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ID of Student: G00378698 Dylan Murphy

Article/Reading: Teaching Council's Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers (2016)

1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING

The purpose of the code of professional conduct for teachers is to guide teachers ethically and
respectfully in their teaching career and to uphold the honour and dignity of the teaching profession. It
is to inform understanding and expectations for the teaching profession in Ireland. It has legal
standing and is used by the council as a reference point when investigating and disciplining. The code
outlines the moral principle that guide the teaching profession. This code holds, Respect, Care,
Integrity, and Trust as the core values that teachers should follow in their work.

The teaching council sets out several standards that all teachers should apply to their role. There are
six standards set out in the code. The first one is Professional Values and Relationships. These
standard states that teachers should show care to their students, as well as being fair and have their
best interests. They should respect each other for who they are and demonstrate equality and inclusion
no matter what background the student comes from. `The teacher should build relationships with the
school in a positive and professional manner. The second standard is Professional Integrity. These
standard states that teachers should show honesty in all aspects of their profession. Teachers should
also respect their student’s privacy. The third standard is Professional Conduct. This demonstrates
that teachers should uphold their reputation and take measures to guarantee the security and wellbeing
of their pupils. They should adhere to school policies and procedures and if necessary, report any
matters regarding students. Teachers should communicate with students and other staff appropriately
and in a professional way. They should be capable to teach and should not teach under the influence
of any substance. The fourth standard is Professional Practice. Planning, monitoring, assessing,
reporting, and giving feedback are just a few of the many tasks the teacher must complete to a high
standard. They should employ various strategies to aid students’ learning. They should engage with
the student development and demonstrate ethical practice. Professional Development is the fifth
standard for teachers. It states that teachers are responsible for maintaining and improving their
professional practice in the following ways. They should ensure their professional knowledge is
current. They should evaluate their professional practice in a critical manner. They should grasp any
opportunities to development their professional practice. The final standard for teachers is the
Professional Collegiality and Collaboration. Teachers should work with other staff members to
develop and support good practice. They should work with the students, staff, and wider school
community to ensure the needs of each student is met. They should communicate with the statutory
and public non-statutory educational and support services when needed. These six standards serve as a
framework for professional judgement and practice and represent the complexity and diversity of

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 teaching.

The next section of the code of conduct discusses how complaints can be made regarding registered
teachers. Complaints can be made against anyone who are registered with the teaching council. All
complaints will be considered and if necessary, a hearing my be held. A complaint may be made for a
few reasons including if a teacher fails to follow the Acts listed in the code; They do not behave in a
professional manner; Their behaviour displays professional misconduct; They are medically unfit to
teach, or they have been convicted of an offence.

2. CRITICAL REFLECTION

When reflecting on the Teaching Council which are the publishers of the document. The purpose of
the Teaching Council is to maintain high standards among the teaching profession. They also
provide information to support teachers and students’ teachers to develop a high standard of teaching.
I believe the teaching council and the teaching code of conduct is of importance to teachers but also
parents and students among the general population. As a student teacher on school placement three
last year, I used information provided by the teaching council on their website which gave me great
insight as to the characteristics and standards needed by teachers.
What particularly stood out to me, when I viewed the teacher code of conduct was the four core
values that teachers need to adhere to. These key values: Respect, Care, Integrity, and Trust are
highlighted with a graphic that provides a more in-depth explanation of each. They are stated
throughout the code of conduct. It's difficult to forget these fundamental principles, in my opinion,
even after reading the code. Many professions, including teaching, have codes of ethics in place for at
least two connected reasons: to preserve public confidence in the profession and to establish standards
for professional behaviour (Maxwell, 2017). The code is divided into the of categories of Professional
Values and Relationships, Professional Integrity, Professional Conduct, Professional Practice,
Professional Development, and Professional Collegiality and Collaboration. After some thought, I
believe that this clearly outlined the expectations for teachers. Each “standard” starts by using the
phrase "teachers should," which, in my opinion, makes it quite apparent what is expected of teachers
in terms of professional behaviour in the classroom. But because some of these requirements are a
little confusing, I think they should have been clarified better (Barrett, 2012) I feel that some of the
requirements could be fleshed out more as in terms that every school is different and some these
requirements which should all be followed which I agree with but may not be as easy to follow in
some schools due to various challenges in schools.

The last page of the code of professional behaviour, which addresses complaints involving registered
teachers, is confusing to me. According to an essay by Mia Treacy (Treacy, 2022), program providers
should fulfil their duty of care to students by providing them with sufficient modules on educational
law, and the emphasis on educational law should be raised in the Initial Teacher Education
requirements to bring it into compliance with the Code. To make sure that graduates have the abilities
to function as professionals, the Teaching Council should review their legal knowledge at the time of
registration (Treacy, 2022). Furthermore, I thought that if a teacher was the target of a complaint, the
codes section on complaints involving registered teachers wasn't all that useful. If the document
contained information on how a teacher should respond to a complaint about them or how they might
settle disputes, that information might be useful. It refers to being nationally agreed to but a revised
legislation could be of help here as I feel that a teacher could be left very exposed due to this. Schools
are evolving every day, and some parts of the code may not be as relevant as they once were so that is

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 why I feel that it could do with more detail or a change altogether.

To conclude I found the document relatively helpful on how a teachers should conduct themselves
professionally. Having completed this tutorial paper, I will hold the values, Respect, Care, Integrity,
and Trust, in my future teaching career. However, I do believe this document may have had more
clarity in areas, as an agreed vision of how the teaching standards would be used to develop and
regulate the profession is necessary to ensure that the intended benefits emerge (Chróinín, 2012). I
believe that the code of conduct shows great backing for the teacher who work under its guiding by
offering multiple guidelines if a teacher come under investigation in their work and can somewhat
help them and guide them to the next relevant steps but as mentioned earlier it still has a few potential
loopholes that could be exposed if not used correctly. It is crucial that every worker feels that they are
supported both by the area they work in and the institution the work for. It leads to happy employee’s
that feel trusted and safe which then leads to improved work ethic and results from this work.
“Managers question the relationships between job security and positive changes in workers” (Lahey,
1984) I also believe that the code does a great job at outlining their goals for the present and the
future of teacher education. It is important to consider this as it allows the teachers to plan for a major
change that may happen in the future of their careers. As a student teacher I feel that the code inspires
confidence in the profession I am following. Knowing that my needs as a teacher are considered and
that if I need any assistance there will be a body behind me to support me in multiple different ways.

3. LIST OF REFERENCES

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 References
Barrett, D. E. (2012). How do teachers make judgments about ethical and unethical behaviors?
Toward the development of a code of conduct for teachers. United States: Clemson
University.

Chróinín, D. N. (2012). European Journal of Teacher Education . Teacher educators' perspectives on

the implementation of beginning teacher standards for physical education in Ireland:
developing and regulating the profession?, 261-278.

Lahey, M. (1984). Job security: Its meaning and measure. Kansas: Kansas State University.

Maxwell, B. (2017). Codes of conduct of Professional Conduct and Ethics Education for Future
Teachers. Philosophical Inquiry in Education, 323-347.

Treacy, M. (2022). Unsupported and unrealistic expectations? Misalignment between teachers'

required knowledge of the law in the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers and Ceim
Standards for Initial Teacher Education. Irish Education Studies.

65% - Very solid summary – see above notes for amendments.

62% Critical Reflection – also, good effort – some well-made points – if you address some of the
comments above, as well as including some examples from your own practice (demonstrating the link
between theory and practice) you should have a sound piece of work.

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024