Running head: TEAM ETHICS CONSIDERATIONS

Team Ethics Considerations

Team A

Kim Eschler, Michelle Gonzales, Alysia McIntosh, and Megan Rowland

EDU/315

April 19, 2012

Stephen Burnside

Team Considerations 2

Team Ethics Considerations

Ethics are principle values that govern a specific group. This paper will combine the

thought process of four individual papers regarding what each team member considers to be the

primary ethical considerations for teachers in a K-8 education setting. Focus is on common

themes, strengths, weaknesses, and an emphasis on what the team views important for ethics in

teaching.

Common Themes

The common themes individually recognized as primary ethical concerns: Quality

educators- educators are subject to thorough and continuous examination of current academic

knowledge, social behavior, and public legal status as required by state standards and

requirements. Safety- students have the right to a safe and comfortable learning environment;

creating and maintaining this environments is the teachers responsibility. In connection with

safety, a positive climate free of racial, ethnic, religious, gender, and socioeconomic persecution

is a necessity. Professional responsibility- includes respect toward students, parents, and

coworkers, honesty, integrity, and confidentiality in all situations. Teachers must realize that they

are role models in their communities and their behaviors in both their private and professional

life are under scrutiny.

Strengths

The common strength that all teachers must exhibit is in regard to the student’s well-

being. The fours papers agree teachers must keep the student safe, they must teach the students

without bias, teachers must teach to the best of his or her ability, accommodate all learning styles

and must work effectively with administration, staff, and parents. Teachers, as individuals must

be stronger in his or her profession than other service position. We have identified this as

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strength and a weakness, because of the overwhelming dedication, higher standards, and

expectation educators are expected to follow. Teachers are expected to uphold the same

standards both outside and inside of the classroom. In turn a teacher has to be strong ethically,

emotionally, and professionally.

Weaknesses

Although as a team, we do not have any specific rules that we believe unfair or weak, we

do feel that there are some aspects teaching that may be difficult to abide by at all times. As

noted in strengths, one of these aspects is the incredibly high standard that all teachers are held

to. As we discussed in class, people hold teachers at a higher standard than most any other career

position. Teachers are not just watched during class time but everywhere they go both during

school and outside of school hours. This means that teachers must be incredibly conscious and

careful of everything they do and everywhere they go. For instance, a teacher may want to think

twice before going to a club with her friends and having a few drinks, or taking part in a

controversial event, such as a gay pride parade. Unfair as it may be, teachers must be very

conservative about the circles they travel in and the activities they choose to partake in. One

minor discretion is all it may take to tarnish a teacher’s reputation and keep them from being

allowed to teach.

Another aspect of teaching that may be hard to abide by at all times is the idea of

teaching only fact and not opinion. Every human being holds their own opinion on any given

subject. A teacher has the opportunity to mold many impressionable minds. Therefore, a teacher

has to be very careful when preparing lesson plans and answering student questions that they do

not teach the students her opinion on the topic. A teacher should instead give a more broad

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political answer to the students and allow the parents the opportunity to be more specific with

their children and parents can teach their children what they want them to believe.

Not only do people have their own opinions, they also have their own views on what

certain rules and ethics mean. This can cause a problem with the way that some standards are

written. Some standards are not very specific and give the teacher leeway regarding how she

chooses to interpret the standards. Some teachers are more conservative than others and may

interpret such standards in a way they were not intended. It is important for state, district, and

school to be on the same page with their standards and make them very clear so there is not room

for teachers to make their own assumptions about what the standard means.

Conclusion

Teaching is a time honored position. Throughout history finding the minds of a

generation to impart wisdom to the future is coveted by royalty and the common man. A teacher,

who actively holds the attention of a child with access to fill that child’s mind with thoughts and

guidance of the future, is a valuable asset with a superior amount of power. That power must be

checked and guidelines set to ensure the safety of all students, even at the possibly perceived

inconvenience to the educator.

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References

Davis School District. (1999). Davis school district new teacher handbook. Retrieved on April

10, 2012 from

http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/staff/mjanes/files/EB7A7B54C13A4573AD79D7F3DEE09A

C7.pdf.Gronholt K (2009) Symmetry. Retrieved on March 11, 2012 from

exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=eef6d160-9a3a-4704-ab22-eb465121dd5f

The Department of Administrative Services. (2012). Division of Administrative Rules. Utah

administrative code. Rule R277-515. Utah educator standards. Retrieved on April 10,

2012 from http://www.rules.utah.gov/publicat/code/r277/r277-515.htm.