ETHICS IN CARE AND EDUCATION
LECTURES
This paper document contains both English and Dutch lecture notes. Perhaps a bit late so
sorry... maybe useful for the last minute learners 😉. These are extensive notes, because
(almost) everything the teacher said during the lectures has been typed out. Also
included are the questions asked on the discussion board and the mock question.
Thanks for downloading and I hope that this document will help you out with studying.
A.
ETHICS IN CARE AND EDUCATION HC 1
Opzet van dit hoorcollege
, 1. Applied ethics
a. Why do we need ethics in care and education?
2. Meta-ethics
a. What is the nature of moral statements
b. How do we gain moral knowledge?
i. Relativism
ii. Subjectivism
3. Normative ethics
a. What is the right thing to do?
PART 1. APPLIED ETHICS / T OEGE PA STE ET HIE K
WHY DO WE NEED ETHICS IN CARE AND EDUCATION?
As I said the first part is going to be applied ethics. Im going to engage in now. We are
going to start with a simple question: why do we need this topic? Why do we need this
course? When you’re preparing in becoming a professional in care or education?
What is the reason we talk about ethics? Just to get you thinking about ethics.. I’ve
collected some of the news items from the last months or so during the corona crisis. And
these news items all really explicitly deal with moral issues in care and education. It’s not
something like.. sometimes philosophy has the, maybe the idea that something is really
abstract or theoretical or disengaged of the everyday practice of the professionals. I want
to make sure that from the beginning onwards that you feel like that is absolutely not the
case and that there is a sense of urgency in training yourself to become a moral
philosopher and training yourself to become a, you know, be aware off some major
ethical theories.
On the right hand side I’ve selected an news item that has to do with
proctoring. Proctoring is basically an online tool by which students
are being monitored when they do online exams. Some universities
in the Netherlands have been engaged in the idea of proctoring. And
that means that students taking large scales exams online, they
need to turn on their camera.. actually two camera’s or so and they
need to apply with certain conditions that have to do with proctoring.
And a lot of students are worried about their privacy when it comes to proctoring.
Below on the screen you can see a news item that says: when we made the turn to
distance learning.. a lot of students disappeared (not of the earth of course) but they
disappeared because their teachers couldn’t connect with them anymore online. They
weren’t able to come online, they weren’t able to go to the internet or they didn’t have a
room where they could quietly listen to lectures. So this is
also a problem. What do you do with students who are,
entitled to have education.. but when you turn to distance
learning or learning via online learning.. those students..
when they don’t have a safe place to learn for example what
is it that you do then?
Lately of course there is a lot of debate about the
vaccination program and there are a couple of
schools in the united states that have ordered
vaccines for students 12 years and up. Some
schools have said: we would like to oblige students
,to have a vaccine before they come into the school premises. So is this something we
would like to do? Is this something you can order students to do to get a vaccine? These
are all issues that come up with dealing with specifically education in times of corona and
they are explicitly moral issues. Because they have something to do with conflicting
values right? For example: the case of missing students in online education: it has to do
with safety versus the right of education. The proctoring news item has to do with the
notion of privacy on the one hand and notion of justice in getting an exam done in a
manner where students aren’t able to cheat so that is a case of justice. And in the case of
the schools in Los Angeles you have to think about the case off autonomy on the one
hand, the autonomy of the students being able to decide for themselves to take a
vaccine, and on the other hand the notion of safety. Students have the right of a safe
environment and maybe that a environment will be more safe when you oblige students
to get a vaccine.
All cases have to do with complex issues where you have sort of values that compete
with each other whereas you as a professional have to make a choice.
WHY ETHICS
This is something that professionals deal with pretty much every day. Some cases are
extraordinary and some cases are more common but it is something that you will have to
deal with.
- How do you deal with a pupil diagnosed with impulse control issues who benefits
from being in a classroom, but frequently disrupts the learning process of peers?
- How do you deal with parents protesting against ‘coming out day’ celebrations in
school?
- How should we regard expensive institutes offering shadow education in schools?
How do you sort of weigh the pros and cons of off deciding to put this specific student in
the classroom?
The type of example I’ve chosen are examples of the three levels, right. So the first level
off the first example is on the level of the classroom a moral dilemma. So that is an issue
that comes up with you with a client or anything like that. It is a smaller level issue.
The second example is on a level that’s a bit higher on the organization level. So how do
you deal with the specific issue from the organization of the educational institute you
work in?
