How are the professional responsibilities of educators to be borne in
everyday practice? In particular how are the burdens of the obligation for
pedagogic research borne?
Provided
herein is a guide for approaching how one can fulfill professional
responsibilities and answer moral questions and resolve, moral dilemmas
that relate to a professional educators. The suggestions made and
resolutions offered will not always be pleasing to all involved nor will
they always permit an educator do what is in the interests of that
educator or satisfying to that educator. The intention here is to
provide some detail as to the fulfillment or professional responsibilities
and thinking through moral problems to a conclusion as to what action may
be most consonant with the moral norms of the profession of education.
Although there have been
some who claim that ethical questions have no solutions there are some
fairly clear conclusions that can be and have been reached by individuals
and professional collectives who have issued their own statements and
codes to govern conduct. Based on a consideration of the responsibilities
of professional educators together with the ever present moral injunction
to “cause no harm” it is not difficult, as it is oft times claimed to be, to reach conclusions to
moral arguments and find resolutions to what otherwise appear as moral
dilemmas when the basic principles that govern all humans and those in
professions are forgotten or refused entry into the reflections and
discourse on moral matters.
That there are no single
fixed correct answers to ethical questions does not mean that there are no
answers. Instead of thinking that in the absence of a single, absolute
and universally accepted answer there is only relativism or contextualism
there is instead another position on the possibility for resolving moral
dilemmas. Given what we do know about the human condition and about the
situations we are dealing with in education there is the actuality of
there being better answers to ethical questions and better resolutions to
moral dilemmas. They are better when they are more in accord with the
fundamental values and principles and obligations and responsibilities of
the profession and the ever present human relationships that professionals
hold. Those values are consistent with and based upon those of
the society served by the institution of education. The conclusions
reached concerning moral questions and issues can and do vary with
contexts and situations. This is so because there are different
contexts. There are different levels of education and different groupings
of learners by age and background ranging from cultural to cognitive
styles and abilities. These differences will call for a different
ordering of the priorities to assign to the fundamental values and
principles and obligations and responsibilities of the profession.
For example, the
relationship of an educator to a six year old child is not the same as to
an adult learner and thus the way in which issues of paternalism and
informed consent and privacy will play out will differ as will the
applicability of the fiduciary versus the paternalistic model for the
basic relationship.
It could
very well be that in many, but not all, cases in which it is thought that
a moral dilemma exists or a situation exists that admits of no correct
answer or resolution that the judgment that there is no correct answer is
based on the idea that an answer is correct when a solution is found that
serves the interests of all involved so that each is satisfied. This
is not the case. It is more likely that there will often be
situations in which doing the morally correct act will not please all who
are involved or satisfy all interests of all who are involved. For
example, there might be an educator who wants to conduct a pedagogic
experiment with students that will subject them to quite possible harms
and harms that are neither necessary or unavoidable. The
experimental design might suit the convenience of the would be researcher
but it would not be morally correct to proceeded with the experiment as
designed. Other experimental designs might include avoiding
informing students of the experiment in which they are subjects or
avoiding obtaining consent from them. There is no moral grounds for
justifying such experimental designs if one accepts the professional
responsibilities of educators and the general norms of society as
establishing the fundamental principles governing pedagogic
experimentation.
A
recapitulation of some basic points about ethical analyses and
deliberations and moral decision making.
-
Talking
about ethics is not the same as doing ethics.
-
Achieving a consensus is not doing ethics.
-
An
ethical solution is not necessarily what produces happiness or the
satisfaction of the interests of all those who are involved.
Any
decision made by an educator related to what the educator does as an
educator will have an ethical component to it as education involves the
interaction of human beings- the base and generation of ethical concern.
Many of
the decisions to be made will involve a set of common ethical issues
although they will be set within a wide array of circumstances.
There
are some basic steps or phases that a person should go through in
making decisions of a moral nature.
1.
identify the ethical issues involved in the situation and the decision to
be made
2.
consider a number of possible alternatives
3.
consider the possible consequences for learners
4.
identify the possible harms in each alternative
5.
identify the benefit to be produced with each alternative
-
minimum
benefit
-
maximum
benefit
6.
identify the degree of involvement and actions to be taken to effectuate
each alternative by:
7. Make
the decision to select the option that is doable amongst the alternatives
that will bring about the greatest benefit with the least harm
8.
formulate the plan to carry out the decision in action
9. take
actions needed to accomplish the plan
Ethical
concerns and how to approach them, think about them and resolve moral
dilemmas or settle the ethical concern will be presented under the
following headings:
-
Instructional Design Issues
-
Instructional Delivery
-
Instructional Management
-
Instructional Assessment
-
Learner
Assessment
-
Pedagogic Research
-
Pedagogic Experimentation
-
Responsibility to Disseminate the results of research/Experimentation
-
Collective Responsibilities of Faculties
-
Institutional Responsibilities
Instructional Design Issues
Defining
the area
the
ethical issues: harms, paternalism, professional concerns, societal
interests
an
example
questions and answers
Instructional Delivery
Defining
the area
the
ethical issues: harms, paternalism, professional concerns, societal
interests
an
example
questions and answers
Paternalism
Q: May educators make
decisions for their learners?
