Professional Conduct and Practice

 If you’re an ESL teacher, you have an important responsibility to uphold the standards of professionalism and ethical behavior that come with your profession. These standards help maintain a positive learning environment for your students and help establish your credibility as an effective educator. But what exactly are these standards, and how can you follow them?


One way to establish a standard of professional conduct is to follow the ethical guidelines set out by professional organizations. In Canada, for example, the Teaching of English as Second Language Federation of Canada has created a set of ethical guidelines to help ESL practitioners reflect upon the values and responsibilities central to their vocation as teachers.


These guidelines cover a wide range of topics, including respect for student rights and privileges, impartiality and respect for students, confidentiality, modeling ethical behavior with students, and collaboration with colleagues. There are also guidelines related to the teacher’s personal conduct, including punctuality, dress code, personal hygiene, and avoiding the use of the classroom to promote personal beliefs or relationships.


While many countries or schools may have their own individual codes of ethics, a good way to determine how you should behave if there are no written guidelines is to observe how your local counterparts conduct themselves and to adapt your style to theirs. In many cultures, acceptance is far more ready when attempts are made to adapt to local conditions.


Another aspect of ethical practice in teaching involves the awareness of the teacher’s frameworks of knowledge, values, and ethical dispositions and the application of notions of equity, fairness, and the consequences of judgments of students’ learning and progress. Teachers need to recognize that multiple interpretive frameworks and different worldviews and theories inform their and students’ experiences and actions and that knowledge, values, and ethics are interwoven in complex ways.


It’s also a good idea to develop your own personal code of ethics for teaching. This can help you to establish your own standards for behavior, and can help you to stay focused on your goals and values as an educator. Some key things to consider when developing your own code of ethics might include being honest and truthful, treating students with respect and fairness, avoiding conflicts of interest, promoting a positive learning environment, and continually improving your own skills and knowledge as a teacher.


Ultimately, ethical conduct in teaching is about being a responsible and trustworthy professional who is committed to the welfare and growth of your students. By following these guidelines and reflecting on your own personal values and goals as an educator, you can help establish a positive and productive learning environment for your students, and can help to uphold the high standards of professionalism and ethical behavior that come with being an ESL teacher.



References/Sources:

ATESL ethical guidelines

Ethical Guidelines for Educational Developers

Ontario College of Teachers Ethical Standards for the Teaching Profession

Ethical Standards of American Educational Research Association

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