Week 28 - Act in Your Professional Environment
Step 1 (What): Identify an issue of ethics, or society, or culture, or professional environment that you have:
As I have noted in a previous reflection meeting my learners and starting the taking action phase of the inquiry on day one of the school year was an issue as I did not know my learners well and it turned out that if I had of known them as I do now I would have tailored my action more precisley to them. Therefore an ethical dilemma for me was how I would carry out my inquiry in a way that would best meet their needs.
Step 2 (So What): Use an ethical decision-making framework such as Ehrich (2011) to analyse the issue identified in Step 1 and identify potential outcomes/solution(s). If you choose Ehrich’s framework, you do NOT need to discuss all the competing forces listed in the model, just critically evaluate the most relevant ones.
One of the forces at play in this dilemma were my own individual values and beliefs around meeting learner needs first and building relationships. While this was my strongest consideration I did feel conflicted that I was not immediately enacting and focusing on my assignment. However, building relationships and meeting learner needs first is not only a value of mine but it is also my professional responsibility. As I started the year I felt overwhelmed by the range of needs of my learners, especially behaviourally. Despite setting up my provocations for day one I did not follow through on them or guide them as I felt I would be doing more harm than good if I focused first on my inquiry and not on getting the behaviour needs under control. Through supporting my children with their behaviour I was able to create a more settled environment that was more conductive to learning. At the start of week 3 I felt the learning environment was more conducive and I had a TV installed and therefore was also better resourced to carry out my inquiry and so I began my taking action phase with intent. It was hard to let my study take the back seat for two weeks since it was important to me and I wanted my action to be successful but my learners always need to be the first priority.
Step 3 (Now What): Discuss how you selected a solution to address the issue, from the options identified in Step 2. You should refer to regulations or policy in your organisation, or the Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession, or relevant legal documents discussed in the Legal professional obligations for teachers section above.
I chose to put the children first and delay my 'taking action' phase because learners, building relationships and a creating a safe learning environment should always be the first priority. This is outlined not only in the teaching code but also by the NZARE. While I continue to carry out my action I need to be aware that at any time if my study needs to take a back seat in order to better meet my learners need, it can and will be delayed. There is always the option to get an extension and if I was to carry out this inquiry again I would choose to do it in a way where I had more time to build relationships with my learners and create a safe learning environment with and for them.
One of the forces at play in this dilemma were my own individual values and beliefs around meeting learner needs first and building relationships. While this was my strongest consideration I did feel conflicted that I was not immediately enacting and focusing on my assignment. However, building relationships and meeting learner needs first is not only a value of mine but it is also my professional responsibility. As I started the year I felt overwhelmed by the range of needs of my learners, especially behaviourally. Despite setting up my provocations for day one I did not follow through on them or guide them as I felt I would be doing more harm than good if I focused first on my inquiry and not on getting the behaviour needs under control. Through supporting my children with their behaviour I was able to create a more settled environment that was more conductive to learning. At the start of week 3 I felt the learning environment was more conducive and I had a TV installed and therefore was also better resourced to carry out my inquiry and so I began my taking action phase with intent. It was hard to let my study take the back seat for two weeks since it was important to me and I wanted my action to be successful but my learners always need to be the first priority.
Step 3 (Now What): Discuss how you selected a solution to address the issue, from the options identified in Step 2. You should refer to regulations or policy in your organisation, or the Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession, or relevant legal documents discussed in the Legal professional obligations for teachers section above.
I chose to put the children first and delay my 'taking action' phase because learners, building relationships and a creating a safe learning environment should always be the first priority. This is outlined not only in the teaching code but also by the NZARE. While I continue to carry out my action I need to be aware that at any time if my study needs to take a back seat in order to better meet my learners need, it can and will be delayed. There is always the option to get an extension and if I was to carry out this inquiry again I would choose to do it in a way where I had more time to build relationships with my learners and create a safe learning environment with and for them.
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