Week 28- Mindlab reflection : Law and Ethics

My post this week analysis an ethical dilemma in my teaching practice. To analyse this dilemma I have used Rolfe's (2001) model of reflection and Erlich et. al's. (2011) ethical decision making model.

Step 1 (What): 

After school one day a child was picked up by another family member that did not have custody of this child. As it was only recent I the teacher did not know that this child was not supposed to be picked up by this family member. I was not the teacher that was told the child had been picked up but I was notified later that this had happened and it shouldn't have. 

Step 2 (So what):

Using Erlich et.al. (2011) ethical decision making model, I was able to notice the legal and ethical issues in this dilemma. Looking also at the Education Council, Our Codes Our Standards (2017) my professional responsibility is to:

• demonstrate a high professional behaviour in different situations, 
• I need to make sure I am respectful and collaborative with colleagues and other members of the wider community. 
• I need to promote the well being of learners and make sure that I am protecting them from harm. 
• engage with whanau and families in a professional and respectful manner. 

I understand that I need to act professionally and respectfully regarding this ethical dilemma as I need to make sure that I am in line with the standards and am being professional. I need to make some choices about what to do:

• I have a responsibility to the child to ensure that he/she is protected from harm and as I know now that the parent does not have custody of this child I need to consider that there are legal issues around this and it could affect me professionally if it continues. I also have to consider that there may be issues around his/her safety as to why this parent does not have custody
• It is my role to act with professionalism and honesty- I know I have to speak to the parent who has custody of this child to state that I was not aware of the agreements.
• In a professional and respectful way I need to also let my other colleagues know the information around the custody so that it does not happen again and they do not make the same mistake as myself

Step 3 (Now what):


To address the dilemma, I could...

• Ensure that when office staff find out this information it is immediately passed onto classroom teachers
• Make sure that teachers discuss with whanau about these arrangements and discuss professionally that when they know outcomes to let the teachers know of agreements
• speak to the family and make sure that the child is safe and let them know there was mis communication and that not all teachers were aware.

REFERENCES


Education Council. (2017). Our Code Our Standards. Retrieved 11th March, 2018 from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf


Ehrich, L. C. , Kimber M., Millwater, J. & Cranston, N. (2011). Ethical dilemmas: a model to understand teacher practice, Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 17:2, 173-185, DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2011.539794

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001) Critical Reflection Model. Retrieved from: https://my.cumbria.ac.uk/media/MyCumbria/Documents/ReflectiveModelRolfe.pdf