Ethical Issues

Ethical Issues

27/2/17

Ethical issues in teaching have always intimidated and scared me a little. In my limited experience they tend to lay dormant until something happens (a child gets hurt in the playground, cyber bullying on a school blog etc) then all of your decisions around the incident are suddenly scrutinized in a whole new light. As Hall (2001) discusses teaching in the 21st Century brings a whole new set of ethical scrutinization from a generally well educated and well informed population. Throw in a strong media and social media presence in our lives and any action (well-intended or not) can suddenly be made very public.

When thinking of an ethical issue for this entry I struggled to think of an example in my own practice (luckily!) however we do have a growing concern as a school about the way in which social media can be used to share images and information about our children. Particularly through channels we have limited control over such as parent helper Facebook posts while on camp. To evaluate this issue I used Hall's 10 question framework (2001).

1. What is the problem?

Parents sharing images of other children without school or parent consent on their own personal social media.

2. Who are the main stakeholders with interests in the problem, what are their interests?

Children of the school, their parents. Parents may not wish for their child's image to be shared on another adult's Facebook page.

3.Which stakeholder should be given priority?

This question is tricky. The children themselves probably don't have much of an opinion on whether their image is shared. Their parents may feel more strongly about this. However I'm not sure the school's role in stopping images of school activities being posted by others.

4. What restrictions are there to your actions?

These quotes are taken from our school policy documents:

Using social media in your professional role

Teachers may use social media as part of their role at school, for example, in classroom blogs, the school website, and/or Facebook page; and to communicate with members of the school community. The enthusiastic and appropriate use of social media at school encourages students to confidently use the technology and understand the issues involved.

Teachers should:

• Inform parents and caregivers why and how you are using social media in your teaching.
• Take care to represent the school and its individuals in a respectful and positive way, and in accordance with the school's Privacy policy and Publishing Student Information guidelines.
• Check that the material you are publishing is suitable and accurate. If you refer or link to another site or resource, check that it is appropriate and that you have read all the content. Be sure to acknowledge your sources, and conform to any copyright restrictions.

Images of our students (photographs, video clips, etc), and examples of their school work, are sometimes published in our newsletters, on our school website, and other online channels such as the school/class blogs, Facebook page, youTube, etc.

The school has an obligation to:

• protect students' privacy and safety in relation to information about them, or images of them, published by the school, and
• protect students' copyright in relation to the material they create.

Images of students and/or their work are published to recognise student achievement, report on learning to the school and wider community, and to promote the school.

The following guidelines help us to protect our students:

• The school seeks parents' written consent before their child's image or work is published online. Parents give this consent at enrolment, or as needed if their child is already enrolled, by completing the Student Information Consent Form. Parents can withdraw their consent at any time.
• The school takes special care with personal information about students, as stated on the Student Information Consent form. Personal information refers to information that identifies an individual. With consent, we share no more than a student’s first name, image, or work in the school newsletter, on the school website, or in the wider online community.
• The school publishes images and students' work that positively depict the student and school.
• The school seeks students' consent before publishing their work.
• As the author of a copyright work, a student has the right to be identified when their work is exhibited in public, such as on the internet. At xxx School we prefer to identify the student by their first name and year at school only to protect their privacy. Requests for a student's full name to be published are considered by the privacy officer.

Retrieved from http://paparoastreet.schooldocs.co.nz

This does not include any guidelines around parents sharing images of other children.

5. Which courses of action are possible?

- creating a new school policy

- informing parents of our wishes

- restricting the use of cellphones on school trips

6. Can you identify cases which set a precedent

While I couldn't find a case in which parents have complained about such a practice there are blogs and articles arguing against such concern.

http://www.freerangekids.com/no-mam-you-may-not-chaperone-your-sons-field-trip-without-a-background-check/

The last few steps aren't really relevant to this case as I'm not sure what steps I could take as a classroom teacher. I think this issue needs to be dealt with at a higher-school wide issue. This issues is further clouded as the Code for Ethics for Teachers only states teachers need to demonstrate commitment to parents/guardians and family/whānau

• involve them in decision-making about the care and education of their children (Education Council, n.d)

However 'care' is not defined.

