Influence of Law and Ethics Week 29

Influence of Law and Ethics  Week 29

Week 29

Activity 5

The Problem

Teachers’ Behaviour Online - addiction to social media
There are many ethical dilemmas that I have witnessed as a result of teachers interacting (with the best of intentions) online with the community that they teach in. I cringe now when I see social media interactions from teachers at my practice about current issues in the community where the teacher is giving an opinion. Teachers are so vulnerable and digital communications are fodder for misinterpretations.

This has included innocent comments from a teacher about how proud she was of some of her children receiving well deserved certificates. This resulted in comments from parents saying “you're obviously not talking about my children”.  More worrying is when a teacher commented on the controversial sentencing of a family member who was also a member of the local community who were divided in their opinions about the sentence delivered. This is not professional behaviour I believe when you are teaching the children in the community.  More recently a famous New Zealand personality gave a talk about bullying in a school close by. He posted on Facebook that he understood a child’s problem of not being understood by his school. Basically undermining the school and professionals that have worked tirelessly with this child and family. What followed was a show of solidarity or unity from the community against the school by way of over 100 comments that were disrespectful to the school and professionals involved. It wasn’t the right forum for this conversation and in my opinion ethically wrong for the teacher from my school to add voice to promoting this way of thinking against her own profession.

The Education Council has a new Code of Ethics for Certified Teachers which has just been published. It is supported with a Code of Professional Responsibility Examples in Practice.  It states that teachers will maintain public trust and confidence in the teaching profession by recognising that they hold a trusted position and that they have considerable influence over learners in and beyond the learning environment. Examples of demonstrating a high standard of professional behaviour and integrity include, using information and digital technology appropriately and responsibly. Examples of not demonstrating a high standard of professional behaviours include, accessing, creating or sharing inappropriate digital information, such as posting in online spaces that could be easily shared with others. The problem here is that these examples are vague and nonspecific and open to interpretation.

“What possible issues/concerns might this scenario raise?

The code of conduct Education Council (2017) states that teachers should act with integrity and professionalism in all that we do, to maintain trust and confidence. This addiction to social media is not a healthy or professional forum to communicate with our community as there is competing interests of different groups, we need to be publically impartial and keep personal opinions out of this forum.  There have been significant changes in the public expectations of schools and teachers. “As a result, today’s teachers are frequently confronted by ethical choices in situations that did not arise, or were relatively unproblematic for their counterparts 30 years ago.” (Hall, 2012).  Social media being an example.

To resolve this matter is difficult. According to O’Connor (2014 ) social media fills our neediness. Constantly adding comments and needing to get responses in the form of likes on Facebook is how some people get external approval. In psychology people who are very “together” or developed mentally mature, are less reliant on approval or likes,’.  A recent study by UCLA found that getting “likes” activates the part of the brain associated with rewards (Graves, 2016). The activation of this part of the brain causes the release of the chemical dopamine. The pull of dopamine is what causes us to seek out more “likes”. When we involve ourselves in this dopamine loop, it becomes harder and harder to stop looking for feedback through social media, texting, and even email. While in the moment we gain instant gratification, this addiction to “likes” can cut back on our productivity and overall enjoyment of life, and in my opinion our Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession.

I believe we need to be less vague and open to interpretation like the code of ethics and be more specific in our school policy about the professionalism of interacting with our community on social media. As a result, I have kept my teaching reflective blog private.

References

Education Council. (2017b). Our Code, Our Standards. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards

Education Council. (2017c). The Code of Professional Responsibility: Examples in Practice. Retrieved from
https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Code%20Guidance%20FINAL.pdf

Graves, H. (2016). Addicted To Likes? How To Cut Back On Social Media. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mequilibrium/addicted-to-likes-how-to_b_11794304.html

Hall, A. (2001). What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. Paper presented at the IIPE Conference, Brisbane. Retrieved

O’Connor, M (2014). Addicted to Likes: How Social Media Feeds Our Neediness. Retrieved from https://www.thecut.com/2014/02/addicted-to-likes-social-media-makes-us-needier.html