Teachers’ Perception of Professional Ethics and Its Impact on Their Professionalism

Woldeab Daniel^1, and Solomon Sapo²

¹Department of Psychology, Arba Minch University, Ethiopia

²Department of Pedagogy, Arba Minch University, Ethiopia

Cite this paper:
Woldeab Daniel and Solomon Sapo. Teachers’ Perception of Professional Ethics and Its Impact on Their Professionalism. American Journal of Educational Research. 2020; 8(6):400-410. doi: 10.12691/education-8-6-6

Abstract

This study was aimed at investigating teachers’ perception of professional ethics and its impact on their professionalism. Four districts from each of two zones, namely, Gamo and South Omo were selected using lottery methods. One primary school and one secondary school were selected using lottery method and further, teachers from the selected schools were taken totally using convenient sampling. To get as dependable data as possible, the study involved a mix of qualitative and quantitative approach. A questionnaire, which was developed by the investigators, was used after carrying out pilot study. To see how teachers perceive their codes of professional ethics, qualitatively gathered data was analyzed through description, frequency tables and histograms. To see the role teachers’ perception of their code of professional ethics in their professionalism, linear regressions was used. To investigate whether teachers’ sex modify the relationship between their perception of professional ethics and professionalism, an independent sample t-test was used. The result has indicated that many teachers perceive that they are fully compliant to the professional ethics, and they thought that their obedience to professional ethics has resulted from their conscience. Besides, the result has given us that for teachers’ who attribute the source of their professional ethical stand to moral responsibility, their professionalism was found to be significantly affected by their perception. An independent sample t-test has shown us that teachers’ there was no significant gender difference in professional ethical stand. Similarly, it has been revealed that there is no significant difference in perception of professional ethics between teachers of primary and secondary schools.

Keywords:
professional ethics teachers’ perception professionalism

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	Sawhney N. & Mohali, L. Professional ethics and commitment in teacher education, Chandigarh College of Education.
[2]	Vivanco, L. & Delgado, B. Professionalism. University of La Rioja, Logron˜o, Spain.
[3]	Racadio, D, Querubin, B, Ponce, M, Valido A, Beria F. (nd) Code of ethics for professional teachers, faculty manual. Retrieved on October 5, 2018 from http://teachercodes.iiep.unesco.org/teachercodes/codes/Asia/Philippines.pdf.
[4]	Ahin, R., Öztürk, .A, Ünalm, M. Professional ethics and moral values in Akhi institution, Retrieved on April 13, 2019 from https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/277811/1-s2.0- S1877042809X00029/1-s2.0-S1877042809001463/main.pdf?X-Amz-Security
[5]	Sa'atchi, M. Business Psychology (psychology of work, organization management). Tehran university
[6]	Woolf, A. The relationship between Religion & Ethics, Retrieved on February, 10 2018 from http://www.reflectingonjudaism.com/content/relationship-between-religion-ethics
[7]	Campbell, E. Teaching ethically as a moral condition of professionalism. Retrieved on January 14, 2018 from http://sitemaker.umich.edu/tei/files/campbell_teaching_ethically.pdf
[8]	Bavec, C. Social responsibility and professional ethics in management: Does it matter? Proceedings of the 11th International Conference 2010 Ankara, Turkey, 24-27 November 2010.
[9]	Shapira, L. Ethical dilemmas in teaching and nursing: The Israeli case. Oxford Review of Education, 36(6).
[10]	Ayeni, A. J. Teachers’ Professional Ethics and Instructional Performance as Correlates of Students’ Academic Performance in Secondary Schools in Owo Local Government, Ondo State, Nigeria. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 5(8) 611-622.
[11]	Crosswell, L. Understanding teacher commitment in times of change. PhD thesis, Queensland University of Technology
[12]	Becker, L. C., & Becker, C. B. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of ethics (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
[13]	Dorudi F.& Ahari, E. Study of the relationship of professional ethics and emotional intelligence of administrators with their performance in female high schools in Tehran International Journal of Learning & Development ISSN 2164-4063, Vol. 5, No. 4
[14]	Betweli1, O. (2013). The nature of teacher professional misconduct in Tanzanian Public Primary Schools: The Case of Sumbawanga Municipal and Rural Districts, International Journal of Education ISSN 1948-5476 2013, Vol. 5, No. 1
[15]	Israel, G. D. Determining Sample Size. Retrieved on January, 22, 2018, from edis.ifas.edu/pd006.
[16]	Davis, R. and Walton, E. College of Commerce and Industry, school of Accountancy Clemson University, sc, USA.
[17]	Campbell, E. & Thiessen, D. Perspectives on the Ethical Bases of Moral Agency in Teaching, University Toronto Canada, Information Eric
[18]	Pring, R. Education as a moral practice, Journal of Moral Education, Vol. 30, No. 2. pp. 101 to 112.
[19]	Heidari, M., Heshi K. Mottagi, Z., Amini M. & Shiri A. Teachers’ professional ethics from Avicenna’s perspective: Academic journals, Educational research and reviews. Vol. 10(17), pp. 2460-2468, 10 September, 2015.
[20]	O’Neill, J., and Boruke, R. Educating teachers about a code of ethical conduct. Ethics and Education, 5(2).
[21]	Hoyle, E., & John, P. Professional knowledge and professional practice. New York, NY & London, England: Cassell.
[22]	L’Etang, J. The myth of the ‘ethical guardian’: An examination of its origins, potency and illusions. Journal of Communication Management, 8, 53-67.
[23]	Erzikova,. E. University teachers’ perceptions and evaluations of ethics instruction in public relations curriculum. Retrieved on December 26, 2018 from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1159038.pdf.
[24]	Husu, J. Teachers at cross-purposes: A case-report approach to the study of ethical dilemmas in teaching. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 17(1), 67-89.
[25]	Fotopoulopou, Vasiliki S., & Ifanti A. Teachers’ Perceptions of Professionalism and Professional Development: A Case Study in Greece, World Journal of Education Vol. 1, No. 1; April 2011 ISSN 1925-0746 E-ISSN 1925-0754.
[26]	Brown, J., Coulter-Kern, P, and Morgan, H. Group Status and Gender Differences in Obedience, retrieved on March 12, 2019 from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.564.3943&rep=rep1&type=pdf.