Ethics in teaching profession

Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well. Aristotle Whatever be the advancement in technology, till now, the teacher is some who is irreplaceable form the academic arena. From ages teachers have been recipients of honour and respect from the society. They have been expected to be ideal role models and their main responsibility was to train young minds and make them the suitable future citizens. In short, the teacher is one who not only imparts knowledge but also shapes the character of students who constitute a society. However, there has been considerable change in recent times which has led to erosion of values, responsibilities and commitment from the teaching profession. This erosion is a result of complex structure of society, socio-economic growth commercialization of education and quantification of deliverables by teachers. Given the seriousness of responsibility which rests on the shoulders of the teachers it becomes almost imperative that the teaching profession entails an ethical and morally upright conduct. The blurring boundary between what is ethical and what is practical, often lands up the teachers in a predicament. But in general if conduct of a teacher is in consonance with his or her obligation, then it can be broadly considered as ethical. Going by the above principle, certain generic rules pertaining to ethics which are desirable in a teacher are: Disciplinary Competence:1 When teaching any course, faculty must have the necessary content knowledge to provide their students with up-to-date information relevant to course objectives, which in some cases may be standardized by a department for core or required courses. In addition, including specific content will be an expectation when a course is a prerequisite for subsequent courses in the curriculum. Ethical concerns arise when teachers are asked to teach courses outside their area of expertise (which occurs frequently in smaller institutions with few faculties) or when they propose courses that reflect personal interests for which they have a limited background. Lack of Interest in Students and No Motivation to Teach:2 Unprofessional behavior by teachers includes being uninterested in the success and wellbeing of their students, teachers who are unwilling to teach, and even those teachers who seem too busy with other things to teach. Such attitudes can transfer to students who do not feel motivated to do well in school or even attend school. Students who may have been engaged with previous teachers or in prior subjects may become disengaged and often suffer academically. Students can be critically affected by poor teachers, as below
1 2

Becoming an Ethical Teacher, G. William Hill IV and Dorothy D. Zinsmeister, Ch-14, Sagepub http://cnx.org/content/m19618/latest/

par teaching damages a student academically and personally. Students who are interested and eager to learn and participate in class may become deflated and discouraged by disconnected and unmotivated educators. Provide Balanced Content and Free Inquiry: The duty of a teacher is to present information and guide students in making informed and objective conclusions based on data, and not to coerce, indoctrinate, or intimidate students to adopt a particular perspective, especially one that reflects our personal biases. Ethical teachers encourage open discussion of alternative theoretical positions and focus on content explicitly related to the course objectives. Use Objective and Fair Assessments: Ethical teachers are aware of factors that may affect fairness in grading. They should avoid letting unrelated factors or personal biases affect their grading of student assessments (e.g., a students attendance or classroom behavior, a theoretical disagreement with a student, grading the expected best or worst papers first or last). Personal Discipline and Integrity: This is the cornerstone of a teachers conduct. Ethical behaviour demands that teachers attend classes on time and regularly (which is generally a rarity in most government schools in India).Moreover it is often reported that teachers deliberately teach substandard in classroom so as to exhort students to join their personal coaching classes. Acts like these severely undermine the teaching and learning atmosphere. Professionally Appropriate Relationships With The Students: Ethical teachers avoid behaviors that might be construed as discrimination (e.g., lecture comments that could be interpreted as discriminatory toward a particular religion or race). Ethical teachers are also sensitive to other situations that may imply an improper student-teacher relationship or the perception of a potential bias because of the interaction. For example asking for gifts from students or hiring students to perform personal tasks for them.