The Profession of Education: Responsibilities, Ethics and Pedagogic Experimentation
Shannon Kincaid, Ph.D.
Philip Pecorino, Ph.D.
The art of teaching is to teach, to teach well and to teach even better.
Chapter: X. Ethics and Pedagogy: A Guide to Practice
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
avoidable harms/unavoidable harms
necessary harms/ unnecessary harms
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:
individual educator
collective of educators-the faculty exercising collective responsibility
the institution
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