Law and Ethics Influences on Professional Practice

The Education Council (n.d.) identifies that teachers in New Zealand are obliged to uphold a high level of professionalism that enhances the learner’s ability and takes into account their age, stage, gender, cultural background and development. They state that teachers are bound by an agreement to promote the following four principles: Autonomy, Justice, Responsible care and Truth (The Education Council, n.d.) Hall (2001) recognises that society values have altered in recent times prompting a rise in public expectations of teachers and schools.

Our situation

Like many other schools, we provide parents with digital safety information at enrolment and ask parents to discuss with their children the key aspects of this agreement and sign to acknowledge they accept the rules and the school’s stance on digital safety. The parents are also asked at this time to give permission for their child’s photo or work to be used on class and school blogs. Most parents are fine with this as long as they receive a notification that a post has been made involving their child. The school uses many modes of digital technology and social media to communicate generic messages in an efficient manner. For example email, facebook, twitter and school blogs. This aligns with our school policy on social media which states that teachers have an extra responsibility to play by keeping messages professional and excluding confidential information.

My Scenario

An issue that I have encountered in the classroom was overhearing children’s discussions about their use of social media at home. One conversation I recall involved four eight year old boys who were discussing their Instagram accounts. They even asked if I had an account that they could follow. As we continued to work and chat, I managed to ask a question about the age restrictions for Instagram and their understanding. One child responded that their mum just changed the date of birth on the sign-up page so they could activate their account. Another child described how their parents didn’t know about it and how they made their own account. After researching the Instagram App I discovered that the age limit is 13 years old.

In the publication Ethical and Professional Dilemmas for Educators (2012) identify some questions that can assist a teacher when working through an ethical issue. I will use these questions to frame my reflection on this issue.

• “What possible issues/concerns might this scenario raise?

I am concerned that the parents involved are either unaware of the age regulations or are choosing to ignore them. From the small conversation had with the group of boys I wonder whether the parents are monitoring what their children are using Instagram for and what they may potentially being exposed to.

• How could this situation become a violation of the law, the “Code” or other school /district policies?

The Code of Ethics for Certified Teachers identifies many legal obligations that a teacher must adhere to. Teachers must establish honest, open and respectful relationships with whānau and the best interest of the learners must be central. They have the right to respect the family’s privacy but to also inform parents about any concerns they may have about their children.

• In this situation, what are some potential negative consequences for the teacher, for the students and the school community?

I feel in an awkward situation because there has been no incident that has happened at school that is in breach of the school’s digital safety rules. I wonder how approaching the parents would be received as I feel that this is a family matter and choice and the advice from a school would be overstepping the mark.

• What responses/actions will result in a more positive outcome and/or what proactive measures might be considered?

An alternative approach could be implementing some direct teaching in the class about digital safety and awareness and highlight some rules that certain Apps and Software have in place in order to keep all users safe. By being a whole class activity the four children involved have no need to be identified but hopefully the message will reach their level of understanding and will help them reflect. A copy of this information would be fantastic to communicate with parents informing them of ways to help their child develop more positive digital citizenship.

Where to next?

Teachers will continue to face more challenges with both children and whānau as we live in a digital world which is increasing its capabilities and opportunities day by day. In recent professional development I have done with experts around cybersafety, one key message is very clear. The message is that parents need to be actively involved in teaching their children about digital safety that aligns with their family values and beliefs. They are in the ‘driver’s seat’ in ensuring their children develop the necessary skills which will allow them to be respectful and safe participants online. Schools and teachers play a crucial role in this partnership but are there to support families and their choices and to provide guidance when needed. An increasingly complex situation as schools move towards BYOD- moving from the mindset of school vs home to child/ whānau/ school partnership.

References

Cinelearning. (2016, August 17). Teacher Ethics Video - Social Media Dilemma. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGQbLSEPN5w

Connecticut’s Teacher Education and Mentoring Program.(2012) Ethical and Professional Dilemmas for Educator: Facilitator’s Guide. Retrieved from http://www.ctteam.org/df/resources/Module5_Manual.pdf

Education Council. (n.d). The Education Council Code of Ethics for Certificated Teachers. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/code-of-et...

