CA2 TUTORIAL PAPER TEMPLATE

Name of Student: Brian Flannery G00323339

Article/Reading [AUTHOR & TITLE- FULL HARVARD REFERENCE]:
Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers (The Teaching Council, 2016)

1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING [1 x A4 page]

Introduction

The code of professional conduct highlights and makes explicit the values and the standards that
have long been experienced by pupils through their participation in education. The code of
Professional Conduct for Teachers is a guidance criteria for teachers to follow to ensure the honour
and dignity of the teaching profession continues to remain intact.

Purpose of the Code:

1. The code provides guidance for teachers as they deliver an ethical and respectful course
throughout their teaching career as to uphold honour and dignity of the teaching profession.
2. The code can be utilised by the education community and the wider public to gain
understanding and expectations of the teaching profession in Ireland
3. The code also has an important legal standing and is used by the Teaching Council as a
reference point when exercising its investigative and disciplinary functions dealing with
fitness to teach.
Structure of the Code:
The code is made up of four values. These values are:
1. Respect Teachers promote respect in their classrooms. It should be expected that there is
mutual respect for the teacher and for each of the students whatever their circumstance in life.
Thus, promoting equality, emotional and cognitive development.
2. Care Teachers professional practise is shaped around the best interest of the students. The
teachers make this known through their positive influences and judgements throughout their
profession.
3. Integrity Honesty, reliability and moral action are embodied in integrity. Teachers have
integrity by means of keeping to their commitments responsibilities and actions.
4. Trust Teachers encounters with the members of the school community are based on trust.
This means the teacher is fair, open to new ideas and honest always.
Context:
The code is in accordance with the Teaching Councils Policy on the Continuum of Teacher
education which looks at the teacher as somebody who is constantly reflecting on their
practise as a professional.
The code also regards the rights of the pupils including their right to have a voice.
The code is also mindful of the rights of the parents/guardians and the teachers and the
responsibilities which accompany those rights.
The Teaching Council believes that the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers delivers
a moral foundation along with expectations of conduct having to be observed always.
On behalf of the teaching profession, the Teaching Council have set out the following standards
which apply to all registered teachers regardless of their position.
1. Professional Values and Relationships
Teachers should:
Ensure a caring environment for the students.
Encourage students to be unique and promote the holistic development of the student.
Promote equality and inclusion in their classroom.
Develop positive relationships with everyone in the school community from the
students to colleagues and anyone they encounter throughout their career.
Uphold a mutual respect in their school where everyone is of equal importance.
2. Professional Integrity
Teachers should:
Be honest and integral through all aspects of their profession.
Respect peoples privacy and the confidentiality of information gained. Unless legal
action is required due to a fear of safety for the persons wellbeing then disclose the
information gained with the suitable authority.
Represent themselves, their profession and qualifications honestly.
Use their name as set out on the Register of Teachers.
Evade conflict between their profession and private interests.
3. Professional Conduct
Teachers should:
Uphold the reputation of the profession.
Ensure the care of the pupils.
Work within the framework of relevant legislation.
Follow the national school policies which aim to encourage student education and
welfare.
Report occurrences which influence student welfare.
Communicate among members of a school community with professionalism and
support.
Ensure all communication among members of the school community is appropriate.
Ensure that they do not practise under the influence of any substance which may
impair their fitness to teach.
4. Professional Practice
Teachers should:
Maintain high standards of practice.
Apply their experience for the pupils to gain holistic development.
Plan and explain the expectations for the pupils.
Act in the best interest of the pupils.
5. Professional Development
Maintain their professional knowledge to ensure its current.
Teachers should always be reflecting on how to improve their teaching practices..

