Teacher's Professional Ethics

The Values lying behind a Teacher’s Professional Ethics

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HUMAN WORTH
The basis underlying the ethical principles laid down here is the treatment of every person as a being of inherent worth. This implies that every child, pupil or student should be approached as a person capable of thinking and learning. The worth of a human being should be respected regardless of sex, sexual orientation, outward appearance, age, religion, social status, origins, opinions, skills or achievements.

TRUTHFULNESS
Truthfulness is a central value in teaching, in which the teacher is engaged in guiding leaners in their encounters with their surroundings and with life itself. An inquiry-based approach to these things calls for frank discussion and a search for the truth. Honesty to oneself and to others and mutual respect in all interactions with other people form part of the foundation of a teacher's work.

FAIRNESS
lt is essential that fairness should prevail in all dealings with learners, as individuals   or  in  groups, and  in all  activities within the working community. Particular attention should be paid to the promotion of equality and impartiality and the avoidance of discrimination and favouritism. Fairness should also be exercised in the distribution of favours and burdens, in the handling of offences and conflicts and in the evaluation of learners.

RIGHTS AIID RESPONSIBILITIES
Teachers are entitled to their own values and opinions, but they are bound in their teaching by the responsibilities of this undertaking and the norms that apply to it, e.g. the relevant legislation and the curriculum.

A Teachers Ethical Principles

A TEACHER'S RELATIONSHIP TO HIS OR HER WORK
Teachers commit themselves to the norms that define their work and to the ethics of their profession. They undertake to perform their tasks in a responsible manner, to develop their work and professional skills and to evaluate their own activities. Teachers must realize that their own personality plays an important part in their work and that they have both a right and a duty to develop that personality. Teachers are also entitled to be treated fairly in the exercise of their duties.

TEACHER AND LEARNER
Teachers should accept the learners as unique individuals, respecting their rights and treating them fairly and humanely.

Teachers should try to understand the learners' points of departure, ways of thinking and opinions and should exercise discretion in matters connected with a learner's personality and private life. Teachers should pay particular attention to learners who need care and protection and should not condone any form of teasing or exploitation of others.

Teachers should train the learners to be good members of society and to work in collaboration with others. They should also work to promote trust and to build up good personal relations.

The younger the learners are, the greater the responsibility that the teacher has for them. Teachers should work in conjunction with the adults responsible for the children and young people who they teach.

THE WORKING COMMUNITY
Teachers should value the work they are doing and show respect for their colleagues. They should seek to achieve a constructive pooling of resources and a proper balance between their own autonomy and the interests of the working community. The acceptance and understanding of one's colleagues as individuals and the importance of mutual assistance and support should be guiding principles in the working community.

TEACHERS AND OTHER INTEREST GROUPS
Teachers should work in collaboration with learners' parents and guardians and others who are responsible for their education, upbringing and welfare. These may be taken to include specialist advisers in the fields of health care and social work, the authorities and numerous other instances. The purpose of this collaboration is to support learning and development and to extend the opportunities for learning.

TEACHERS AND SOCIETY
The education of its members is one of society's principal functions. The opportunities that teachers have to carry out their work and attend to their own professional development are dependent not only on their own commitment but also on the resources allocated to teaching and education. Teachers are expected to promote the growth and upbringing of their learners and to defend their rights and interests, in a critical manner lf necessary. ln this way they can train them to become responsible and able members of a democratic society.

TEACHERS IN A PLURALISTIC WORLD
Teachers should see that all their learners have equal rights and responsibilities as members of the community, and that the culture and world view that they and their parents or guardians espouse are respected in an unprejudiced manner, so that no one is subjected to discrimination on such grounds. lf some form of compromise has to be sought between the demands of society and a learner's cultural background, this should be done in collaboration with a parent or guardian.