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. (2015). Digital technology - Safe and responsible use in schools. Retrieved from http://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/School/Managing-and-supporting-students/DigitalTechnologySafeAndResponsibleUseInSchs.pdf

New Zealand Teachers Council. (2012). Commitment to Parents/Guardians and Family/Whānau. [video file] Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49804201

Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

As part of the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007) all teachers in New Zealand have the responsibility to value diversity and its advantages,  accept and act on cultural differences and acknowledge language and identity that contribute to success for all learners. It states that all teachers have the responsibility to raise the achievement of all learners. Savage (2011) discusses how equity in classrooms is a global issue and always disadvantages the smaller, indigenous and minority cultures.

“The ethnic mosaic of New Zealand’s population is changing, with the Māori, Pacific and Asian ethnic groups making up a growing proportion of the population. Projections show that New Zealand will have greater ethnic diversity in the future.” (Ministry of Education, 2015). This links directly to my current school situation where the percentage of Asian ethnic groups has risen significantly over the last several years post earthquake in 2010.

Bishop (2009) discusses the notion of a caring and learning relationship between teachers, maori learners and their whānau. Firstly he points out the need of genuinely caring for maori, secondly caring that māori learn and thirdly creating learning relationships to ensure they are able to learn. This resonated with me as I believe that building positive and authentic relationships with all students and their families is the foundational building block in which layers of learning can then be secured. When a student feels like they have connected with a teacher, that they understand them as a unique and valued member of the class, that a teacher is genuinely interested in who they are and what they bring to the class, learning is possible.

Bishop (2009) identifies six key factors that culturally responsive teachers do on a daily basis. These points align with my personal philosophy of teaching not only for māori but all students.

Six things: daily

1. Care for māori as māori- recognising background, culture, identity, traditions and values that all learners bring to the classroom
2. Care for the performance of māori students- setting high expectations and believing that they can achieve
3. Prepared for maori to be māori- allowing students to draw upon their own own funds of knowledge and bring into the class
4. Manage classrooms- strong pedagogy used promotes positive interactions with young māori where academic feedback and feedforward are co-constructed
5. Use a range of effective teaching strategies to cater for a diverse range of needs
6. Evidence of student performance and achievement is used to guide teaching while ensuring students know about their intended outcomes in a formative way.

My current school prides itself on the reputation it has of parents being actively involved in decision making processes regarding school matters. The school involves the parents in many ways and are lucky that they have such an enthusiastic set of parents who are truly passionate about the school. The Board of Trustees and PTA Committee are driven by very involved and dedicated parents who hold the school very close to their hearts. The communication methods that the school uses on a regular basis are twitter, email, facebook, school website, emails, feedback forms, student-led conferences, face to face conversations and meetings at school or in the family home. These are used to communicate information on a range of topics, events and decisions that need to be made. I believe the community value having an opportunity for their ideas to be heard and acknowledged. New children and whānau are welcomed to the school each term with a school wide powhiri. Feedback from parents about this has indicated that it is a very valuable experience and enables them to experience the school and māori culture first hand. They also appreciated the school making the effort to connect with them to begin building a positive relationship which helps them settle into a new school community, often in a new country.

An area that I believe needs careful reflection and consideration is around the learning activities that are planned to teach a range of culturally diverse learners. I have a large percentage of cultures in my class (56% identifying as other than New Zealand European) is a first for me and is something that I see is a real area of need as I aim to develop my teaching practice. This has prompted me to wonder how other teachers plan to meet culturally diverse needs, how they specifically adapt their teaching to meet the diverse range of needs and how they involving children and whānau in this planning process.

References:

Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T. & Teddy, L. (2009).Te Kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Māori students in New Zealand. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(5),734–742.

Cowie, B., Otrel-Cass, K., Glynn, T., & Kara, H., et al.(2011).Culturally responsive pedagogy and assessment in primary science classrooms: Whakamana tamariki. Wellington: Teaching

Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994

Learning Research Initiative. Retrieved from http://www.tlri.org.nz/sites/default/files/projects/9268_cowie-summaryreport.pdf

Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education. (2015). Creating culturally responsive learning environments and contexts for all akonga. Retrieved February 2, 2017, from http://seniorsecondary.tki.org.nz/The-arts/Pedagogy/Culturally-responsive-learning-environments

Contemporary issue or trend in New Zealand or internationally

The Education Review Office (2012) has identified three key issues currently facing the New Zealand Education system and the specific needs of our priority learners. One of these issues is how schools are shifting their focus of traditional teaching and learning partnerships to student-centred learning opportunities. They argue that successful schools have the student’s interests, passions and evolving needs at the forefront of their planning and teaching.