References

Education Council (n.d.) Code of Ethics for Certified Teachers. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/code-of-ethics-certificated-teachers-0

Hall, A. (2001) What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. Paper presented at the IIPE Conference, Brisbane. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Developing-leaders/What-Ought-I-to-Do-All-Things-Considered-An-Approach-to-the-Exploration-of-Ethical-Problems-by-Teachers

http://paparoastreet.schooldocs.co.nz

Culturally Responsive Practice

Culturally Responsive Practice

The term culturally responsive practice or pedagogy has been around for a long term. When thinking about what culturally responsive practice looks like for me I found myself reflecting on the four principles found in Tataiako (2011).

The competencies are:

■ Wänanga: participating with learners and communities in robust dialogue for the benefit of Mäori learners’ achievement.

■ Whanaungatanga: actively engaging in respectful working relationships with Mäori learners, parents and whänau, hapü, iwi and the Mäori community.

■ Manaakitanga: showing integrity, sincerity and respect towards Mäori beliefs, language and culture.

■ Tangata Whenuatanga: affirming Mäori learners as Mäori. Providing contexts for learning where the language, identity and culture of Mäori learners and their whänau is affirmed.

■ Ako: taking responsibility for their own learning and that of Mäori learners.

For me these principles are the foundation of my own pedagogy for all my learners not just Māori learners. Culturally responsive practice is still, if not more, important in 21st Century learning. Russell Bishop (Edtalks, 2012) states the achievement gap in NZ education has grown to epic proportions. He likens it to fiscal debt which we as educators now owe Māori learners to improve and reduce. Bishop argues that teachers with agency to change are the most powerful driving force in culturally responsive practice. While they can't succeed in isolation, an agentic teacher in a supportive school can make a huge difference to Māori learning and achievement (Edtalks, 2012). Cowie, Otrel-Cass, Glynn & Kara (2011) echo this thought by agreeing that teachers who provide diverse opportunities for students to access and express learning improve outcomes for Māori students. The researchers also discuss the importance of inclusive, collaborative practice including respecting and using community knowledge to support learning. Bishop ends his talk by stating education needs to be relationship-centred not just student-centred (Edtalks, 2012). Through these relationships teachers need to show care for people as well as care for people's learning. He argues that this will make the biggest difference to Māori learners.

My Practice

I have evaluated my practice using Unitec's Poutama model.

Cowie, B., Otrel-Cass, K., Glynn, T., & Kara, H., et al.(2011).Culturally responsive pedagogy and assessment in primary science classrooms: Whakamana tamariki. Wellington: Teaching Learning Research Initiative. Retrieved from http://www.tlri.org.nz/sites/default/files/projects/9268_cowie-summaryreport.pdf

Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994

Ministry of Education. (2011). Tātaiako: cultural competencies for teachers of Māori learners. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

Unitec. (n.d). Learning and Teaching at Unitec Institute of Technology. Retrieved from Booklet.http://www.unitec.ac.nz/ahimura/publications/U008817%20Learning%20and%20Teaching%20Booklet.pdf

Global Issues and Influence

The New Zealand Context 

The Ministry of Education (2015) state key principles of teaching and learning in New Zealand are to be future focused, inclusive and promote learning to learn. All of these principles are an important part of what makes the New Zealand education system unique. In a previous Education Review Office report (2012) these principles were reflected in the key finding that learning should be student centred to be successful. In my own context we have been working on increasing student-centred learning opportunities over the past two years. Student-centred learning focusing on fostering the strengths and interests of each individual in a traditional learning setting (Education Review Office, 2012). The report found that teachers who embrace student-centred learning have a sense of optimism and a strong belief that they can change educational outcomes by putting the students at the heart of learning choices. From a student perspective, being a partner in their learning empowers students to build a sense of self and become competent, capable and achieving learners (Education Review Office, 2012).

