WEEK6

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Summary of the Lecture-- Week 6 Author: Haining Lu

This week's lecture was about Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct defined in Victoria Teaching Profession, given by Mr. Powell. According to this legislative requirement, there are three basic values underpinning the profession, which are integrity, respect and responsibility. Followed by the code of ethics, there is code of conduct, which is divided into three sections: In the last part of the lecture, Mr. Powell talked about some of the rules that teachers should follow to keep the relationship with students professional. For example, never being alone with a student.
 * Teachers demonstrate their integrity by acting in the best interest of students, maintianing a professional relationship with students, parents, colleagues and the community and behaving in ways the respect and advance the profession.
 * Teachers demonstrate their respect by acting with care and compassion, treating students fairly and impartially, holding their colleagues in high regard, acknowledging parents as partners in the education of their children.
 * Teachers demonstrate their responsibility by providing quality teaching, maintaining and developing our professional practice, working cooperatively with their colleagues in the best interests of their students.
 * professional conduct
 * personal conduct
 * professional competence

Teachers are not just a group of people who teach, but also they are role models for students in many aspects. Students are very likely to be influenced by teachers' behaviours and attitudes in various degrees. Thus, it is vital for the teachers to adpot a set of professional attitudes and remain consistent in words they say and things they do. That's also why the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct are very important.

Victoria Teaching Profession Code of Conduct: []



__** Summary of Workshop-- Week # 6 Eileen Gomes **__

This week in our workshop we focused on ethics and the different codes of conduct. We mainly discussed the proper ways of showing ethincs and code of conduct when working among children, parents and colleagues. It is very important to show the professional side of being a teacher when you are among children because they see you has the higher authority figure and respect you as a role model. Another major discussion during the workshop was on integrity. The meaning is defined as the rightful use of actions, values and treatment of others. It is important to have these traits while teaching in a classroom because our actions represent the best way of encouraging learning interests from the students. After the discussion we were assigned to groups of five, where we were given a scenario following in on the theme of ethics which we needed to provide answers within our groups of what was the best way to solve an unethical situation. For example, my group was given the scenario of the handicapped student who could not go sailing with the other students when a supply teacher promised him he could. In this situation the best thing is to always have contact with the parents and explain that their child was mis-informed and that he is unable to attend the school trip. Apologize for the promised information and ask if they'll join in on the trip. Other than sailing, there may be other activities on the trip where a handicapped student can also participate. Another approach to this matter was to cancel the trip and organize another field day where ALL students could attend. I think that ethics is important to embed in students when they are young. They need to learn that making the right decisions will help them move forward rather then making bad choices. Their actions will only lead them on specific paths but it is up to them to choose whats best. Image: []

Author:Akie Yoshida ** The chosen reading in week 6 was about ethics in school, written by Janet Sherry March 2007. It was stated that educators were often involved in dilemmas where it is not clear what is right or wrong, or what a person ought to do, or which perspective is right in moral terms. There are two words, ethics and values, using a contemporary approach. She defined that values are the standards we set for our interactions with students, colleagues, parents and others and are unique to a workplace. Ethics on the other hand tends to refer largely to a range of rules-based behaviors. Although those values and rules are often stated in each school guidelines, there are many cases that a teacher needs to make decision on her or his own, which could be indeed dilemmas for the teacher to make a right decision. In this reading an ethical decision making method suggested by the SOLR project is illustrated and I found it very clear and useful in any scenario you may have in the future. The method firstly starts to clarify the main issue and then follows seven steps to make a right decision. It is recommended for student-teachers to have case study to just give it a try as we were given a case in the workshop.
 * Reading of the week6

Here is a link to Victorian Institute of Teaching, stating the Teaching Profession Code of Conduct. You may not have any issue regarding these teaching codes, but it is worth looking through at least once for future use. []
 * Victorian Institute of Teaching**

**General comments on this week --- Week 6 Author: Zhao Wei Peng (Bon)**

We focused on ethics and moral issues in both lecture and workshop this week. I feel it is very difficult to become a qualified teacher nowaday because as a teacher, you should be a role model and on the other hand, you should do your job professionally. How to deal with our children,how to maintain or even develop the relationship with parents is another issue. Greg stressed repeatedly in the lecture that the limit of helping your students as a teacher. I recall the example of the two abandoned children which Greg shared in the lecture and I consider if I was a teacher, how could I deal with that? To be sympathetic to what they have endoured or just let them go because it's none of my business and I should deal with it as a professional teacher. However, as what I have learned from my master teaching course, education impacts on someone's emotion and educator himself is "emotional". To my point of view, as an educator, the way you teach these two children could be potentially influenced by what you have known about them and if we insist on our professional principle,would that be so cold? Maybe my thought is based on my educational philosophy which is shaped by the traditional oriental atomasphere. Anyway, I do agree the theory which is teacher is not a friend ,cousellor or a psychologist to rescue the students, you are just a professional teacher. I think the key to solving my confusion is to find the line between you and students and never beyond the line.