Week 28 - Influence of Law & Ethics in Practice

Activity 4: Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

Create a reflective entry where you first identify an ethical dilemma that you either have faced or might fact in the future, in your own practice that is linked to digital or online access or activity.

I have chosen Rolfe et al.’s (2001) reflective model of reflection and the questions in the model to help me structure this assessment. I will use Ehrich et al. (2001) ethical decision-making model
to discuss the competing forces.

Identifying the Ethical Dilemma -

I will use the Abuse of ICT in school from the class notes as my issue.

As a school, we set up ICT use by -

• Asking parents and students to sign an ICT agreement.
• Signing a separate agreement for the use of their own device at school.

The example is using the internet for learning and inappropriate language was used in searches we encountered as a team was -   

Incident - 

• A few students who were supposed to be working and decided to look up sexually inappropriate words in an internet search.
• Tried to get others to do the same. 
• One of the students came to us and said what was going on. 
• The students were asked to hand over the devices they were using.

Action Taken - 

• The students were reported to the Deputy Principal. 
• We informed him of what has happened and he talked with the students involved. 
• Afterwards, he discussed the situation with the principal. 
• Senior management phoned the families of the children.
• The matter was dealt with internally. 
• The children involved were told that it was in breach of the ICT agreement they signed and as a consequence, they were banned from all devices for a week.

Critique or analyse the ethical dilemma identified in Step 1 and the outcome solution(s).  

Using Enrich et al. (2001) ethical decision-making model (pg 178), the Critical Incident covered the following competing forces.

Organisational Culture - As the actions of the children went against the school's policy of using the Internet.

Society and Community - The search had implications for the safety of children in the team and contacting parents meant that there was the embarrassment of having to deal with their child's decision making.

Individuals - Choices - The actions went against our school values, (responsibility, honesty, caring and respect). The actions not only went against the schools ICT policy but as senior students, they did not use the School Values and set the example for other children in the school.

Decision - The decision to ban the students for one week had implications for the students and our Senior Team. The students were unable to access a tool they enjoyed using. As staff we had to adjust our programme to cater to those new needs, which caused a sense of frustration.

Examine how the analysis and solution(s) in Step 2 are relevant to your practice and Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession.

To paraphrase Rolfe et al question, "what do I need to do in order to make things better? (Pg 1),

it meant we have to constantly monitor what our students are using the devices for. We also need to reinforce what being a good digital citizen looks like and make sure the students show the school values in an ICT situation. 

With regards to the Code of Professional Responsibility, it covers the Values, especially - 

Whakamana: empowering all learners to reach their highest potential by providing high-quality teaching and leadership.

Manaaktanga: creating a welcoming, caring and creative learning environment that treats everyone with respect and dignity.

Whanaungatanga: engaging in positive and collaborative relationships with our learners, their families and whanau, our colleagues and the wider community.

https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards 

By following those aspects of the standards, we develop better relationships and help students make better choices in their learning. The children also have the support of both their teachers and whanau.

Resources - 

Ehrich, L. C. , Kimber M., Millwater, J. & Cranston, N. (2011). Ethical dilemmas: a model to understand teacher practice, Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 17:2, 173-185, DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2011.539794

Education Council. (2017). Our Code Our Standards. Retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/file...

Adapted from: Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001) Critical reflection in nursing and the helping professions: a user’s guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from https://my.cumbria.ac.uk/media/MyCumbria/Documents/ReflectiveModelRolfe.pdf