I have children of my own who are the same age as some of the students I teach which has created an ethical dilemma for me at times because I have seen or been told about posts on social media which can contain images and information I may believe are inappropriate.
Using Hall’s (2001) framework for analysis of this dilemma, the stakeholders are obviously the students themselves and whanau, along with the my school in some circumstances.
Hall (2001) suggests that there is a blurring of the socialisation roles of families and schools now that the curriculum includes topics such as human relationships education, sex education, health and social education (including the use of alcohol and drugs), and moral and religious education.
The restrictions of my actions are due to the grey area I see as to where the role of mother and teacher begin and end. From a personal perspective I want to keep an open relationship with my own children where they feel free to share issues with me but from a professional perspective, “do I really need to know this stuff?”
Possible courses of action include: suggesting to my own children not to share or discuss issues with me, turning a blind eye to what I know or tell appropriate people at school about issues I know about which may impact school.
According to Our Code Our Standards (Education Council 2017) we should act with Pono -showing integrity by acting in ways that are fair, honest, ethical and just. This suggests to me that I should turn a blind eye to anything I am aware of which is not harmful in order to be fair to the students involved. After all we all made mistakes as we were growing up and should not be judged harshly for small acts or misjudgements. Also I am judging against my own moral beliefs.
The course of action I see as best is to continue the open relationship with my own children because I want them to be able to confide in me but to keep a clear demarcation of when it is appropriate to divulge information or not. The rule I have chosen to use to create this demarcation is to consider if there is any danger to any person involved or will there be an impact within school. As professionals we can be guided by school policies under NAG5 (Ministry of Education). Guidelines for NAG5 states that ; schools are increasingly involved in incidents where the activities of students at home or in their own time have an impact on the life of the school. One example is a student creating inappropriate digital content on their own digital technology, whether at school or not. Schools have the responsibility and the power to act when any such content could reasonably be expected to impact negatively on the school learning environment.
So long as I can keep to the line I have created and ensure I do not become judgemental from the perspective of my personal moral and social justice code, I can avoid the grey and make good, professional decisions.
References:
Education Council. (2017). Our Code Our Standards. Retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/file...Our Standards:
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
Ministry of Education. From : http://www.education.govt.nz/school/student-support/student-wellbeing/health-and-wellbeing/bullying-prevention-and-response/bullying-prevention-and-response-a-guide-for-schools/section-3/15/
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