Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice
A Moral and ethical dilemma
As a teaching professional I strongly believe that I try to have a strong, but realistic moral line between my professional and personal life. Living away from my the majority of my family in a smaller town I enjoy having access to tools such as Facebook and Instagram. The ability for me to share with my friends and family what my family and I have been up to and also having access to family and friends all around the globe is my main purpose of use. My family can’t be at things like school assemblies, weekly sports events, prize givings, birthdays etc so I am able to keep them up to date and make them feel included. I do however find this hard in such platforms where parents and our school community are very active. Also where school Whanau are also friends or parents of my own children I have to ensure all my privacy settings are tight. This at times has proven a challenge when friend requests come through and I have declined them.
"Teaching in schools has long been considered a moral activity (Wilson, 1967; Tom, 1984; Goodlad,Soder and Sirotnik, 1990) largely because it is recognized that how teachers fulfil their public duties influences the lives of vulnerable young people. Indeed, some writers note that the compulsion foremost children to attend schools (Soder, 1990) and the fact that teachers unavoidably act as moral educators themselves (Howe, 1986) makes it especially impelling for them to conduct their affairs ethically and be held publicly accountable for their actions."
I have befriended many colleagues and parents who are also friends outside of school and on occasion this has caused some ethical and moral dilemmas for me when people have said things online which could cause conflict between staff/parents, or have posted things which are harmful to the school and it’s name. It puts all those involved (and this includes people who read or see such posts) in a very compromising positions. As per our ‘Code of Conduct’ we have to be seen to be acting ethically. How we deal with such situations depends on the post or posts, but for me every time I go straight to management. As a education professional I have to be seen to be acting ethically and if I believe something is morally wrong and I don’t report it then I am not acting ethically.
I am sure within other schools things may be managed differently, but at the end of the day we are professionals and are all working alongside the same teaching criterion. My first priority would be to try to remove the offending post so damage can be controlled and hopefully undone. This is not always possible, but every effort needs to be made where possible.
“As teachers, we respect our trusted position in society and recognise the influence we have on learners, their understanding of the world and the future well being of our society.” (Education Council 2017)
In the new 6 teaching criteria the following is stated:
Criteria 1: Commitment to the teaching profession
#3 demonstrating a high standard of professional behaviour and integrity
There have been a number of times when the use of social media seems to be an area where professional behaviour can drop and the integrity of the school can be affected. We need to be aware of this as professionals and aware that the education council take on a number of investigations because of this. I do however have some thoughts regarding our personal rights as 'ordinary people'. We are also human, yes we are teaching professionals, but we are also entitled to a life outside of the parameters of this and I personally feel at times that we are under constant scrutiny and judgement. On many ocassion I have had my personal family time interrupted by people who feel it is their right to message and expecting and answer then and there. The age of teaching is changing. No longer are we only contactable through school, parents now see us as available 24/7 and I have had many who get upset when they don't get immediate responses. I have one colleague who was messaged well after midnight, and then again about 6am asking why they hadn't responded to the first message......Food for thought, where do we draw the line, or can we?
I do believe that schools need to be proactive to avoid issues occurring and remind people of their duty as professionals. We need to ensure we have other alternative support networks in place for staff to have outlets to discuss issues they may have so at times of frustration they don’t turn to social media to vent.
References:
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
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