Global Context

Society in general has undergone rapid change over the past ten years. Partly due to a huge increase in technology and globalisation of ideas. The National Intelligence Council produced a report (2012) stating the next biggest trends that will influence the world. One of these trends that relates closely to education is the increase of individual empowerment. Most teachers a familiar with Fisch & McLeod's video Shift Happens (2012) where the statement “We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist . . . using technologies that haven’t been invented . . . in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.” is unleashed. While this may be true the National Intelligence Council (2012) argue that by increasing individual empowerment people will develop greater initiative to solve the next global crisis. Their report states that individual empowerment is on the rise due to a number of factors including poverty reduction, increasing middle class, better educational attainment and improved healthcare. This is impacting education as people are now expecting a level of autonomy and empowerment over their own learning. 

My Context

In my primary teaching context I believe student-centered learning is very important as primary education is where students either love learning or get turned off school. Through incorporating the tukana-teina concept in our classrooms children feel empowered to teach others and share their own expertise. This also empowers them to begin to drive their own learning at a young age by articulating their own strengths and areas for growth. Reflecting on my context on a global stage the community of my school is a very affluent, decile 10 area of a large city. Although individual empowerment may be growing globally it has been present in my community for many years and is now ingrained in our school culture. I think it is great that this is becoming a global trend and being promoted in a wide range of contexts. Research shows (Weimer, 2013) learner-centered schools and practice produce better results than traditional teacher-driven practice.


References

Education Review Office. (2012). Evaluation at a Glance: Priority Learners in New Zealand Schools. Retrieved 18 May 2016, from http://www.ero.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Evaluation-at-a-Glance-Priority-Learners-in-New-Zealand-Schools-August-2012.pdf

Ministry of Education. (2015). Principles. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Principles

National Intelligence Council. (2012). Global trends: Alternative Worlds. National Intelligence Council: US. Retrieved from https://globaltrends2030.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/global-trends-2030-november2012.pdf

Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-centered teaching: five key changes to practice. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Fisch, K., & McLeod, S. (2012, February 28). Retrieved February 14, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmwwrGV_aiE

Current Issues in my Professional Context

Step 1: Identify the socioeconomic status of the community, organisational culture and professional environments. Use the following questions to guide your thoughts:

• Is there any statistical data that indicates the socioeconomic status of your school’s community? What does it tell you about the characteristics of the community?

Randell, G. (2012, July 17). Paparoa Street School - 17/07/2012. Retrieved February 11, 2017, from http://www.ero.govt.nz/review-reports/paparoa-street-school-17-07-2012/

This extract from our last ERO review shows some of the information about my school's socio-economic status. We are a decile ten, large, contributing primary school in urban Christchurch. The ERO report also shows the ethnicity make-up of the school. The majority of students identify as NZ European/Pāhekā. This combines to show the school is in an affluent area of town. According to Ministry of Education (2016) "decile 1 schools are the 10% of schools with the highest proportion of students from low socio-economic communities, whereas decile 10 schools are the 10% of schools with the lowest proportion of these students." The website also states that deciles are calculated based on Census data including household income and occupation. Therefore, a decile 10 rating shows that most adult members of our school community are employed in 'professional' jobs.

This information tells me that the children and parents in our community generally are from affluent backgrounds. The children live in comfortable, uncrowded homes with professional parents. As highly-educated parents, our parental community expects a high quality education for their children and are proactive in ensuring they receive it. The school is generally well supported by parents and the wider community. 

• What is the culture that the school is striving for? How is it manifested?

In Academy for SELinSchools' video (2015) Trushiem argues that if not actively developed school culture will occur by default. He states that a positive school culture occurs when a leader (usually the principal) along with key followers actively steer the school towards a certain kind of culture. In the same video Dunkelblau states the importance of staff in building a positive school culture. He states that children and families cycle through schools however staff are generally the consistent entity. I think this is particularly true in my school as we have had a high turnover of staff and leadership recently however the present staff and leadership are committed to building a positive school culture for children and teachers.

