Teacher Buy in Vital for Code of Ethics Success
A Code of Ethics for teachers will only succeed if it is
openly based on the values of the teaching profession and
gains teacher buy in, says a senior Wellington College of
Education academic.
Sue Cherrington, Director of Early
Childhood Education at the College, was a keynote speaker at
the New Zealand Teachers Council Education Summit at
Victoria University today. The summit focussed on the
development of a code of ethics for New Zealand teachers and
was also addressed by Education Minister Trevor
Mallard.
Ms Cherrington was a key player in the
development of a code of ethics for early childhood teachers
that was adopted by the profession at a convention in
September 1995.
A working group, backed by a large
advisory committee, spent considerable time consulting early
childhood teachers and organisations as well as early
childhood professionals both in New Zealand and overseas.
The group also surveyed teachers and held hui with
Mâori.
Ms Cherrington said research was vital to
establish the common core values of teachers and the most
frequent and severe ethical conflicts they faced.
"Such a
process would support the development of a code that is
inclusive of all registered teachers, regardless of the
sector that they teach in, and would contribute to the wider
goals of the Teachers Council to provide professional
leadership in education and to enhance the professional
status of teachers. It may also produce a unifying effect,
helping teachers across the sector to recognise and
appreciate the challenges and complexities of teaching in
their own and other sectors."
Ms Cherrington said the
early childhood code was based on the profession's own
values.
"Whilst we shaped and wordsmithed these values,
they are the values of the profession and not the results of
a backroom process. I would urge the Teachers Council to
commit to a similar model in order to take your members with
you on this journey. I believe the resulting commitment to
the code will far outweigh any disadvantages that may result
from taking longer to achieve a finalised code of ethics."
Ms Cherrington said the early childhood working group
left it to the profession to decide the status of the
code.
"The status of the code was a decision the working
group felt best left to the sector: our task had been to
oversee the development, not to decide whether the was to be
aspirational or enforceable. A similar decision needs to be
made by the Teachers Council and its members as part of the
development process."
For more information: contact Sue
Cherrington on 04 924 2052
Issued for the Wellington
College of Education by Victoria University of Wellington
Public Affairs
For further information please contact
Antony.Paltridge@vuw.ac.nz or phone +64-4-463-5873 or 029
463
5873