Influence of Law and Ethics

Influence of Law and Ethics

In this digital world I find being faced with using Social Media sites like Facebook quite daunting now. It is not the actual use of Facebook but the content that can is posted and then it can be shared with who knows who. We have a school Facebook page and classes post pictures regularly about what they are doing and learning. Most of our parent community is connected to the page and there are often comments and 'likes'. I have my own personal Facebook page but am not friends with my students or school parents. My account is private but it is still amazing what people can see.

Education is changing. Digital technologies are everywhere and they are impacting on what. where, how and why students learn and who they learn from. Ministry of Education - Digital Technologies. Our students are growing up in this world where Social Media sites are a part of their life even in the early years of primary school. A number of children I know have ready access to their parents accounts and can easily navigate a number of sites - Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat. 

Hall (2001) recognised that decisions that teachers make are more frequently questioned and challenged. We are often confronted with ethical dilemmas. He suggests that teachers should recognise ethical problems when they occur and having skills and strategies to help solve these dilemmas. He has come up with a set of questions that could be used when facing an ethical problem.

What is the problem?

 • Using Facebook to showcase children's work in the class. I am not against this but feel that our students and to some degree our teachers don't realise that what they post is on there forever. There are children that are not allowed to have their photo on the Internet. This is their parent's right that they don't want their children our there in the big wide digital world at this moment in their lives for whatever reason. As in the video shared on Mindlab our parents all sign an agreement when their child starts and it would be wrong for us as a school to go against the parents wishes.

Who are the main stakeholders and what are their interests?

 •  There are a number of stakeholders - parents, the school and children. Our parents have a vested interest in their children and their learning and safety. The school wants to ensure that children have the opportunity to learn digitally and safely.

Which stakeholder should be given priority? Why?

 • My main stakeholder are the children in my class as I have a responsibility to promote the well being of my learners and protect them from harm -  in this case it is keeping them safe digitally. 

What restrictions are there to your actions?

 • I am bound by the Education Council Our Code Our Standards Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession and our schools Policies on Internet Use, Cyber Safety and Social Media Guidelines.  





Which courses of actions are possible?

 • I need to be mindful of the children from my class and posting photos of those who are not allowed on the Internet. I can blur the face of those children who are not to be on the Internet.

Which courses of action are least acceptable? Why?

 • I could not post anything on our school Facebook page but this would not be accepted as parents would start to ask why our class has not posted anything.

It is tricky to ensure that I cater for all children but this ethical dilemma for me and the way as a school we have solved the problem means that others are not missing out. Our school guidelines say we must treat professional social media or networking space and communication like a real world classroom and professional workplace. 

I think all children, staff and parents need to be reminded regularly of the 'reach' of our Social Media world and the implications of our complacency at times of this 'reach'. It may not just be your immediate friends and families that are following.



References

Education Council (2016). Our Code Our Standards – code of professional responsibility and standards for the teaching profession.

Hall, A. (2001) What ought I to do, all things considered? An approach to the exploration of ethical problems by teachers. Paper presented at the IIPE Conference, Brisbane. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Developing-leaders/What-Ought-I-to-Do-All-Things-Considered-An-Approach-to-the-Exploration-of-Ethical-Problems-by-Teachers

Ministry of Education. (2015). Digital technology - Safe and responsible use in schools. Retrieved from http://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/School/Managing-and-supporting-students/DigitalTechnologySafeAndResponsibleUseInSchs.pdf

New Zealand Teachers Council. (2012). Commitment to Parents/Guardians and Family/Whānau. [video file] Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49804201

Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness

Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness in my Practice

After reading all our material for this week I feel that as a teacher indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness is when we acknowledge all our students, where they come from and what they bring to the class and school environment. As Bishop said on his EdTalk (2012) we need to be teachers who have agency that can weave together everything to create a learning context where Maori can share their experiences, cultural understanding and knowledge to conversations in the classroom.

Using the Mauri Model I think our school sits in between the Mauri Oho state and the Mauri Ora state. We have woken and are more aware of our Maori learners and their needs. We are highly motivated and committed to ensuring all our students achieve.

In Ka Hikitia is states that high quality teaching, supported by effective leadership and governance, makes the biggest ‘in education’ difference to student  outcomes across all parts of the education sector. 