2. CRITICAL REFLECTION [2 x A4 pages]

Reflecting on the Code of Professional Conduct for Techers something which stood out to me
was the fact that the Teaching Council have left a lot of the code up to the teacher.
It is my opinion from the analyzation of The Teaching Council (2016) that the Code of
Professional Conduct performs as a set of guidelines for the teacher to follow and gives the
teacher a basis for them to follow as to ensure that they can keep progressing as professionals
and can develop a holistic, moral and educating environment for the pupils they will be teaching
throughout their careers. Another positive in the code of conduct in my opinion is the fact that it
highlights values like respect, integrity, trust and care. These for me are vital for the holistic
 development of a pupil as they lead to the shaping of a well-rounded individual who is driven
and wants to succeed no matter what the challenge may be.

Another point which stood out to me upon the reading of the Code of Professional Conduct for
Teachers was the emphasis on the holistic development of the students and how the teacher can
provoke this Nucci, L. & Pascarella, E. (1987) carried out research and found that the main goal
of a curriculum was to teach students about responsibilities and to teach ethical thought while
developing the students character. His for me is very important as the job of a teacher in my
opinion is not just to teach the students a subject knowledge but it is to teach them how to get
through lifes difficulties and always find a solution to their problems.

Through the reading of the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers I began to question if the
document had legal binding status attached with it as they didnt claim to have any link with the
law. I found that the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers does not have a legal binding
status but it is used as a reference point from a legal point of view. A situation where a teacher
could be found in trouble with the law is if they report something they believe to be of harm to a
students wellbeing and they are accused of becoming too personal with the student. There is
nothing to say what should and should not be reported which could lead to the Teacher finding
themselves in difficulty if its believed they are reporting something too personal. The code of
conduct says report, where appropriate, incidents or matters which impact on
pupil/student welfare but it doesnt say what is appropriate and could fall back on the
teacher because they are using their own initiative which may not be appropriate. The
Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers also provides guidance for teachers to ensure they
are indeed using best practice throughout their profession. Upon reading the article we see (The
Teaching Council, 2016) say It serves as a guiding compass as teachers seek to steer an ethical
and respectful course through their career in teaching and to uphold the honour and dignity of
the teaching profession. This is a contrast to the General Teaching Council (2007), which is the
United Kingdoms equivalent of Irelands Teaching Council, who say that their code of conduct
for teachers sets out minimum standards expected of registered teachers and is for use within
the Councils regulatory regime. This for me conveyed the General Teaching Council have set
out a regime which a qualified teacher in England must abide by.

Upon further research, I considered the NSW Government (2017) department of Educations
Code of Professional conduct and I found that they base their code on the values of Respect
integrity fairness and responsibility. This stood out to me upon reading their article as it made
me question why they seem to have different core values to The Teaching Council (2016) which
are Respect, Care, Integrity and trust. I reflected on this and I concluded that a teacher should not
just limit themselves to maybe four or five different core values, they should try and co-operate
them into all their lessons as it can only benefit them as the teacher and help grow the holistic
development of the students they teach.

55% - good, but needs some work, namely, to use more of your own words when summarising
and correct formatting of references we can discuss in class. As your main reflection has
tended towards legal shortcomings, perhaps giving a scenario may illustrate your point
further.
3. LIST OF REFERENCES
References
General Teaching Council, 2007. Code of Conduct and Practice for Registered Teachers.
[Online]
Available at:
file:///C:/Users/Brian/Documents/College/Fourth%20Year/Englands%20Professional%20C
ode%20of%20Conduct.pdf
[Accessed 28 September 2017].

NSW Governement, 2017. Code of Conduct. [Online]

Available at: http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/about-us/careers-centre/why-choose-us/code-of-
conduct
[Accessed 28 September 2017].

Nucci, L. & Pascarella, E., 1987. The Influence of College on Moral Development. In:
Higher Education: Handbook on Theory and Research. s.l.:s.n.

The Teaching Council, 2016. Code of Professional Conduct for Teacher. [Online]
Available at: http://www.teachingcouncil.ie/en/Publications/Fitness-to-Teach/Code-of-
Professional-Conduct-for-Teachers.pdf
[Accessed 26 September 2017].