Guidelines for the development of a policy framework for ethics in teaching practice

Abstract

Codes of ethics and codes of conduct inform and regulate ethical decision-making and behaviour. The establishment of these codes has become an increasing concern in the teaching practice of undergraduate students in Education programs. South African universities appear to be lagging in recent research in this area. It is unclear what codes universities have available to guide the ethical behaviour of their pre-service teachers (PSTs) during teaching practice. This research aimed to develop a policy framework for ethics in teaching practice, for South African universities. To produce this framework several sub-aims had to be achieved. The sub-aims included: to determine the ethics policies, codes, and protocols that South African universities currently implement for teaching practice; the protocols that these universities have established to guide PSTs during teaching practice; whether the protocols form part of official university policies; what ethical dilemmas PSTs encounter during teaching practice; teaching practice coordinators’ perceptions of the efficiency of codes of ethics and codes of conduct. A sequential explanatory triangulation, the mixed-method design was employed. Quantitative content analysis was performed in the first strand to determine the specific ethics codes and protocols that South African universities implement for teaching practice. Checklists were used to determine the frequency of existing online ethics policies and protocols of South African universities that were available in the public domain. The second phase was comprised of quantitative surveys. It employed a participant selection survey to identify PSTs at a specific university who had experienced ethical dilemmas. Concurrently a survey was sent to teaching practice coordinators to confirm the results of the content analysis and achieve a greater understanding of the existing policies and protocols at South African universities. In the third phase, qualitative, semi-structured interviews were performed with purposively selected PSTs and teaching practice coordinators from phase two. The interviews served as a follow-up on the results of the surveys and enhanced understanding of the existing ethics policies and practices. The frequency table from the content analysis revealed that only three South African universities have a code of ethics and/or code of conduct particularly for teaching practice, but the majority use codes of ethics and conduct which were written for the broader university context. These broader codes potentially lack direct relevance to undergraduate teaching practice as the ethical dilemmas they experience can be unique. Secondly, through an analysis of the content of existing ethics codes, it was found that the elements inherent in these codes vary across universities. The lack of consistency in the ethics codes of various universities leads to concerns about the enforcement of these codes during teaching practice, as PSTs from multiple universities undertake teaching practice at the same schools. Teaching practice coordinators confirmed that some universities have ethics policies and/or codes of ethics and codes of conduct for teaching practice that are not available in the public domain. However, in some instances, even teaching practice coordinators were unsure if specific documents related to ethics in teaching practice exist or if there are formal protocols to be followed in the case of ethical dilemmas during teaching practice. During their interviews, PSTs also confirmed a lack of awareness of ethics guidelines specific to teaching practice. The lack of ethics policies, which can include codes of ethics and codes of conduct pose potential risks for various stakeholders in teaching practice. To name a few, these risks include unethical relationships between PSTs and staff members, unjust treatment of learners, and inaccurate knowledge being taught owing to a lack of competency. Consequently, several recommendations were presented to improve codes of ethics and codes of conduct as part of the ethics policies related to teaching practice at South African universities, with the help of the South African Council for Educators and the Department of Basic Education. The intent of improving these codes was to enhance the ethical practices of undergraduate PSTs during teaching practice.