Over the last  few years we have been very focused on ensuring our Maori learners achieve to the best of their ability and have implemented a number of initiatives. Our school has a Maori Achievement Policy and have based our Tikanga Maori and Te Reo Curriculum Statement on Ka Hikitia. All learners will be exposed to and understand the significance of the local community’s cultural heritage. They will each have a role to play in nurturing our local environment. Students, will have the opportunity to learn about Māori Culture, Tikanga and Te Reo, as an integrated part of the curriculum. We have regular meetings with our Maori whanau to build strong relationships with them and if these students are below they have IEP's that are shared with the families. These meetings are paramount to our caring and learning environment. 

We are updating our vision and have had a number of meetings with our local community - kotahitanga to ensure we get all ideas. Our vision incorporates our values of 

• Rangatiratanga - Respect for ourselves  
• Manakitanga - Respect for others 
• Kaitiakitanga - Respect for the environment

In our school we have Kapa Haka groups taken by a teacher and Maori parent. All students are involved - seniors for two terms and then juniors. We have end of term celebration days where our children share their learning for the term with their parents in the morning and then stay and have a picnic lunch. This enables all our students to present their work in a way that they choose. It could be written, a drama, orally or using digital technologies. 

We have parents who are fluent in te reo come in to our junior classes and share popular books.We have a child read the English version alongside.

 

As teachers we need to be using Tataiako (2011) as it will help support our work to personalise learning for and with Maori learners, to ensure they enjoy education success as Maori. The cultural competencies are Wananga, Whanaungatanga, Manaakitanga, Tangata Whenuatanga and Ako. I believe we are having robust dialogue with parents and are actively engaged with them. We show respect towards Maori beliefs, language and culture, affirm Maori learners as Maori and are working towards Maori learners taking responsibility for their own learning.

An area we are working on is incorporating a Maori aspect in all of our integrated topics whether it is the language, culture, stories or different ways of presenting our finished topics. This is ongoing as is the consultations with our whanau. For a predominately European school I believe we are making progress towards acknowledging and respecting the diversity, knowledge and expertise of our Maori community. We are embracing change.

References

Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A cultu   rally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994

Ka Hikitia - Managing for Success: The Maori Education Strategy.  retrieved from https://education.govt.nz/ministry-of-education/overall-strategies-and-policies/the-maori-education-strategy-ka-hikitia-accelerating-success-20132017/strategy-overview/critical-factors-for-success

Tataiako Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Maori Learners (2011) Ministry of Education

The Broader Professional Context - Contemporary Trends

Contemporary Trend in my Practice

There are several trends taking place in our education system in New Zealand and internationally. Some of the trends in NZ at the moment are Modern Learning Environments (MLE), focus on 21st Century Skills and incorporating Coding into our curriculum from 2018.

For me working in a MLE is a trend that is still being debated whether it is more or less effective for our students. Interesting they are not referred to as MLE by the Ministry of Education anymore but Innovative Learning Environment (ILE) as this has greater recognition internationally. 

I think ILE reflects more of what the learning environments are like. I know in my school we need to call our MLE an ILE now as we co-teach, are working collaboratively, constantly evaluating what we are doing and what we need to do for our learners. Interestingly Smardon and Charteris (2016) spoke of 'open plan' classrooms in the 70's but this was dependent  on the willingness and capabilities of teachers to make this work. Some may remember these classrooms, I don't. Now a lot of our school leaders are working towards ILE classes. I think teachers still need to be willing to work in these environments as it takes a lot of give and take to make these great spaces work. As stated on tki 'an innovative environment is one that is capable of evolving and adapting as educational practices evolve and change - thus remaining future focused.' 

In an ILE students learn at a level appropriate to their development, collaborating, independent learning, working together and problem solving, reflecting and evaluating. These are some of out 21st Century Skills. The flexibility within these classes is that students and teachers can work in individual areas, shared or break out spaces . Students need these flexible spaces for flexible learning especially as we are becoming more technology focused. These learning spaces support the delivery of programmes that cater for a diverse range of learning needs and abilities.






An ILE is an ecosystem that includes the activity and outcomes of learning. It includes the physical, social and pedagogical context in which learning occurs. It is a holistic concept.



We need to be educating our students with the skills to ensure they are able to feel confident with technologies that are shaping their future. We need to be aware of the advanced skills students will need to succeed.  These include 21st Century skills such as global languages,advanced digital skills as well as social and emotional intelligence (OECD, 2016).  All of these can be nurtured within an ILE classroom.