The last example is more on the societal level. So it has to do with educational policies
that have to do with nationwide issues. So you can have moral dilemmas on classroom
level, policy and institutional level and national level. All those types of moral dilemmas
will discuss with each other. And these issues are really everyday dilemma’s for people
working in children’s care and education. They are ethical challenges: they have to do
with notions of equality, care, inclusion, respect, etc. And sometimes you can answer
these dilemma’s in an instrumental way. And by instrumental I mean, the way in which
we sometimes ask ourself: what is the most effective way to deal with this issue? So if
you’re struggling with a student who has ADHD or anything like that, how do you deal
with that? What are the best ways to engage with this student? This is more of an
instrumental question because It has to do with what is effective teaching strategies or
what are effective strategies of interacting with this client? This is an instrumental
approach we might say where the fundamental question behind this is: how to deal with
this effectively? This is a valid perspective but we have an another perspective in this
, course and this perspective is the ethical perspective. So what are the moral issues
behind it? What can we gain from theoretical insides? What are the concepts of values
behind this specific issue? It is a different type of perspective.
CODES OF CONDUCT
So some of you might say, yo know, we have as future professional we have codes of
conduct. So students who are doing orthopedagogiek they have a codes of conduct for
their profession. A code of conduct is a list of how you should act in a moral manner. A list
of guidelines to make a decision. In the Netherlands, Even though we don’t have codes of
conducts for teachers that is sort of nationally implied there are quite a few countries that
do have codes of conduct also for teachers. So for example the associaton of American
educators has quite of a substantial list of guideline off how to engage in a moral manner
as a professional. So you might say, why do we need ethics when somebody else has
thought about how we should act morally and we have a list of things we should and
shouldn’t do and they are listed in the codes of conduct. So that is a good question.
FROM THE CODE OF CONDUCT
1. The professional educator strives to create a learning environment that nurtures
to fulfillment the potential of all students.
2. The professional educator deals considerately and justly with each student, and
seeks to resolve problems, including discipline, according to law and school policy.
3. The professional educator complies with written local school policies and
applicable laws and regulations that are not in conflict with this code of ethics.
The example I’m going to give you know, see how a code of conduct is never a single way
of telling you how to act out to solve a specific problem. To make that clear I’ve selected
three guidelines from the code of conduct from American educators. This is from a whole
list!
The first one selected is: The professional educator strives to create a learning
environment that nurtures to fulfillment the potential of all students. Sounds reasonable.
The second one is: The professional educator deals considerately and justly with each
student, and seeks to resolve problems, including discipline, according to law and school
policy. And thirdly: The professional educator complies with written local school policies
and applicable laws and regulations that are not in conflict with this code of ethics.
CASE STUDY 1: THE CHEATING STUDENT
These are just 3 elements of the code of conduct and what I want you to think about
now… and what I’m gonna do now is a really small thought experiment. And hopefully
you’ve seen in the book of wolf that tought experiments are a way of moral philosophers
to get to the core of a moral problem or to think about the repercussions of a moral
theory or to ask yourself: does this theory comply with my moral intuitions? Basically
thought experiments are ways to get you think about morality in a much more deeper
level.
Imagine that you’re a school teacher. And one off your students has a really important
scholarship coming up. It is a student from a lower social economic background and this
students has worked really hard for years and there is a great sports scholarship coming
up for the specific student. There is one precondition to get the scholarship (funding for
really good further education) and the precondition is that the student needs to have a
LECTURES
This paper document contains both English and Dutch lecture notes. Perhaps a bit late so
sorry... maybe useful for the last minute learners 😉. These are extensive notes, because
(almost) everything the teacher said during the lectures has been typed out. Also
included are the questions asked on the discussion board and the mock question.
Thanks for downloading and I hope that this document will help you out with studying.
A.
ETHICS IN CARE AND EDUCATION HC 1
Opzet van dit hoorcollege
, 1. Applied ethics
a. Why do we need ethics in care and education?
2. Meta-ethics
a. What is the nature of moral statements
b. How do we gain moral knowledge?
i. Relativism
ii. Subjectivism
3. Normative ethics
a. What is the right thing to do?
PART 1. APPLIED ETHICS / T OEGE PA STE ET HIE K
WHY DO WE NEED ETHICS IN CARE AND EDUCATION?
As I said the first part is going to be applied ethics. Im going to engage in now. We are
going to start with a simple question: why do we need this topic? Why do we need this
course? When you’re preparing in becoming a professional in care or education?
What is the reason we talk about ethics? Just to get you thinking about ethics.. I’ve
collected some of the news items from the last months or so during the corona crisis. And
these news items all really explicitly deal with moral issues in care and education. It’s not
something like.. sometimes philosophy has the, maybe the idea that something is really
abstract or theoretical or disengaged of the everyday practice of the professionals. I want
to make sure that from the beginning onwards that you feel like that is absolutely not the
case and that there is a sense of urgency in training yourself to become a moral
philosopher and training yourself to become a, you know, be aware off some major
ethical theories.
