Ethical Issues at the Workplace - Coursework Example

Ethical Issues at the Workplace Introduction The study of ethics has intrigued the faculties of scholars since early philosophers and ethicists during the times of Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle, to name a few. Ethics has found its meaning in man’s inquiry on moral behavior seeking to find rules and principles that humans must adhere to ensure systematic order and universal good to prevail. These ethical standards governing the existence of human life encompass diverse realms of endeavors including business entities. Promoting the well-being of children have been the ultimate goal of parents, teachers, local communities, the state and organizations the world over. To ensure the safety and the normal development of children by protecting them from risks, it is evident that encouraging children to manage risks would be the most beneficial method for their holistic well-being. With awareness and recognition of ethical issues prevalent in the classroom setting, teachers and school administrators conform to a set of guidelines which assist them in their decision making process. In this regard, this essay aims to differentiate between the legal and ethical issues encountered in a junior school and to discuss the need for legislation as a means of protecting students as well as teachers and school administrators. Likewise, the discourse would identify and evaluate a range of ethical theories that can be used to justify the decision making in the junior school, as the work place setting. Code of Ethics Every field of endeavor designs a set of guidelines and standards for members to follow and conform to a prescribed moral behavior adhering to ethical principles governing their career of choice. Teachers and school administrators are governed by the code of ethics instituted by the National Education Association. The principles and commitments indicated in the code are known in the teaching profession as the Code of Ethics of the Education Profession (National Education Association (NEA), 2010, par. 2). Generally, the code envisioned two (2) distinct principles and commitments, to wit: commitment to the student and commitment to the profession. The first commitment sets guidelines for the educator to focus on the holistic development of the student by the encouragement of potentials and honing of skills. There are exactly eight (8) guidelines set by the NEA for educators to fulfill the obligations expected of them, to wit: (1) encouragement for learning; (2) encouraging diverse points of views; (3) making a balanced stance regarding student progress; (4) protecting the student’s wellbeing; (5) preventing exposure from embarrassment; (6) recognizing diversity in culture, race, and demographical orientations; (7) adhering to strict professional relations; and (8) confidentiality (NEA, 2010, pars. 6 – 13). The second commitment emphasizes the highest degree of professionalism accorded in the profession and the relation of its actions on the community, in general. Likewise, eight (8) governing guidelines were enumerated to explicitly adhere to standards of excellence and professionalism. The areas of responsibilities encompass the following: (1) disclosing accurate statements; (2) preventing misrepresentations; (3) discerning qualifications of persons who enter into the career; (4) not making false representations towards colleagues; (5) barring assistance of noneducators in this field of endeavor; (6) confidentiality; (7) not making malicious statements towards colleagues; and (8) refusing gifts and personal favors in exchange for professional actions (NEA, 2010, pars. 17 – 24). These moral principles are adequate for this particular profession as it already covers concisely the ethical issues that need to be appropriately addressed. Any career or profession is guided by a set of professional principles that would ensure the safety, security, and protection of their clientele. Likewise, it also serves as standards by which professionals must adhere to protect the integrity of their endeavor. The code of ethics gives educators a glimpse of possible moral and ethical issues that are prevalent in the career of education. The moral principles provide clear and explicit statements that teachers and school administrators must adhere to in order to avoid legal implications and problems with students under their supervision and care. Ethical Issues Ethics, like preference, may be considered a product of values. To some, the suggestion that an orderly and analytical process of decision making, not only on a personal level – but more so in the field of education, should include the discussion of highly controversial ethical issues, about which honest differences of opinion are common and self-deceiving rationalization endless, is repugnant. The subject is more pronounced as research delved more into issues concerning children. The critical ethical issues that emerge affecting children during primary education are giving informed consent, competencies of children, research, and environmental, cultural and social context, among others. Children are susceptible to being ethically affected by decisions made by adults due to their age, immaturity, competence to decide for themselves, and their willingness to participate in adult activities, especially on programs and various projects involving them. Although the subject of seeking consent proves to be controversial in terms of who the educators should seek consent from in addition to the children themselves, the subject of competence is more debatable due to the age by which competence in children is agreed on. Competence was clearly depicted by Alderson (1995) as having 3 characteristics: understanding, wisdom, and freedom. Cousins & Milner (2007, 449) emphasized that competence of children to participate