Educators act ethically and maintain the integrity, credibility and reputation of the profession.

Keeping up this standard of ethics is vitally important as educators.  Parents are trusting us with their children, so we need to show that we are taking this responsibility seriously.  We play a huge part in molding our students’ outlooks and views that will shape their future and who they will become as human beings.  We are in charge of these kids for a significant portion of their lives while they are in our class, and we need to remember that everything we do and say can effect them more than we realize.

Building relationships with staff, students, and parents is a huge part of teaching.  Everything runs smoother when solid relationships are built.  In building these relationships, it’s important to keep this teaching standard in mind.  It’s important to know what information is appropriate to share in different situations in order to build these relationships, and which information should be kept private.  Building relationships is important, but you’re still building these relationships in a professional capacity, and making sure to keep standard 2 in the forefront of our minds will help uphold the professionality of these relationships.

Ethics is something that should be maintained both inside and outside the classroom.  You never know what might make its way onto, for example, the screens of your coworkers or your students’ parents, so everything you post should be curated to reflect the professional persona and relationships you want to project. I’ve always been careful with what I post on the internet and have always had my privacy settings maxed out, so I don’t think avoiding posting anything that wouldn’t uphold the ethics and integrity of the teaching profession should be an issue. Making sure that the persona we put forward in all these situations – online, in the classroom, with parents, in the staff room – is one that reflects the standards and traits that we want to portray is so important in maintaining this standard and for our parts in the teaching profession in general.