Local Setting

Allowing students to have more choice in the classroom has been quite a confronting idea for some more traditional focused teachers that I have had conversations with in a local school setting. In recent conversations I have had with students in my class they identified that they wanted to use devices all the time, learn about robotics and the skills to be able to code. They are increasingly technology driven and are eager to explore in this area. Reference Group (2014) states agency has not been considered in the traditional industrial education model as it was not needed, however due to increased use of technology agency is now more available to students. This research also argues that developing agency in the 21st Century learner is important to equip them with the skills they need for later life. Some teachers that I have had conversations with have identified the following barriers to shifting to a more student-led and centred education model using technology.

• I don’t have enough devices in my class to do anything worthwhile using technology.
• I don’t have the knowledge and the skills to use technology in my classroom.
• I am too constricted by National Standards.
• How can I plan and cover all curriculum areas if I only teach what the students want to know?

These fixed mindset teachers need to be encouraged to move away from ‘here is what you need to know’ to ‘here is a way to find what you want to know.’

The New Zealand Education System and Trends

The 2007 New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007) aims to educate young people to become confident, connected and actively involved in their learning. Over the past ten years there has been a growing shift towards promoting student agency in the classroom. In a report written by 21st Century Learning Reference Group (2014) technology is described as a key tool to allow learning experiences to be tailored to the specific needs of the individual. This further highlights the need for teachers to get on board with this growing educational trend.

International Trends

National Intelligence Council (2012) predict that by 2030 technology capabilities and possibilities will experience significant growth. They believe that this will pose huge challenges for societies as we know them and must find a way to adapt to these changes. They discuss possibilities of smart cities with improved quality of life, highly advanced robots which will eliminate the need for most labour workers as well as being able to communicate and provide medical attention to sick patients. This predicted trend is extremely relevant to the current New Zealand Education System and the topical notion of ‘preparing our children for jobs that don’t exist yet.

What can we do?

We need to provide our students with opportunities to learn and develop the skills to be able to direct and manage their own learning in our current classes despite the limitations and barriers we face with National Standards. The skills to be able to cope with self-directed learning need to be explicitly taught and modelled. Teachers have a professional responsibility to inquire and improve their own practice which will meet the demands of rapidly changing technologies. My role as a more confident technology user is to continue to raise the bar with technology in my class and help raise the practice of my colleagues. 2030 is just around the corner!

References

21st Century Learning Reference Group. (2014). Future-focused learning in connected communities(Rep.). 21st Century Learning Reference Group.

Education Review Office. (2012). Evaluation at a Glance: Priority Learners in New Zealand Schools. Retrieved 18 May 2016, from http://www.ero.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Evaluation-at-a-Glance-Priority-Learners-in-New-Zealand-Schools-August-2012.pdf

National Intelligence Council. (2012). Global trends: Alternative Worlds. National Intelligence Council: US. Retrieved from

Current issues in my professional context

School Culture

Stoll (1998) states that school culture is a crucial and multi-layered concept that helps identify an organisation as unique. Key factors that help a school define their culture are the age of the school, political and economical forces, the mindset of staff, the current make-up of the children and their social backgrounds and wider society changes (Stoll, 1998).

My situation

Our school is a decile 10, inner-city school in Christchurch catering for the needs of students from year 0-6. Being a high decile school we find that many of our parents are typically well-educated and are fully involved in the life of the school. The school consists of approximately 470 children and has an extremely diverse range of cultures and ethnicities. Currently 32% of the children identify that English is a second language. This huge percentage provides many opportunities and challenges that our school values and aims to embrace as part of our school culture. The school receives ESOL funding for these English language learners and a large percentage of our children qualify for this support. These children’s language and cultural differences are celebrated in many ways throughout the school. For example, food and culture day hosted by the parents, opportunities for children to teach about their language and culture to others, welcoming powhiri each term to new families to the school and our current school wide topic called ‘Our Story.’ The parent community is consulted regularly with school matters and their perspectives and ideas are acknowledged by the Board of Trustees, Principal and school staff.

Stoll (1998) identifies 10 key factors that help schools establish their distinctive culture. Many of these ideas align with the current values and focus of the school which all the staff and community have been involved in developing.