As a large primary school we pride ourselves on our family-based culture. Staff are encouraged to work with a range of children in the school through collaboration, mixed groupings, house events and social events. This enables staff to get to know many of the children in the school not just those they teach. This is also manifested through a wide range of whole-school activities e.g. assemblies, house day, sports events, reading groups and extra-curricular clubs. 

As a staff we have embraced a collaborative, open culture and now all work in fully collaborative environments. While this has come with challenges I think overall our school culture reflects many of Stoll's (1998) Norms of Improving Schools.

1. Shared goals— “we know where we’re going” - As a school and wider community we have mapped where we want our children to go with their learning by the time they leave our school. 

2. Responsibility for success— “we must succeed”- A collaborative teaching culture has meant that we feel jointly responsible for helping our children succeed in their learning. 

3. Collegiality— “we’re working on this together” - By working in collaborative groups or pairings there is a stronger sense of team in the school and a feeling of having someone 'in it' with you. 

4. Continuous improvement— “we can get better” - The culture of the staff and students is one of continuous improvement. While we celebrate success we always look at our next steps. 

5. Lifelong learning— “learning is for everyone” - This phrase is in our school motto! A pathway for lifelong learners. 

6. Risk taking— “we learn by trying something new” - Through our COPs groups we have been encouraged to try new things. This message is now filtering through our community to our parents and therefore becoming part of our culture. 

• How would you describe the professional environment in your school?

The professional environment of my school is well-supported. We are encouraged to increase our professional knowledge by networking with other teachers and schools as well as undertaking further research. As a staff we have worked hard to promote an open professional environment through the introduction of collaborative classrooms. We also use community of practice groups to share our professional successes and concerns. 

Step 2: Analyse the issues around the socioeconomic status of the community, the school culture and professional environments. Use these following questions to guide your thoughts:

• What issues arose from the socio-economic status of your school’s community? How is it similar or different from those of similar socio-economic status? How have the issues been addressed?

Recently our biggest issue that has arisen from our socio-economic status is around the concept of collaborative teaching. Two years ago we introduced collaborative teaching teams which was met with some resistance from our community. This was largely due to an idea that Martin & Terblanche (2003) identify as organisational culture. 

“Organisational culture is manifested in the typical characteristics of the organisation. It therefore refers to a set of basic assumptions that worked so well in the past that they are accepted as valid assumptions within the organisation…. The components of routine behaviour, norms, values, philosophy, rules of the game and feelings all form part of organisational culture”.

Many of our parents are highly educated themselves and hold a certain view on how education should look based on their own experiences. Talking to other high decile schools they have faced similar challenges when introducing collaboration. Lower decile schools seem to have had less resistance as there seems to be a feeling of 'the experts' i.e. teachers' know what they are doing in these communities. A trait of high decile communities is expecting the best and questioning changes. Our highly educated parents feel more empowered to question the decisions of other highly-educated professionals. However, this also worked to help build a solution as our community has the resources and willingness to access research and further information through experts to understand the reasons behind collaboration. 

• What issues arose from the professional environments in your school? How these issues impact on your practice? How have the issues been addressed?

Personally I have not had any issues with the professional environment in my school. I think through our developing open culture issues are often discussed and reworked to best suit everyone.

References:

Academy for SELinSchools. (2015, Apr 28). What is school culture and climate? [video file].Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-_NvhlcusQ

Martins, E.C. & Terblanche, F. (2003). Building organisational culture that stimulates creativity and innovation. European Journal of Innovation Management, 6(1), 64 - 74.

Ministry of Education (2016, November 29). School deciles. Retrieved February 11, 2017, from http://www.education.govt.nz/school/running-a-school/resourcing/operational-funding/school-decile-ratings/

Randell, G. (2012, July 17). Paparoa Street School - 17/07/2012. Retrieved February 11, 2017, from http://www.ero.govt.nz/review-reports/paparoa-street-school-17-07-2012/

Stoll. (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture