelihood of permanent

employment. This would result in less happiness in the short term. Student opportunity would be

limited to programs they qualify to with lower diploma marks. This could either reduce their
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happiness or increase it as they might be less happy with their options but happier in careers that

they are academically suited for. The financial uncertainty would decrease the teacher's

happiness, but there is a good chance that the teacher would eventually get a permanent position.

Within teleological ethics, a decision must be made that is of high utility to the majority

of persons. Even if the decision is unfavorable to a minority (the school/diploma creators), the

decision would be in accordance with the greatest good for the greatest number of people (the

students).

The deontological approach is concerned with duty, the golden rule, the categorical

imperative and what principles need to be adhered to (Donlevy, Walker, 2010). As a teacher, the

first relevant duty is to the students, according to the Alberta School Act (2000), specifically to

“Provide instruction competently,” “promote goals and standards applicable to the provision of

education,” “teach the courses of study and education programs that are prescribed” and

“encourage and foster learning” (p. 26). Teachers also have a duty to their principal and school

board, specifically “[following] those duties that are assigned to the teacher by the principal or

the Board” (p. 27). However, as per the registrar procedures by Alberta Education (2016), “No

secured diploma exam or other secured diploma exam material may be kept at a school or school

authority office following exam administration” (p. 1) as it is prohibited to copy any part of a

diploma exam. The teacher also has a duty to the profession to uphold the integrity of it. As a

parent, the teacher has a duty to provide for his child.

The Golden Rule condition of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you is

complicated in this situation. As discussed by Evans-Tokaryk (2014), academic integrity is not

practiced by many members of our society. This rule is very dependent on the values of the

individual. It can seem so. Some may want to have their achievement authentically reflect their
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work and have the teacher not accept the questions whereas others only want the highest

achievement and therefore desire the opportunity to see the questions ahead of time. Ultimately,

the principal is responsible for the security of the exams, therefore, the infraction is the

responsibility of the principal and puts him is a compromising situation. This does not meet the

golden rule.

The categorical imperative involves the universality of an action and assessing if persons

involved are being used as a means to an end or an end in itself. The universality of accepting the

unreleased diploma questions would create artificial inflation of grades across the province,

undermines the value of the diploma exams for summative assessment and normalizes cheating

behavior. Although the teacher wants his students to be successful, he is using his students to

further his career.

The most relevant principle that applies here is the principle of public accountability.

Alberta Education (2011) expects teachers to be ethical citizens to develop students that are

“inspired to achieve success and fulfillment as engaged thinkers and ethical citizens with an

entrepreneurial spirit” (p. 6). By engaging in behavior that does not contribute positively to the

community through degradation of the effectiveness of public education policy practices (i.e.,

diploma exams), the teacher is not being accountable to the public of Alberta.

As the ATA Code (2018) states, “The teacher acts in a manner which maintains the honor

and dignity of the profession” (section 18) and “The teacher does not engage in activities which

adversely affect the quality of the teacher’s professional service” (section 19). Copying

unreleased diploma questions undermines the integrity of the profession and thus does not

maintain the honor of the profession in the eyes of the public. Therefore, the teacher should not

use unreleased diploma questions if they are acting in accord with the ATA Code of Conduct.
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The question remains: what should be done in relation to the learning leader and his

practices? By not saying anything, the teacher is complicit in the behavior of the learning

leader’s practices and thus, acting in a manner which does not maintain the honor and dignity of

the profession. It is essential to consult section 14 of the ATA Code as “The teacher, when

making a report on the professional performance of another teacher, does so in good faith and,

prior to submitting the report, provides the teacher with a copy of the report.” Concerns with the

learning leader’s practices should be addressed directly to the colleague to try and discourage the

use of unreleased diploma questions before addressing it to anyone else.

The teacher must then decide if they want to go forward with reporting his behavior to

the principal or higher-ups. Considering Martin Buber’s ideas about living a life in dialogue with

your fellow person, in “genuine dialogue… where each of the participants really has in mind the

other or others in their present and particular being and turns to them with the intention of

establishing a living mutual relation between himself and them.” (Buber, 2002, p. 22) By

establishing the I-Thou relationship of dialogue, a person considers the totality of an individual.

In considering this, the learning leader needs to be viewed as a real person rather than an “it.”

Since the learning leader is reaching retirement, is it worth jeopardizing his reputation? Having

his career tainted by this mistake? Was the intent of his actions truly malicious or was it poor

judgment?

The ethical resolution to this dilemma would be to decline the questions, tell the teacher

that it is against policy to use them and they should be destroyed, and allow the teacher to retire

without the black mark on his career. Correct

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References

Alberta Education. (2016). Diploma exam administration rules and directives. Retrieved from

https://education.alberta.ca/media/3272761/04-dip-gib-2016-17-security-exam-

rules.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2TymaGQRNr7epTYwsWU8iyTBDwsiz9Uy2XlQShOShEvumH

mFCHNxtYYo4

Alberta Education. (2011). Framework for student learning. Retrieved from

https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/4c47d713-d1fc-4c94-bc97-

08998d93d3ad/resource/58e18175-5681-4543-b617-c8efe5b7b0e9/download/5365951-

2011-Framework-Student-Learning.pdf

Alberta School Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. S-3. Retrieved from

http://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/acts/s03.pdf

Alberta Teachers’ Association. Code of professional conduct. (2004). Retrieved from

https://www.teachers.ab.ca/SiteCollectionDocuments/ATA/Publications/Teachers-as-

Professionals/IM-4E%20Code%20of%20Professional%20Conduct.pdf

Buber, M. (2002). Between man and man. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-

com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca

Donlevy, J.K., Walker, K.W. (2010). Working through ethics in education: Two plays and

ethical analysis. Sense Publications, Netherlands.

Evans-Tokaryk, T. (2014). Academic integrity, remix culture, globalization: A Canadian case

study of student and faculty perceptions of plagiarism. Across the Disciplines, 11(2), 2014,

11(2).
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Hayashi, A., Abe, N., Fujii, T., Ito, A., Ueno, A., Koseki, Y., Mugikura, S., Takahashi, S., &

Mori, E. (2014). Dissociable neural systems for moral judgment of anti- and pro-social

lying. Brain Research, 1556, 46-56.