UNIT 2: UNDERSTANDING ETHICS, MORALITY, AND VALUES

Lesson 1: Ethics and Morality

“Ethics deals, amongst other things, with right and wrong, ought and
ought not, good and evil” (Mahony, 2000). Teachers play a huge role in
student’s lives, and form a major influencing factor for them right from the
childhood. They, with the help of chalk and board, can help students develop
imagination that will help them to paint their own world. Regarded as the
noblest profession of all, these educators can lay the foundation of your life.
Apart from imparting academic knowledge, these mentors are also responsible
for inculcating invaluable life lessons in their students. To set a positive
example, teachers must follow an ethical code of conduct to show
professionalism. Those ethics ensure that these educational guides remain
unbiased while doing their job and fulfill their objective of providing
uncompromising education. Professional ethics determines their
responsibilities towards the students.
Schools can best support students' moral development by helping
teachers manage the stresses of their profession and by increasing
teachers' capacity for reflection and empathy.
Educators influence students' moral development not simply by being
good role models—important as that is—but also by what they bring to their
relationships with students day to day: their ability to appreciate students'
perspectives and to disentangle them from their own, their ability to admit
and learn from moral error, their moral energy and idealism, their generosity,
and their ability to help students develop moral thinking without shying away
from their own moral authority. That level of influence makes being an adult
in a school a profound moral challenge.

Lesson 2: Foundational Moral Principle

The word principle came from the Latin word, “princeps” which means
“a source or beginning.” A principle is, that on which something is based,
founded, originated or initiated. A foundational moral principle is, therefore,
the universal norm upon which all other principles on the rightness or
wrongness of an action are based. It is the source of morality. Where is this
foundational moral principle? It is contained in the natural law. Many
moralists, authors, and philosophers may have referred to this foundation
moral principle in different terms. May be acceptable to believers and non-
believers alike to refer to it as natural law. All men and women, regardless of
race and belief, have a sense of this foundational moral principle. It is
ingrained in man’s nature. “It is built into the design of human nature, and
woven into the fabric of the normal human mind.” Our act is moral when it is
in accordance with our human nature. • Our act is immoral when it is contrary
to our human nature. • Our intellect and free will make us different from and
above the beast. We are inclined to do what we recognize is good, and avoid
that which we recognize is evil. Panizo, 1964 “Writings, customs, and
monuments of the past, present generations point out to this conclusion: that
all people on earth, no matter how savage and illiterate have recognized a
supreme law of divine origin commanding good and forbidding evil.” The
natural law that says, “do good and avoid evil” comes in different versions.
Teacher, as a person of good moral character  According to the preamble of
our Code of Ethics as professional teachers… “Teachers are duly licensed
professionals who possess dignity and reputation with high moral values as
well as technical and professional competence. In the practice of their
profession, they strictly adhere to, observe and practice this set of ethical and
moral principles, standard values.”

Lesson 3: Values Formation

The skill thus acquired is of use for the individual when it is

accompanied by values of cleanliness (e.g. not smudging the paper) accuracy
of spelling and word selection, orderliness, punctuality and the personal
discipline of work. Any skill will not deliver its full utility unless it is
accompanied by the requisite values and discipline.
Knowledge and skills are worth little if they are not supported by the
discovery of values and education in virtues. That is why, in our school we
carry out activities that help children learn about virtues, how to evaluate
them, how to live them, and how to transmit them, in a usual, firm and
committed manner, depending on their age and level of development. We seek
to motivate students with examples of actions, for them to live the virtues
steadily, inside and outside school, making them part of their life. As an
important part of human formation, we look for sensitizing students about the
importance of helping those in need. Our system provides them with
activities for helping others, according to their age; by doing it so, we seek
to complement their human and spiritual formation. Students are formed in
respect, charity, equality, generosity, nobility, humility and justice, in order to
promote among them the true happiness that is born of love and helping
people in need.

