What are Ethics in Education?

Ethics are standards set for you to recognise your actions as right or wrong. It helps categorise
discipline, honesty and integrity in our actions performed during the day. Acting as a
guideline to influence behaviour and making the right choice, it is easier for individuals to
abide by rules and act responsibly with ethics.

Ethics in education helps run the system smoothly. It sets standards that are applicable and
protects the interest of both the learner and tutor. Teachers are responsible to help develop the
personality of students and act as a mentor to them to influence their personal development
and behaviour. Whereas students should realise the importance of responsibility and move
forward with applying ethical practices over time. (Direct, 2015) It requires a lot of patience
to practice ethics and understand that each student is different. Each student requires different
levels of attention and guidelines. This way they not only understand the importance of ethics
but learn to act responsibly and practice self-discipline.

According to Weinstein (Weinstein, 2017), there are five basic principles of ethics, common
to all faiths and disciples;

 Do not harm: try not to hurt others with your actions.

 Make things better: helping people and knowing the difference between helping and
hurting, acting as a community wherever you stand.

 Respect others: always speak the truth and keep your promises, if someone trusts you
with information keep it to yourself but report the wrongdoings.

 Be fair: keep a balance on your emotions and do not punish people unnecessarily.

 Be loving: compassion for others, show that you care.

Just like in a school leader, ethical qualities are also much expected from a teacher
who is the catalyst of the learner’s character. Being an ethical teacher, he/she has to
uphold the following desirable traits:

 Integrity.  This may suggest that a teacher must project honesty, truthfulness or
uprightness in his/her personal and professional undertakings.  The way he/she
executes himself/herself in terms of actions may be seen by the young people around
that is way he/she must be a great epitome of this trait.

 Fairness.  A teacher must be fair in dealing with superiors, peers, students, parents and
with the other fellowmen.  Moreover, he/she must be objective or impartial in treating
people and in making decisions.  By being fair, the mirror of an ethical teacher will be
reflected.

 Transparency. Whether in terms of financial and scholastic matters in schools, the

teacher should be an icon of transparency.  He/she should clearly state and declare the
 matters which concern the people around.   He/she should have clarity in presenting all
pertinent documents that are important to the stakeholders.

 Compassion.  A teacher must act as a second parent to the learner most especially in
times of difficulty, trouble or mistake.  He/she should exert his/her best understanding
whenever the child commits mistakes and would lead him/her to rectify those errors. 
The teacher should anticipate human weaknesses and help in transforming those
weaknesses into strengths.

 Trustworthy.A teacher must be a shoulder to cry on and a person to lean on.  A child
may confide problems and can tell aspirations.  A person of trust is someone who can
make one’s life secured and be away from harm.  A teacher must be somebody who
could give total comfort and be free from anxiety.

 Righteous.  Being good or moral is something that is well-anticipated from a teacher. 

Doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong is the best thing to do in the words
and in the actions of a teacher.  The people around see them and they emulate the
goodness in a teacher.

 These are the best qualities that teachers must apply and live with in order to be a good
leader in the classroom or in school.

Three C’s for Healthy Workplace Relationships

Whether we like it or not, we need to get along with our colleagues.
Sometimes we are lucky enough to make good friends at work. Other times, you may find
building effective working relationships more difficult and, however much you enjoy your
job, a day at work can leave you feeling unsatisfied and irritable if you have to interact with
people who have very different ideas and methods of work.
The reality is, regardless of your experience, education, or position in the company; you will
need to learn to manage these tricky relationships to improve your own experience of being at
work.

Communication
Effective communication is based on your ability to relate to people who are different to you,
and is essential to maintaining your professional credibility, as well as creating a productive
and pleasant community atmosphere within the workplace.
First and foremost, communication begins with listening actively. Active listening involves
first listening and responding by paraphrasing what the speaker has said so that they can feel
you have understood what they wanted to convey to you.  Following this, you can express
your empathy to what they have said. When you listen actively others will know.
Furthermore, when you do not understand something, and you communicate this to your
colleague, they will appreciate the fact that you valued their opinion enough to clarify what is
being discussed. A pre-requisite to responding to an opinion of your colleague is avoiding any
assumptions. We often tend to jump to conclusions based on our own interpretations, which
can lead to negative repercussions and unnecessary conflict.
Another essential component to effective communication is ‘non-verbal’ communication,
which is obvious in body language. Given that body language makes up makes up majority of
human interaction, if your colleague picks up any negative signals, the likelihood of
communication breakdown will increase.

Credibility
Credibility is directly linked to communication, specifically in the sense that your words must
correspond with your actions, and requires a focus on communication skills. There are a few
things you can do to increase your credibility within the work place:
·         Avoid gossip and politics – Entertaining gossip or politics in any form can make office
relationships turn pear-shaped quickly. If you have an issue with any of your colleagues,
speaking to them about it directly will establish an atmosphere of honesty, and will earn you
respect.
·         Admit your mistakes – Your colleagues will respect you if you own up to any mistakes
and make an effort to avoid them moving forward.
·         Confidentiality is key – If your colleague or boss tells you something in confidence,
regardless of its content; if you decide to leak that information, you can consider your
credibility lost, despite what ever ‘good’ reason you thought ‘allowed’ you to share that
confidential information with others.
·         Always be punctual and withhold commitment – If your work colleagues know that
you will always be there on time or meet a deadline, you will always maintain a consistent
level of credibility in their eyes.

Community
Establishing a comfortable community atmosphere at work quite simply begins with bringing
a positive attitude into the work place. Furthermore, creating a positive community
atmosphere requires effective communication and an adequate amount of credibility between
you and your colleagues.
All three concepts are interlinked; without effective communication you can’t establish the
desired level of credibility, and without credibility, you cannot create a positive community
atmosphere.
Establishing a positive community atmosphere in the work place can be achieved by focusing
on the following work place behaviours:
·         Appreciate others and celebrate authenticity – Allowing your colleagues to be who they
feel comfortable being, without harming anyone else in the workplace, and celebrating this is
an easy way to create a sense of community.
·         Make time to develop relationships – Whether this is through your personal capacity to
connect with a work colleague or you make an effort to organise work socials, making time to
develop work place relationships is a great way to develop interpersonal workplace
relationships.
·         Sharing accomplishments, giving credit where its due, and helping others – When you
or a colleague completes produce results for your organisation it is important to share this
with the rest of the team. When you do this, you create an atmosphere that celebrates the
accomplishments of others, which further encourages others to do the same
·         Developing emotional intelligence – This involves a lot of focus on effective
communication. Furthermore, emotional intelligence involves understanding that empathy is a
process that relies on your ability to see through the eyes of others, appreciate their points of
view irrespective of your own, and as mentioned above; active listening.
·         Collaboration – This is by far one of the most important aspects for creating a positive
community atmosphere in the work place. When someone presents a solution to a problem, its
important not to make them feel ostracized if you believe their solution isn’t adequate. What’s
even more important, is if you do feel their solution is inadequate, is to make sure you
acknowledge it and provide a better alternative. The collaborative process thus requires
respect, interest and progression for it to create a better community atmosphere in the
workplace.