Week 29Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice.

NB: I would like to add the word potential to the above statement

Teachers as a collective force have an infinite wealth of knowledge, and social media is a very effective platform for teachers to tap into that knowledge. There are many social media places where teachers can join and share in a teaching community of practice.

There is a facebook page for New Zealand primary teachers that has a following of 26 929 members. This Facebook page is a closed group meaning you need to be accepted to join. It is a great place to get advice, inspiration and to share the learning that is taking place in our practices. However in such a setting there are opportunities for ethical lines to be crossed.

One possible example of an ethical dilemma that could arise in such a forum is the possibility of a teacher sharing questionable information about a student or a student’s parent. It could be that the teacher has a “vent” about a parents behaviour at their school. The teacher may feel “safe” to vent in a closed site amongst others in the same community of practice. However the feelings and opinions of the teacher can not be spoken about on social media as they may be if you were having a conversation to a colleague at school, face to face.

This sharing of questionable information or opinion is certainly not demonstrating a high standard of professional and personal behaviour. The New Zealand Teachers Council’s Code of Ethics for Registered Teachers, Ngā Tikanga Matatika mō Ngā Pouako Kua Rēhitatia applies to teachers all the time, including when using social media. The Code of Ethics says that teachers have commitments to: learners; parents/guardians and family/whānau; society; and the profession

The Code says we must …

DEMONSTRATE A HIGH STANDARD OF PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL BEHAVIOUR.

• communicating and using social media appropriately.

(Which means to share appropriate information on social media.)

The discussed ethical dilemma poses a questioning of the teachers professionalism.  It is not hard these days to search a person through other various social media sites such as personal facebook accounts, snapchat and twitter. A quick search could reveal a lot about the personal life of the particular teacher including which school they teach at.  Not only this but there are many other (26 929 and counting) members who know people and could make connections about who the teacher is and the child/parent they are discussing. We also need to remember once something is written in social media it is very hard if not impossible to remove.

I myself have done a quick facebook search for potential nannies, when I was looking for childcare for my children.  It surprised me how quickly I was put off employing someone by their posts on facebook. I wonder if either they didn’t realise it was so easy for someone to look at their profile, or do they not care because social media is such a common way to express ourselves? Perhaps they don’t think through the consequences of their actions.

The fact that teachers unavoidably act as moral educators themselves (Howe, 1986 as quoted by Hall (2001) They are constantly under scrutiny from the public sector. As a mother of two school age children I expect the utmost professional behaviour from their teachers.

I would hope that teacher training institutions make all training teachers fully aware of the code of ethics. The possibilities for ethical dilemmas is only going to increase as time continues and technology makes further advances.

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

Education council of New Zealand.Guidelines on Ethical Use of Social Media Retrieved from http://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/

Hall A What ought I to do, all things considered?  An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. School of Education The University of Waikato