Ethics in Educational Leadership

I NEED APA 6TH STYLE REFERENCING ONLY. YOU HAVE TO DO ASSESSMENT 2 (ETHICS) OK. AS PER THE REQUIREMENT MENTIONED BE CONSIDER WITH THE WORD LIMIT. I WANT PROPER WORK, AS IN THE SUBJECT OUTLINED MENTIONED. BE CAREFUL WITH THE CASE STUDY AS WELL AND THE THIRD SECTION QUESTION.

EDGL903 (S219)

Table of Contents
Role of Ethics for Educational Leaders...........................................................................................1
Ethics in Educational Leadership....................................................................................................1
Ethics in practice..............................................................................................................................2
Case Study Discussion.....................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................7

Role of Ethics for Educational Leaders
Ethics in Educational Leadership
Ethics are the directive principles guiding the decisions between right and wrong. Ethics are
more of behavioral attributes in nature. In every field, ethics or standards play an important role
in shaping the decisions and operational strategies (N.S.W.D.E.T., Code of Conduct, 2019).
Ethics are majorly moral philosophical directions that directs towards a more organized, logical,
systematic and fair mechanism in management or operations of any activity. (Sherpa, 2018)
Even the non-living entities these days are considered to have ethical standards, for example,
Google claims itself to be an Ethical company. Ethics have been carried forwarded from
generations to the next, through both verbal and written formats. It is the concept of
righteousness that is imbibed even inside toddlers for building a strong character and developing
them into a valuable human being.
Ethics have a special role in educational sector. Educational industry is one of the most
influential divisions of which almost everyone gets to become a part of, and many remains a
constant participant in the sector. It the educational settings that shape the small ideas of
character building through ethical learnings, as a strong foundation of a decent human being.
Leaders from this sector play a major role in carving the future of kids falling under their hands
(Campbell, 2006). They not only guide them, mentor them and teach them, but also supports
them, recommends the right sense and stand against certain wrong actions with punishments and
penalties. Mostly leaders in education are driven by the basic ethical morals, like, commitment
towards students and job role, fairness in action and deed, interpersonal relationship building,
dedication for growth and progress, correct guidance and many more (LYNCH, 2015). With the
dynamics of educational methods, the ethical standards for leaders in the domain vary and
change. The intention of educational leaders remains to be, inspiring and ethical leadership for
motivation, promotion and appreciation in a student’s learning curve.
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Ethics in practice
Educational institutions are the first formal interaction platforms for students. Once inside a
school or university, the students learn various life-long lessons that help them shape their future
and build themselves into reliable and trustworthy individuals. Into the learning school, not the
course and syllabus are the learning methods for students, but the most important and unnoticed
learning mode is following what is seen. Students learn most from the action, activities and
deeds of their immediate leaders, their teachers (Lovat & McLeod, 2006). Teachers teach
concepts, explain them and help the students to analyze circumstances in accordance to the
various scenarios and possibilities. Apart from the guided scenario of conceptual education, the
representation of teachers in class, their interaction levels, their confidence in students,
inspirational power, charismatic effect and small acts in everyday activities are the silent
messages students observe and gradually accepts a recurring behavior (Shields, 2010).
For example, an educational leader, say, the Dean of the college decides to consider late entrant
admission of a student, to save a complete year from getting wasted. His special and customized
message to respective teachers, other students and colleagues in the institution help the late
entrant to adjust to the new environment and accept the rapid movement in studies. His frequent
interactions with the student, arrangement of extra classes or extra time or grace scaling methods
in semester exams are the motivating boosters that can become exemplary for many. Taking time
out from busy schedule, respecting someone’s problems and concerns, motivating people,
extending support, giving fair chance of performance and keeping a check on progress are the
signs of an extremely good leader, dedicated to his or her job (Bullough, 2011).
Similar to the example mentioned above, there can be many ways that can set the pathway for a
strong ethical conduct in educational institutions, from the leaders of the industry. Not only the
moral voice inside an individual, rather, there are many codes of conduct and code of ethics,
properly written down and upscaled from time to time as and when the necessity is deemed fit
(Q.C.T., 2019). A few codes of ethics and conduct operated in Australia are depicted below.
