Week 28 Reflection based on an Ethical Dilemma - MINDLAB

       

Description: In Term 2, a teacher saw an inappropriate E-Mail Subject linked to an Adult Website. I called for the parent to come to school to discuss the matter. The school is a Google School, and all Year 5/6 students have G-mail. The laptop, never left the school, and the e-mail was sent during a weekend. Furthermore, an IT specialist has indicated that the site had been logged into using this e-mail as verification. The Student, has learning support in school, and has complex issues at home. The mum was upset and did not believe that her son did this, and blames the school for not ensuring the laptop was secure.

Ehrich et. al. (2012) Reflective Model

Critical Incident: Finding inappropriate material had been accessed using a school account.

 Professional Ethics

• ensure that the environment is safe for students, including not having access to content that could cause stress to student/s.

Legal Issue & Policy

• Schools have policies around use of IT, but with the increased use of IT in school, these policies might not have been rigorously tested and might not stand up against confrontation. 

• If the teacher was found to be negligent around supervision of laptop, that could have conduct consequences.

Society & Community

• Work in progress convincing our community that Digital Technology is the way of the future.
• Part of the community would prefer to keep the traditional approach.
• This could have adverse effects if it was found that students could access mature content.

Public Interest

•  The Community may also want this student suspended to take a tough stance on this behaviour.

Ethic of Care/Values and Beliefs

• The foundation of our school in built on the principles and values inherent in our community, which holds ‘whakawhanaungatanga’ at the helm.
• This value that has paved the way for the strides that our community have made, being inclusive, and hearing what students have to say, with an understanding that mistakes are an opportunity to learn.
• This child has been through so much already, and has begun to progress at our school, and begin to trust in the relationships formed.
• Suspension would mean that he would lose that trust all over again, making it even harder to trust in the next setting.

Significant Others: 

• The mum, as she would struggle to find another school for him, and she would need to drive him there, which would be difficult, as she has a young baby at home.
• The educational support to be transferred to the new school, professional development for the teacher, who would first need to get to know him well, as well as appoint a Teacher Aide.
• The School, as per 'Digital Technology - Safe and responsible use' would need to inquiry into the Cybersafety systems, & Staff PD.

Choices:

Formal: 

• Suspension, as per school Policy and Education Guidelines.
• A further formal action could be to ‘Stand Down’ the child, to be accompanied by whanau to discuss possible consequences.

Informal: 

• arrange a meeting with whanau and discuss possible consequences to be carried out within school.
•  mum to follow up at home, if the access could have come from the older brother, who might have elicited the e-mail details. 
• not worth pursuing, and that without concrete evidence, it cannot be proved that the student accessed this material.

OUTCOME: After discussion  with whanau, we formally 'Stood Down' the student (fixed). All parties agreed that the student lose certain independent privileges on devices for a set amount of time, whereby he needed to re-build trust with his environment and whanau within. 'Our Codes, our Standards' supports this decision in several ways, Commitment to Whanau, where we are engaging in relationships that are respectful,  professional and acknowledging cultural identity through kaupapa Maori protocol. We are also promoting our commitment to our learners, to be fair and consistent.


Reference: 


Education Council. (2017). Our Code Our Standards.Retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf

Ehrich, L. C. , Kimber M., Millwater, J. & Cranston, N. (2011). Ethical dilemmas: a model to understand teacher practice, Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 17:2, 173-185, DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2011.539794

Ministry of Education. (2015).DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY Safe and responsible use in schools. Wellington: New Zealand: Author. Retrieved from https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/School/Managing-and-supporting-students/DigitalTechnologySafeAndResponsibleUseInSchs.pdf