in research undertakings fall under all school-aged levels. Coates used pre-school children in her research and Thomas & O’Kane (2000) found that children, even of very young ages, are capable of expressing themselves well. Competence was manifested when Coates observed young children with diverse ages ranging from 3 to 7 who participated in their free choice of activities in the classroom setting (Coates, 2002, 5). Cousins & Milner (2007, 450) proffered three principles of consent which must be taken into consideration when doing research: (1) inclusion based on active agreement on the part of the child and passive agreement on the part of the caretaker, (2) children’s option to withdraw their consent anytime during the research, and (3) children are given as much choice as possible on how they participated in the research. McKinney (2004) proffered ten main principles which teachers in junior school must adhere to: (1) academic integrity must be established; (2) love for learning must be promoted; (3) seeing students as the ultimate purpose in teaching; (4) establish an atmosphere of trust; (5) establishing students’ accountability in the learning process; (6) fair and just instructional materials; (7) adhere to academic honestly; and (8) be transparent and clear in teaching methodologies and instructions. Importance of Ethics in Education involving Children The code of ethics serve as safeguards for children in terms of exposing them to various risks such as emotional stress and other danger which would affect their growth and development, as well as their lives in the future. It was revealed that several ethical problems could ensue from irresponsible teaching which does not conform to the highest standards required of the profession. Safeguards for ethical research, for example, require the approval of an ethical committee appointed to review and evaluate the scope and findings of the research before any reports or projects are subsequently published (Alderson, 2008, 99). To ingrain models of childhood in the educators’ minds and enable them to be fully aware of the ethical relationship of concerned children in the various endeavors. The study of ethics enables educators to monitor how children feel along the teaching process. The social and environmental context, specifically, must be evaluated in terms of fairness in location and power play. School is the location for most of the activities of young children and was reviewed as partial in terms of the following: (i) children spend most of their time and childhood in school with adults as the imposing figures, (ii) majority of children’s activities are undertaken in school locations, and (iii) it is in school where adults-child power imbalance is clearly manifested. The authors clearly illustrated violations of ethical consideration of informed consent in various scenarios – typically when an OFSTED inspector or a school administrator observes and takes notes during classes without prior advice or consent. (Robinson & Kellet, n.d., 91). Likewise, power imposed by adults in terms of deciding time allocation for class courses without the participation of children through a solicitation of their views and insights on work and play time are eminently displayed in school. This finding was validated by Cousins & Milner (2007) when they emphasized that “the environment and social context under which interviews take place with children are also of particular importance… There is an inherent tension in conducting child-centered interviews within an authoritarian system” (449). The school is thereby classified as an adult power location violating free and comfortable encounter where research is frequently conducted. Conclusion Generally, every endeavor requires a code of ethics which encompass principles and values of integrity, objectivity, competence, respect and protection of legal and personal rights – particularly of children, confidentiality, nondiscrimination, promotion of wellness and disease prevention, refusal to participate in illegal and unethical acts, following scientific and ethical research procedures and compliance with state and federal laws, among others. There are other areas touching on avoiding conflicts of interests and promotion of stewardship of resources. In this regard, based on the underlying framework for ethics, in general, one should examine the rules that govern human action and the goods one is seeking in life. Conflicts arise when the interests and rights of people, particularly of children, do not coincide. More importantly, the study of ethics encompassing education, especially of young children, ensures that their welfare is properly safeguarded and that the teachers and school administrators who strive to promote their holistic growth and development are adequately guided to decide in the most ethical way. Reference List Alderson, P 1995, Listening to Children: Children, social research and ethics, Essex: Barnardos. Alderson, P 2008, Young Children’s Rights: Exploring Beliefs, Principles and Practice, London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Coates, E 2002,‘“I forgot the sky!” Children’s stories contained within their drawings.’ International Journal of Early Years Education, 10(1): 21-35. Cousins, W & Milner, S 2007. “Small Voice: Children’s Rights and Representation in Social Work Research”, Social Work Education. Vol 26, No. 5, pp. 47 – 457. McKinney, K 2004, “Ethical issues in the scholarship of teaching and learning”, Educause Quarterly, 4, 50-58 National Education Association (NEA), 2010, Code of Ethics, viewed 12 April 2010, Robinson, C & Kellet, M 2004, Doing Research with Children and Young People, Sage Publications. Thomas, N & O’Kane, C 2000, “Discovering what children think and conversations between research and practice”, British Journal of Social Work, Vol. 21, pp. 819 – 835. Read More