These helps and standardize the ethical standards all over the country, that there are no gaps
identified when a student moves from one college to another, thereby bringing homogeneity.
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Fig 1: Code of Ethics and Conduct in Australia
Source: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1825&context=ajte
It is not only the need of standardization of educational code of conduct and leader’s code of
ethics, but also the need of bringing a similar foundation for all students taking education from
any institution throughout the country. There are many instances which can indicate the ethical
standards being met and considered over personal advantage by educational leaders (Boon,
2011). A few of those scenarios are described below in a short summative manner.
Professionalism is one of the key concepts clubbed with Educational Leaders’ code of Ethics
(N.S.W.D.E.T., Code of Conduct, 2019). Leaders, teachers and staff are required to have strong
vision and should be clear about the goals targeted in a term. A teacher, taking a class for
marketing management concepts, extends complete dedication to the syllabus and to student’s
learning. The teacher recommends extremely useful books, resources, internet study content and
measures the student’s subject knowledge through frequent tests and assignments (Mishra &
Mishra, 2013). Not only does the teacher explains the concepts and models with case scenarios
derived from known publications, like Harvard Business Review or any other, but also pushes
and motivates for better and effective solution identification for the business scenario. The
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professionalism and dedication towards student’s learning are drawn from a strong ethical
ground, where a teacher successfully implements ethics into everyday life.
Another such example is the environment of secure and respectful campus, created by the
collaborative efforts of all leaders from various educational wings and support staff. A healthy,
motivating and boosting environment, where student attention is perennial for development and
appraisal of character, is a primary necessity of any student. A safe and secure premises,
facilities and opportunities of growth and sufficient resources are necessities. The campus and its
leaders ensure that there are no bullying activities, no dangerous scenarios or accidents occur,
mutual respect and strong and friendly bonding between students take place (Forster, 2012). The
facilitation of these services helps in inculcating the values of trust, mutual respect, helping
nature and learning scope for students. These examples explain the importance of educational
ethical practices implemented by leaders to inculcate the same principles in their followers.
Case Study Discussion
A middle school student Andrew has been observed to be a loner, who refrains from interactions
with classmates or anyone else in school. His class teacher has been observing a continuous fall
in the scores and is deeply concerned that a bright young boy has something wrong with him.
The teacher tries to talk and open communication channel for Andrew to speak about his
concerns through any way, but he seems to be running away from participation into any one-to-
one discussion sessions. During one of the classes, the teacher observes certain marks on the
writing hand of the kid. Concerned the teacher asks if he got hurt while playing. In response,
Andrew hid this mark and frown on his seat. Realizing the depth and seriousness of a bad
possibility the teacher decides to raise the concern to the school counselor.
The school counselor, Max, is a very patient person with specialization in childcare and
protection. He not only delivers his services in the school as counselor, but also participates as an
active community member for LGBT+ support group. When informed about Andrew’s state,
Max gets the intuition of him being punished by someone in his family due to his different nature
and characteristics. Max enquires about Andrew from the teachers and his fellow students and
finds out that until last year, Andrew was a happy lad, active in sports and sound in academics as
well. He had lots of friends but now he seems to be preferring solace and cuts himself from any
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social activity. Max makes several attempts to befriend Andrew and get him comfortable around
him. Gradually Andrew starts trusting Max and tells him about his problem, the physical abuse
from his stepfather and the depression he seems to be falling in. Max, taking control of the
situation, raises legal complaint against his stepfather and adds Andrew to a community group
where he could share his concern, take help and support and live his life comfortable. A few
months later, Andrew is seen playing with his school friends in the park, outside school hours.
