Cloud Forest
in the highlands of Malaysia - Photo by Dr. Md. Munir Hayet Khan
Code of
Ethics in Education:
Why to Have
one?
By Prof. Jonathan
Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.
School of English
Faculty of Social Sciences
Universidad Latina de Costa Rica
Monday, April 30,
2018
Post 316
What does a code of ethics look like?
If you have never come to ask this question yourself before, you are bound to
find something very similar to the undergrowth that can be located in a cloud
forest. Not knowing if you behave like me, I must confess that I delight my eye
in seeing photographs intending to see what the one who froze this particular
moment and scene in time wanted to capture. My friend Munir is that kind of
person who always makes me wonder about his photography experiences and has me
see other things in his pictures. I see the undergrowth in this picture of his,
the undergrowth that can be present in one’s mind when we try to see how we are
supposed to behave in our positions at work as faculty members or in any
administrative position that can also be held. This position I am talking about
should be governed by a code of ethics grounded in the culture framework a
company has devised to be current in the market.
So, going back to our starting point,
the code of ethics and the undergrowth in the cloud forest, what does the
institution one works for look like in one of its best days? You may often
think about this, or you can simply overlook mulling over your ethical position
at work. However, when you are faced with the thought of this ethical
undergrowth, it looks like the chaotic beauty Munir was able to spot in this
Malay cloud forest, a random array of branches covered with moss, lichens
growing on the humid soil, rotten leaves covering other patches of the same
soil, roots populating the surface of the forest, foggy drizzling winds, and
much more. The fact is, at least for me,
that many of us do not really give much thought to this thing about ethics as
if this were something beyond one’s understanding or concern. It looks like we
educators (or any kind of a company’s employee) do not come to think about what
makes us proud to work in learning or to work for an education institution. And
we seldom consider why others might trust us or want to enroll in the places we
have a job at. A corporate code of ethics is not meant to resemble the cloud
forest in Malaysia, but a guide that helps us monitor and measure what we do
ethically to serve others.
With this desire of serving others
ethically, for the Laureate Ethics Center (2018),
the “spirit” of a company is found in the organization’s code of ethics. It is
among the lines of this document that we workers find the driving principle
that governs our labor and that encourage teaching and administrative personnel
to attain institutional goals. In the Laureate’s Code of Ethics, the Laureate
Ethics Center (2018) emphasizes that these guiding principles encased in a code
help us “do good” (in everything we have been commissioned to do) and “be good”
(in all sort of corporate affairs that can be obstructed by my personal
priorities and beliefs). The chaotic and entropic arrangement of the
undergrowth in the Munir’s scene captured in the Malay cloud forest is no loger
a feeling of confusion towards a company’s code of ethics; it simply becomes an
alluring picture depicting the beauty in Malaysia, and the code of ethics is
the moral arrangement of corporate affairs and movements in the market where it
operates by guiding teachers and administrative personnel to “do good” and to “be
good.”
What do “be
good” and “do good” mean for the employer and the employee? To begin with,
these two phrases encompass the reason why a code of ethics is needed and
explained to all of us despite the business we work for. These two phrases
impact the opportunities for growth one has as part of an educational
organization and within the company. In the teaching world, this may mean the
potential one has to become someone else within the organization, usually with
a higher rank and more ethical responsibilities. These phrases also mark us
with the accountability for the consequences of our actions within an
institution. Why? This happens because a well-explained code of ethics “helps
us define risks and how to deal with them” (Laureate Ethics
Center, 2018) .
The code then prevents us from any wrongdoing or amoral behavior in our
positions.
Is the code of ethics a practical
guide to ensure one’s way of behaving at work, as an instructor or as an
administrative employee? Sure! The code is a list of compliance
responsibilities with the institution’s clients (being in this case students or
members of the other institution’s departments), with the organization itself,
and with the law. The code for any personnel is “an open, public declaration of
who we are” (Laureate Ethics Center, 2018) ; it indicates that
we are in search for the highest standards in education, that we act in
accordance with integrity, and that we represent an education company being
accountable for our private and public actions.
To sum up, a code of ethics in
education is not a puzzling undergrowth of moral values, but a set of
responsibilities we all have with our ethical beings. And what does this all
entail? It all results in …
1) Acting
in accordance to honesty,
2) Fair
and respectful treatment to peers, co-workers, and customers,
3) Consistence
of actions consonantly with the law,
4) Readiness
for the scrutiny of one’s actions through Internet-based media or any other
means,
5) Harmless
actions to help company’s attainment of goals,
6) The
thinking of others regarding one’s decisions, and
7) Firmness
of one’s acting bearing in mind one’s personal and institutional values.
This
is then by far a good account of what a code of ethics is and what it entails.
As explained by the Laureate Ethics Center (2018),
it also helps us focus our minds on what is ethically correct regarding
our way of acting at work, whether that is in a classroom, in a hall, in the
staff’s lounge, or elsewhere.
References
Laureate Ethics Center. (2018). Our Culture: The
Laureate Movement. Retrieved May 29, 2018, from Laureate Ethics Center:
https://laureate-console.lrn.com