All of us often encounter confusion about our values. But for our kid’s today,
conflicts on values are more acute. With these, how can they learn to live
decently and with integrity when the world surrounding him is full of conflict.
Thus, the school must give importance in the values formation of each learner
because next to the church and the home, the school is served as an influential
institution in molding the attitudes of a person.

School must then offer relevant experiences and curriculum to their learners
that they would be able to face the challenges and realities of life. Schools
must focus on providing not only the best education to their pupils but the
best training and the best formation to their pupils. Yet at present, most
schools are centered in just giving head knowledge to their learners and often
set aside the values formation of their pupils.

May we be enlightened that are pupils learn values the way, we educators
teach them and also the way we live to what we know. The school where we
are in need to understand this and the its role in the values formation of each
child entrusted in our hands.
Lesson 4: Teaching as One’s Vision, Mission, and Profession
Vision
Across the nation, educators continue to face challenges as they work to
individualize instruction to meet the specific needs of their students.
However, theory suggests that teachers who possess a clear vision for
teaching creatively weave their personal convictions for teaching with
instructional practices. Drawing upon a teacher’s (first author) account of her
vision and the classroom literacy practices structured over the course of one
year, a practical approach is taken to address teacher visioning as a way to
sustain teachers’ creativity despite the pressures associated with teaching in
today’s educational climate.
Mission
Be a teacher. No matter what one’s profession, one might argue that all
of us are teachers; that is, all of us seek to engage others in something—
carpentry, government, gardening, a product, the legal system, chemistry,
reading, communicating—where the “something” often represents our
passion and the subject of learning when we engage others. What’s
our mission, then, as we engage or educate someone about our passion? As a
teacher, it begins by being student-centric in every decision that I make to
focus me on what is important to each student. This helps me focus my
mission as a teacher, to:
Make sure students know I care about them;
Help students learn (more) complex tasks and become engaged learners; and
Improve student performance.
When we do this as teachers, we help children and young people become
satisfied with what they need to feel successful and to do so with friends. As
our focus centers on our students and building a relationship with them so
that we can support and engage them, we help them improve student
performance. That’s what we do as educators when we share our passion for
learning.
 Profession

“Teaching creates all other professions.” Author Unknown

“Teaching is not a lost art (profession), but the regard for it is a lost
tradition.” Jacques Barzun

We often use the term “profession” in a generic sort of way referring to what
is your trade/vocation. Profession is derived from the word “profiteor”
meaning to profess. The connotation here is that a professional is a person
who possesses knowledge of something and has a commitment to a particular
set of values both of which are generally well accepted characteristics of
professions. History records the early professions of the priesthood, law,
medical/physicians and university teaching. As time progressed, dentistry,
engineering, accountants and architects were ascribed “professional” status.

David Belfall, in his article, Creating Value for Members, published in

1999, identifies key characteristics that define an occupation as a profession.
These characteristics are an assessment process for entry into the profession,
a common body of knowledge, a code of ethics and a professional association.

References:
 https://medium.com/workethics/5-professional-ethics-for-teachers-
1c92bc6d0946
 http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-
leadership/mar03/vol60/num06/Moral-Teachers,-Moral-Students.aspx
 https://www.slideshare.net/jawel02/the-foundational-principles-of-
morality-and-you
 https://www.scribd.com/doc/230245195/Foundational-Moral-
Principle
 https://www.mssresearch.org/?q=Value_formation
 https://www.pinecrestmexico.com/apps/pages/index.jsp?
uREC_ID=546017&type=d&pREC_ID=1053243
 http://www.teachersessay.com/the-role-of-the-school-in-values-
formation/
 http://wp.auburn.edu/educate/wp-
content/uploads/2015/11/combined-fall_13.pdf
 https://www.teacherready.org/be-a-teacher-mission/
 https://www.teachhub.com/teaching-profession

Submitted by: Daryl J. Kiskis

Submitted to: Dr. Candido G. Kinkito Jr.