The case analysis identifies an ethical dilemma that two teachers faced and the strong leadership
from the student counselor Max to help support a student in dire need of help. A concerned class
teacher, who identifies and observes the student, notices his actions and take the liberty of
informing authorities about the concern. The dedication of teacher towards the job, the
commitment of the teacher for the students and the pure intention of helping them are the high
level of ethical standards reflected here. Another ethical leadership trait is visible in the
counselor Max. As someone holding knowledge of how students behavioral change occurs when
a certain type of problem hits their normal routine, and how they handle or react to it, is a
learning Max has collected from his past experiences. Based on the knowledge he identifies the
basic problem and starts his research accordingly. Committed to helping his student he takes
efforts to know him and observe him, makes sincere efforts to befriend him and wins his trust.
He ensures that all the help and support is provided to the kid, so that he can live his life as
normally as possible. Keeping the case confidential, secretly attempting to support and strongly
standing by the student side, as certain professional ethics that Max reflects in the case.
The case is a clear reflection of the ethical challenges a teacher face, when students are not very
open and responsive to the problems at their personal life. Apart from academics, teachers have
very limited insights into a student’s personal life, yet the attempts of knowing a student and
winning his trust are a mark of great leadership trait in a teacher (Mushtaq, 2012). The Ethical
leadership of Max, who endeavors to support the student knowing well enough that if something
goes wrong, the student will face the consequences and may build trust issues for the rest of his
life. Colnerud (1997) in this article mentioned the conflicts that one face in scenarios in
educational sector. He points that most of the ethical cases would have the worst implications on
the student if anything must go wrong.
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The example mentioned here is a strong reflection of the ethical choices a teacher undergoes as
part of their responsibilities, where a dilemma at every stage is unavoidable (Coleman, 2012). In
the professional teaching education programs teachers may be taught to deal and handle the
concerns, but every step of the way a new challenge with new circumstance waits for the teacher.
Because of personal and professional ethical practices and strong characters, the teachers
successfully build a strong leadership trait influencing the life of students falling under their
umbrella.
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References
Boon, H. (2011). Raising the bar: Ethics education for quality teachers. Australian Journal of
teacher education, 76-93.
Bullough, R. V. (2011). Ethical and moral matters in teaching and teacher education. Teaching
and Teacher Education, 21-28.
Campbell, E. (2006). Ethical Knowledge in Teaching: A Moral Imperative. Education Canada,
32-35.
Coleman, A. (2012). The significance of trust in school-based collaborative leadership.
International Journal of Leadership in Education, 79-106.
Colnerud, G. (1997). Ethical conflicts in teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 627-635.
Forster, D. J. (2012). Codes of Ethics in Australian Education: Towards a National Perspective.
Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 1.
Lovat, T., & McLeod, J. (2006). Fully Professionalised Teacher Education: An Australian study
in persistence. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 287-300.
LYNCH, M. (2015, September 7). THE EIGHT PRINCIPLES OF ETHICAL LEADERSHIP IN
EDUCATION. Retrieved from THE EDVOCATE: https://www.theedadvocate.org/the-
eight-principles-of-ethical-leadership-in-education/
Mishra, A., & Mishra, K. (2013). The research on trust in leadership: The need for context.
Journal of Trust Research 3, 59-69.
Mushtaq, I. &. (2012). Factors affecting students’ academic performance. Global Journal of
Management and Business Research, 12-22.
N.S.W.D.E.T. (2019, September 28). Code of Conduct. Retrieved from N.S.W.D.E.T.:
https://www.trb.tas.gov.au/Documents/Code%20of%20Professional%20Ethics%20for
%20the%20Teaching%20Professional%20in%20Tasmania.pdf#search=Code%20of
%20Conduct
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N.S.W.D.E.T. (2019, September 28). Code of Conduct. Retrieved from N.S.W.D.E.T.:
https://www.trb.nt.gov.au/system/files/uploads/files/2019/CodeOfEthics.pdf
Q.C.T. (2019, Sepetmber 28). Code of Ethics for Teachers in Queensland. Retrieved from
Q.C.T. : https://www.qct.edu.au/standards-and-conduct/code-of-ethics
Sherpa, K. (2018). IMPORTANCE OF PROFESSIONAL ETHICS FOR TEACHERS.
International Education & Research Journal , 16-18.
Shields, C. (2010). Transformative leadership: Working for equity in diverse contexts.
Education Administration Quarterly , 558-559.
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