Instructional Management
Defining
the area
the
ethical issues: harms, paternalism, professional concerns, societal
interests
an
example
questions and answers
Confidentiality
Q: Can educators
discuss their students with other educators?
A: Sorry no gossip!
Least ways, not if it involves using the actual names of students.
The sharing of
information about a learner with colleagues will impact on the
educator-learner relationship and on the activities taking place.
Educators must guard against any communications that would likely have an
adverse impact on the learner-do no harm. Communications with colleagues
concerning a student in common that are intended to address the particular
circumstances of that learner so as to improve the efficacy of instruction
and the learning are in order. The sharing of information about a student
for personal satisfaction or entertainment is not in order as it is a
breach of confidentiality and in addition to it causing psychological harm
to the learner it could have an adverse impact on the learning process.
Instructional Assessment
Defining
the area
the
ethical issues: harms, paternalism, professional concerns, societal
interests
an
example
questions and answers
Pedagogic Revisions
Q: How often are
educators obliged to change their manner of teaching?
This is a question that
assumes as given the all too familiar current situation of educators who
do not perform assessments of the efficacy of their instruction. Instead
those who would evaluate their colleagues must proceed with the idea that
the professional community accepts that it is an ongoing obligation to
assess the efficacy of instruction Viewing the matter in that way then all
educators have in their set of basic obligations the responsibility to
include in their instructional design a variety of assessments for their
course content, instructional methods, assessment devices, etc... A
continuing obligation to perform pedagogic assessments is a prophylactic
to the development of “dead wood” amongst the instructional staff. If
regular assessment is carried on there will be revisions and reformations
of the instructional design and pedagogic methodologies as educators
continue their sincere efforts to teach, teach well and teach even
better. As circumstances and students change the assessments will
indicate a need to do likewise.
So rather than criticize
an educator for remaining fixed in content and methodology for a rather
lengthy period of time the focus is on whether or not an educator has
incorporated effective pedagogic assessment measures into the educator’s
instructional design and has effectively carried it out and acted on the
results. In an absolutely static situation there would be no need for an
educator to make any changes in an effective instructional design.
However, as there are no situations involving humans that remain static,
there is the expectation that pedagogic assessments will indicate the need
to make adjustments if not significant reformulations, on a regular
basis.
Learner Assessment
Defining
the area
the
ethical issues: harms, paternalism, professional concerns, societal
interests
an
example
questions and answers
Pedagogic Research
Defining
the area
the
ethical issues: harms, paternalism, professional concerns, societal
interests
an
example
questions and answers
Q: What
types of pedagogic research are to be subject to review prior to
conducting them?
All
pedagogic research without exception must be subjected to an Ethical
Review Process. Such a process involves a review by the individual
researcher-educator that takes place internally and in some cases in
addition it would involve an external review group. When is there a
need for an external review of pedagogic research involving human
subjects? Any research that would be formal must be reviewed by an
Institutional Review Board (IRB). That formal research that is
considered as exempt from an IRB review is subject to an Ethical Review
Board (ERB) in order to insure that all possible and likely harms are
avoided.
Ethical Review
Process
Internal Review Process
External Review Process:
the Ethical Review Board (ERB)
Pedagogic Experimentation
Defining
the area
the
ethical issues: harms, paternalism, professional concerns, societal
interests
an
example
questions and answers
Responsibility to Disseminate the results of Research/Experimentation
Defining
the area
the
ethical issues: harms, paternalism, professional concerns, societal
interests
an
example
questions and answers
There is both formal and
informal research conducted by educators. Educators communicate the
results of their formal and informal research in formal and in informal
ways. Some informal research is conducted on a daily basis and
communicated immediately to colleagues. Formal research may take many
months to design and years to conduct and then is disseminated through a
formal review and publication process. How is it possible to perform all
such activities in an ethically correct manner that is both morally
correct and practically realizable?
Collective Responsibilities of Faculties
Defining
the area
the
ethical issues: harms, paternalism, professional concerns, societal
interests
an
example
questions and answers
Institutional Responsibilities
Defining
the area
the
ethical issues: harms, paternalism, professional concerns, societal
interests
an
example
questions and answers
@copyright 2004 by S. Kincaid and P. Pecorino