The school is currently aiming to drive their core value of understanding the holistic learner and ‘The village raising the child.’ We have completed lots of professional development unpacking ways in which we can further develop authentic relationships with learners and their whānau. One approach is through collaboration where children have the opportunities to develop relationships and connect with more than one teacher. Our learning environments are currently being altered to make this way of working more possible. Teachers are being encouraged to work together more collaboratively and use each other’s strengths and passions to build our own curriculum knowledge.

One of the issues arising from an extremely varied socio-economic community is the ability to communicate effectively with all whānau. The main factor of speaking different languages has strained communication in the past but the school is now valuing staff who speak other languages and is looking to employ more bilingual staff. Adding to the language barriers there are also complications that arise when a family's values are vastly different to the values of the school. For example, a teacher wanting to help the child to develop problem solving skills and alternative strategies in maths when the family are only wanting the child to rote learn one strategy.

Gargiulo (2014) explains some great strategies that help increase engagement and achievement in lower socio-economic schools resulting in a more positive school culture. They identify that Student Achievement Conferences that are held involving children, parents and staff have very positive signs. Multiple ways of communicating this information with parents is essential and this aligns with our school philosophy.

As our school has recently experienced huge changes in leadership we are moving away from the saying of “this is how we’ve done it” to “this is what we want to do around here” in order to further richen our school culture and identity.

References

Gargiulo, S. (2014). Principal sabbatical report. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Leadership-development/Professional-information/Principals-sabbatical-reports/Report-archives-for-2007-2014/Secondary-award-recipients-2014/Gargiulo-Salvatore

Stoll. (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture

My community of practice

Community of Practice Definition

Wegner (2000) defines successful communities of practice as a group of people who share mutual passion and understanding in a defined area. The purpose of this group is to meet regularly to reflect, discuss and improve the outcomes of their chosen practice through accountability and critical reflection. Knox (2009) discusses how members of the group must be actively engaged and motivated to participate in a community of practice group as opposed to participation being enforced by management.

Wegner (2000) identifies three key elements of effective communities of practice:

1. Group members are joined together and share common understanding of expectations and accountability.
2. Group trust is established through developing guidelines and relationships that allow members to participate in a safe learning environment.
3. Groups develop a shared pool of resources and expertise.

My Communities of Practice

Purpose and Participants

I belong to a Community of Practice group who shares a common goal of reflecting on and improving our teaching practice with the desired result of increasing student outcomes. Our CoPs group consists of a range teachers from all areas of the school, part-time staff and a member from the senior management team. These groups have been constructed by management to ensure there is a cross-pollination of teachers throughout the different levels and roles within the school. We meet every four weeks to share personal reflections that relate to the development of our own specific goals in our teacher inquiry.

Structure and  Developing Shared Expectations

Initially, each meeting was structured and directed by the senior management representative who provided us with guiding questions that prompted us to think and succinctly articulate our learnings focusing on ourselves as a teacher. Group members were encouraged to actively listen and to ask thought provoking questions that prompted the speaker to consider other approaches or resources to further deepen their knowledge. At the beginning this was difficult for all involved as some teachers naturally wanted to solve the problem by giving their answers, perspectives and suggestions. As time evolved with this group we challenged each other to become more active listeners and provoke other’s thinking in order to deepen our ability to critically reflect on our own practice. The confidence and trust to expose our own teaching weaknesses in front of our colleagues continued to develop over time. This was made easier by establishing a shared set of expectations regarding trust, privacy and the commitment to growing professional relationships.

My Reflection

My teacher inquiry focused on developing my teaching strategies in order to increase student ownership of their learning and for them to be able to clearly articulate ‘why’ they are learning what they are. It was important that I kept my own teaching strategies at the forefront of the conversation as this linked directly to my goal. The opportunity to have time allocated to sit and talk to other colleagues was very refreshing and I gained so much from being an active participant in my CoPs group. Hearing what other teachers are being challenged by opened my eyes to other possibilities and way of thinking while also reaffirming that I am not alone in this ever changing world of teaching which sometimes feels very overwhelming. I feel that many teachers follow the CoPs cycle without even knowing that they are doing it. However, when a school values this professional development and learning as important by structuring groups and making the requirements manageable, there can be some much to celebrate.

References

Knox, B. (2009, December 4).Cultivating Communities of Practice: Making Them Grow.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhMPRZnRFkk

Wenger, E.(2000).Communities of practice and social learning systems Organization,7(2), 225-246 (Link to the article in Unitec Library).