References

Ministry of Education (2017) Enabling E-Learning retrieved from  http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Teaching/Innovative-learning-environments

Knocking down walls and buying new furniture? What are innovative learning environments really about (2016) - Dianne Smarton and Jennifer Charteris in the NZ Principal Magazine, March 2016
retrieved from https://issuu.com/nzprincipal.co.nz/docs/nzp_t1_2016_

OECD. (2016) Trends Shaping Education 2016, OECD Publishing, Paris.

Professional Context

Current Issues in my Professional Context

A brief description of the socio-economic status of my community.

A school’s culture is shaped by its history, context and the people in it.(Stoll, 1998)

My school is in a rural community predominately dairying. Our school was founded in 1867 and we have celebrated our 150th this year. This bought our whole community together past, present and the future generations. A number of our students are descendants of the first pupils at the school.

                                                          

Most of our 143 students live on dairy farms with parents working within the industry either as share-milkers, managers or workers doing milking and general farm duties. A number of these are migrant workers, with a majority coming from the Philippines.

Papakaio - Place of the Ngaio Tree

Our school ten years ago used to only have approximately 5% Maori the remainder being European. We now have 10% Maori, 20% Filipino, 5% other nationalities and the remainder European. 

The last ERO report (2014) stated that we have a caring and respectful culture. New students are well supported and welcomed. This is still true today as we have more Filipino students joining our school with a number having English as their second language.

School environment

At this time of the year we are always mindful of the stress our parents are under as it is calving time and a number of parents are working from dawn to dusk and beyond. This is the time of the year that families are often stretched to the limit. As teachers we take this into account in our classrooms and the playground ensuring that school is always a safe, caring and happy environment for our students.

Our school encourages parents to be actively involved in our school community. In our classes you will find parents helping in all areas on a daily basis. They come in to listen to reading, work with maths groups, bake, garden, and do art activities.  At the end of each term we celebrate children's learning with an open day. Children are able to show their parents what they have been doing and then look around the other classes to see what has been happening in them. This happens just after morning tea and then we have lunch with our families often with a BBQ. One of our highlights was the Filipino community making and sharing lunch with our whole community. We have worked hard to have a school with an inviting climate and culture where everyone is valued and appreciated - staff, parents, children and the wider community.

Way forward

Looking at our school using Stoll's five scenarios, we are a well established school, with strong community ties, but we are always growing, moving forward ensuring our new families feel welcomed, an ever evolving and changing environment. This is more so now that we are a multicultural school and we are therefore consulting with our 'new' community around our vision to encompass all our values and ideas. With the help of our strong leadership team we as teachers are embracing this change and learning with our students.

References

ERO report 

http://www.ero.govt.nz/review-reports/papakaio-school-08-08-2014/

Stoll. (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture

Defining your Practice

Community of Practice

In the landscape of communities and boundaries that we live, we identify with some communities strongly, and not at all with others (Wegner, 2000). This means that we often choose what communities we are part of and can easily identify with them whereas other communities are of no particular use or do not interest us.

What is my Community of Practice?

Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. (Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner, 2015)

                                                                                                                                                                             

The Domain
My school is my main domain.The school and the surrounding farming community are the foundation for which the other communities I belong to lie. The students, teachers and whanau all want the best for our school and collaborate to ensure this happens. We have a vision instrumental in all we do. We want our children to leave Papakaio School being the best they can be by following our 4 P's - People, Passion, Potential and Passion.

The Community
Our shared visions and ideas are threaded through all we do within our domain. In our MLE I work closely together collaborating and sharing ideas on ways forward for our learners. I also do this at our staff  and syndicate meetings with all participants in these meetings being equal and valued. Working as a mentor teacher is new for me this year and therefore a lot of learning has gone on for both myself and the beginning teacher. In our CoL we have sessions on Literacy that all teachers engage with - sharing and reflecting. 

The Practice
I share resources and ideas, always looking at ways to improve my teaching for our learners. I participate in Professional Development (Mindlab, Maths, Wordlab,Coding) and take what is learned back to school to help within our classroom context. As a staff we are always talking about our learners whether it is a planned meeting or an informal chat at lunch or morning tea in the staffroom.

My CoP is ever changing depending on what area I am working within - be it staff, junior team, management team, mentor, or curriculum development. I am always reflecting, researching, seeking advice when needed and listening to feedback and ways to improve my own practice. This can only happen in a supportive Community of Practice.





Reference

https://codeclub.nz/

Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2), 225-246.

Wenger-Trayner, E and Wenger-Trayner, B. (2015). Introduction to communities of practice. A brief overview of the concept and its uses

https://literacyinnovators.co.nz/wordlab