Ethics is a collection of moral standards by which each person should be guided
in their private and professional life. It tells us right from wrong, and how
to live moral lives. The teaching profession, as many others, has its own code
of ethics, which describes the process of grading students and teacher's behavior
in the classroom as well as outside the premises of the institution. It is one
of few professions which evaluates the totality of behavior of an individual
and its potential influence on others, in this case – students. Ultimately,
it is young people, with their personality and knowledge of the world still
in the formative process, whose individual tendencies and characteristics are
the most susceptible to and affected by any kind of negative influences. When
discussing teacher's ethics, one must consider it on two separate plateaus.
Firstly, the legal one, or so to say, administrative, where all aspects of teacher's
behavior, teaching procedures, and assessment of students are framed into a
set of regulations drawn up by the Board of Education and by individual schools.
And secondly, at the personal level, which includes a teacher's own attitude
and conduct that is not otherwise proscribed/prescribed by law or whose breach
might never be detected or pursued in a grievance process. The teacher's code
of ethics comprises his/her duties, responsibilities, attitude, honesty, and
most of all - fairness. One can become a better teacher by becoming a better
human being, which in case of lawyers, for instance, might be the opposite.
This statement does not collide with authoritarianism in the teaching profession,
which is just a teaching style, which might be an excellent tool given a teacher's
personality and a particular teaching environment. In totalitarian systems,
where the disregard for truth is widespread, what is ethical and what is not
may be obscure, since these systems have been designed to obfuscate their true
nature. Some might say that the only ethical teachers in these systems are those
who break away from the prevalent doctrine that disseminates misinformation,
provided, of course, they uphold high morality standards at the personal level.
What are the potential breaches of the teacher's code of ethics?
This is a list of a few in no particular order.
This list can go on, from violations of criminal laws, through commonly-accepted
standards of good and evil, violation of public trust, to unprofessional job
performance. The areas of many of them may overlap; what constitutes a violation
of public trust might as well be against the law and professionalism, but still
within the teachings of morality.
The most common ethical problem that any teacher will face at some point in
time is the bias-free assessment of students. Teachers are supposed to create
a learning environment that fosters autonomy and guides students in their learning
experience. An important part of their work is evaluation of students' knowledge
and progress. Without such an assessment, one cannot determine if the learning
is taking place. And this is one of the most problematic areas of the job. But
what does a “to assess a student” mean? Teachers will apply a set
of rules and predefined formulas to measure the amount of knowledge that has
been successfully retained by students or perhaps they will check the understanding
of a problem being considered. In multiple choice tests or “yes or no”
questions as well as many other similar tests calling for a single correct answer,
the assessment of students' work seems relatively uncomplicated. The gray area
begins to surface when teachers have to use their own judgment in the assessment
process and contaminate the very process with subjectivity that they are bound
to produce. As much as people would like to eliminate injustices of this world
and turn it into a better place, they will always have their own biases and
prejudices, with which they will never be able to part. Teachers (fortunately
or not) are human beings too and are no exception to this rule. Laws and regulations
may control human behavior or modify it if necessary, but they will never make
people like one another. Does Johnny the Brat, who has just uttered his poignant
remarks disparaging Mr. Mentor, deserve a good mark for his excellent knowledge
of English grammar? Mr. Mentor is an experienced teacher. Should he or can he
forget about this little incident while assessing little Johnny's work? What
about a future assessment of Johnny? One must remember that both students and
teachers come to the classroom with their own sets of values, personalities,
priorities, feelings, emotions, problems, experiences, knowledge, understanding,
abilities, upbringing, likes and dislikes, moods, and hundreds of other elements,
which when combined make up an individual as a whole. Teachers may overrate
or underrate students' performance based on a countless number of factors. They
can do it deliberately, which beacons the possibility of ethical breach, or
unaware, which may be a result of unfortunate circumstances or possible negligence.
The question before us is not how to eliminate unethical behavior, since this
may never occur, but how to reduce it to a point where it is no longer a distortion
of the accurate picture of Johnny's knowledge? How to create an environment
where students and teachers are encouraged to learn and correct their flaws?
How to educate teachers so they could restrain their negative personal feelings
and concentrate on positive educational goals?
A. Osobka