Ethical Principles In Education

As a teacher I am a role model this is an ethical principle. It is my role to act ethical sound and set model behaviour. I will model try to model the desired behaviour and I will expect the children to follow as ‘’moral education is not based on programmes but on the teacher as a person who intentionally promotes, as well as exemplifies ethical virtues such as honesty, fairness, respect and kindness.’’ (Campbell, 2003) I will also treat each child with respect and fairness because ‘’students have a moral right to be treated fairly, kindly, honestly and with competence and commitment.’’ (Campbell, 2003, P.23) I would ensure that the children raise their hand if they wish to speak because ‘’this regulates turn-taking which inevitably involves issues of fairness, respect for others and self-control.’’ (Campbell, 2003, P.27) This is ethical as each child will have a turn to speak their opinion and their view. The principle of respect is being addressed here as the children will be partaking in circle time which encourages them to respect others and listen to their opinions. They will also become more respective of peoples cultures and backgrounds from the lesson and to treat everyone as an equal. ‘’Fairness is rooted in the fundamental ethical principles of justice.’’ (Campbell, 2003, P.29) therefore Justice is addressed. In addition, I will allocate groups in a fair and ethical

I chose the book Amazing Grace because I believe children can gain an insight into racism from the story. Evidence shows that following reading this book ‘’many children were not only empathetic, but were moved by this story to take action and advocate on Grace’s behalf’’ (Dever, 2005, P.21) In addition to this reason, I feel that this book leads to experience-based and co-operative learning. Furthermore, I chose a community of enquiry approach using circle time because ‘’it boosts self-esteem, intellectual confidence and the ability to participate in reasoned discussion.’’ (Fisher, 2008) I firmly believe that circle time is the best possible approach to this subject as it allows children voice their views and discuss others in a safe learning environment as we have already established our class rules. The ‘courage to change activity’ (Macer, 2008, P.64) is an outstanding activity which gets the children engaged in discussion and critical thinking. This improves their understanding of the topic. To conclude my lesson I think a class contract is an ideal way to finish. I believe it is a relaxed and fun activity for children to commit to challenging racism in the school and also allows for more discussion which can only improve one’s knowledge of the topic. To advance the