Code of ethics and the ethical decision-making model as a support in teachers' professional practice

Abstract

Educators are confronted by specific ethical issues in their everyday work. However, awareness of these issues, the search for answers to them and their consideration, demand due diligence and time. Thus, the importance of ethics and its impact may be downplayed. An educator aims to pay attention to the development of a child/student, especially with respect to the environment or social setting itself, and the responsibility toward society itself is evident from this. The educator's responsibility should also be related to the profession itself and the social perception of the teaching profession. The aim of the research was to examine whether a school's code of ethics and the training to use an Ethical Decision-making Model could be used to support teachers in solving ethical dilemmas. The research sample consisted of teaching staff working at a primary school in Prague. The teachers work in the first stage of primary school. The selected primary school has a code of ethics as an internal regulation. In total, five interviews with teachers were conducted. Respondents agreed that the Code of Ethics and Ethical Decision-making Model are good support for their professional practice. They are primarily useful in the communication process, especially when talking to children, colleagues and parents.