Business
Unprofessional conduct
Nowadays one of the major challenges facing education is the quality of education that should be determined in addition to the content and new technologies in this field, a humanistic orientation of the educational process, and the competence of teaching staff. The main categories of teachers' ethics are the pedagogical duty, freedom, responsibility, fairness, tact and honor. Development of ethics fruitfully impacts on interpersonal relationships between all the participants of the educational process: teacher and student, student - student, teacher - parent, teacher - colleagues. All this improves the moral and psychological climate in the school. Therefore, a teacher should base his activities on the principles of humanity, legality, democracy, justice, professionalism and mutual respect. The humanity of an educator should be based on common human values: faith in justice, love and kindness.
Definitely, the Board of Education violated Pettit's right to privacy. The right to privacy is expressed in the freedom of communication between people on an informal basis in the areas of family life, kinship and friendly relations, and other intimate personal relationships, attachments, sympathies, and antipathies. Way of thinking, political and social outlook, hobbies and creativity are also displays of private life. The private life of citizens, personal and family secret, honor and good name are protected by law (Foia.state.gov, 2016). There is no information that she shared her sexual views with pupils. Her results were fine and she took part in that party after hours.
It is certainly important to develop the moral personality in children. The teacher should respect the child's personality, his human dignity, respect students' rights to freedom of expression and beliefs. The teacher should behave properly, comply with the ethical standards of conduct, be attentive and courteous to students, parents and school staff members, he should be a moral example for students (Judd, 1993). But what is morality?
Morality is one of the main methods of informal social regulation of human actions. Morality and law are closely intertwined. The moral standards of society, which dominates in the state are embodied in the laws. The moral and legal norms are social. Both types are used to regulate and evaluate actions of the individual. There are next differences: law is developed by the state, morality - by society; the law is enshrined in the state acts, morality - no. The law is created, guaranteed, guarded, and protected by the state. Behind law stands an apparatus, which ensures the observance of legal norms and punishes each person who violated them, because legal norms have an obligatory character. Morality, in contrast to the law, is based on the power of public opinion. Violation of moral norms does not entail government intervention (Political Science Notes, 2014).
I think that her behavior was immoral (in some point of view) and illegal (in 60th) at the same time. She paid a fine and worked for 1 year more. During this time period, she continued working and there were no complaints regarding her professional duties. That is why I would never call her behavior unprofessional.
Professional ethics is the moral norms that govern the relationship of people in labor activity and attitude towards their professional duties. The teacher should demonstrate endurance, tact and care in dealing with the participants of educational relations, respect their honor and dignity, be open for communication. Teachers are advised to observe the culture of speech. The appearance of teaching staff while performing their job duties should contribute to respect for the staff and organizations involved in educational activities.
Violation of professional ethics by school teachers is not allowed, as in most cases, it entails violations of child rights. The child may lose interest in studying process, refuse to attend school. I agree with these statements, but I did not see any arguments from Board of Education concerning Pettit's professional ethics (not ethics in common).
The Administration should not require, collect, and use information about the personal life of the teacher that is not related to the performance of his labor duties. In my opinion, the teacher can be in "Swingers" club, but should not demonstrate this. That is why I do not think that television shows were a good idea as students can see them and change their attitude. On the other hand, Pettit was a teacher at Elementary school and taught retarded children. Her students certainly do not understand these topics and do not watch such shows. Moreover, she never shared her interests with children or colleagues. If she had a good performance in the classroom and her personal life did not affect the studying process, she had the right not to be a moral example in her private life.
The immoral offense is an act or inaction that violates fundamental moral norms of society, contradict the work function and discredits educational audience. Not every immoral misconduct may cause the dismissal, but only one that is not compatible with educational functions, an offense must be serious and excluding the possibility of continuing working. Immoral actions include the use of methods of education like physical and mental violence against the pupil. Society, as well as jurisprudence, considers immoral deed and as foul language, abuse, lewd molestation in public places, being drunk among pupils at and outside educational institutions, incitement to sexual intercourse, physical or psychological abuse.
Rudeness with the pupil, attacks on his person, including racial, national, religious and sexual labels and hints are immoral. But what should a teacher do in school where everyone knows about his improper behavior? If staff in an educational institution has a negative attitude and the teacher is not ready to waste his time, proving that he is "not a pervert," that his behavior is not immoral, it seems, there is only one way - to quit. If professional qualities of the teacher in an educational institution are important first and foremost and the orientation or gender identity does not matter, then the teacher should work on. I think that professional qualities and sexual preferences of the teacher are not related and do not affect the teaching process.
The humanistic nature of pedagogical ethics is important for the correct goal setting, choice of forms and methods of training, it helps to find the correct line in each unique situation. Children in this age group appreciate the moral quality of teachers, ignoring the almost professional. For 13 years there were no concerns from children.
Schoolchildren respect teachers for their kindness, humility, justice, good ability to teach and understanding of their problems, not for their hobbies, orientation and family life.
References
textbook
Foia.state.gov,. (2016). The Privacy Act: U.S. Department of State - Freedom of Information Act. Retrieved 17 February 2016, from https://foia.state.gov/Learn/PrivacyAct.aspx.
Judd, J. (1993). Teachers urged to set moral example for pupils: Curriculum advisers. The Independent. Retrieved 17 February 2016, from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/teachers-urged-to-set-moral-example-for-pupils-curriculum-advisers-say-schools-should-instil-the-1453761.html
Political Science Notes,. (2014). Relationship and Difference between Law and Morality. Retrieved 17 February 2016, from http://www.politicalsciencenotes.com/articles/relationship-and-difference-between-law-and-morality/290