On the right hand side I’ve selected an news item that has to do with
proctoring. Proctoring is basically an online tool by which students
are being monitored when they do online exams. Some universities
in the Netherlands have been engaged in the idea of proctoring. And
that means that students taking large scales exams online, they
need to turn on their camera.. actually two camera’s or so and they
need to apply with certain conditions that have to do with proctoring.
And a lot of students are worried about their privacy when it comes to proctoring.
Below on the screen you can see a news item that says: when we made the turn to
distance learning.. a lot of students disappeared (not of the earth of course) but they
disappeared because their teachers couldn’t connect with them anymore online. They
weren’t able to come online, they weren’t able to go to the internet or they didn’t have a
room where they could quietly listen to lectures. So this is
also a problem. What do you do with students who are,
entitled to have education.. but when you turn to distance
learning or learning via online learning.. those students..
when they don’t have a safe place to learn for example what
is it that you do then?
Lately of course there is a lot of debate about the
vaccination program and there are a couple of
schools in the united states that have ordered
vaccines for students 12 years and up. Some
schools have said: we would like to oblige students
,to have a vaccine before they come into the school premises. So is this something we
would like to do? Is this something you can order students to do to get a vaccine? These
are all issues that come up with dealing with specifically education in times of corona and
they are explicitly moral issues. Because they have something to do with conflicting
values right? For example: the case of missing students in online education: it has to do
with safety versus the right of education. The proctoring news item has to do with the
notion of privacy on the one hand and notion of justice in getting an exam done in a
manner where students aren’t able to cheat so that is a case of justice. And in the case of
the schools in Los Angeles you have to think about the case off autonomy on the one
hand, the autonomy of the students being able to decide for themselves to take a
vaccine, and on the other hand the notion of safety. Students have the right of a safe
environment and maybe that a environment will be more safe when you oblige students
to get a vaccine.
All cases have to do with complex issues where you have sort of values that compete
with each other whereas you as a professional have to make a choice.
WHY ETHICS
This is something that professionals deal with pretty much every day. Some cases are
extraordinary and some cases are more common but it is something that you will have to
deal with.
- How do you deal with a pupil diagnosed with impulse control issues who benefits
from being in a classroom, but frequently disrupts the learning process of peers?
- How do you deal with parents protesting against ‘coming out day’ celebrations in
school?
- How should we regard expensive institutes offering shadow education in schools?
How do you sort of weigh the pros and cons of off deciding to put this specific student in
the classroom?
The type of example I’ve chosen are examples of the three levels, right. So the first level
off the first example is on the level of the classroom a moral dilemma. So that is an issue
that comes up with you with a client or anything like that. It is a smaller level issue.
The second example is on a level that’s a bit higher on the organization level. So how do
you deal with the specific issue from the organization of the educational institute you
work in?
The last example is more on the societal level. So it has to do with educational policies
that have to do with nationwide issues. So you can have moral dilemmas on classroom
level, policy and institutional level and national level. All those types of moral dilemmas
will discuss with each other. And these issues are really everyday dilemma’s for people
working in children’s care and education. They are ethical challenges: they have to do
with notions of equality, care, inclusion, respect, etc. And sometimes you can answer
these dilemma’s in an instrumental way. And by instrumental I mean, the way in which
we sometimes ask ourself: what is the most effective way to deal with this issue? So if
you’re struggling with a student who has ADHD or anything like that, how do you deal
with that? What are the best ways to engage with this student? This is more of an
instrumental question because It has to do with what is effective teaching strategies or
what are effective strategies of interacting with this client? This is an instrumental
approach we might say where the fundamental question behind this is: how to deal with
this effectively? This is a valid perspective but we have an another perspective in this
, course and this perspective is the ethical perspective. So what are the moral issues
behind it? What can we gain from theoretical insides? What are the concepts of values
behind this specific issue? It is a different type of perspective.
CODES OF CONDUCT
So some of you might say, yo know, we have as future professional we have codes of
conduct. So students who are doing orthopedagogiek they have a codes of conduct for
their profession. A code of conduct is a list of how you should act in a moral manner. A list
of guidelines to make a decision. In the Netherlands, Even though we don’t have codes of
conducts for teachers that is sort of nationally implied there are quite a few countries that
do have codes of conduct also for teachers. So for example the associaton of American
educators has quite of a substantial list of guideline off how to engage in a moral manner
as a professional. So you might say, why do we need ethics when somebody else has
thought about how we should act morally and we have a list of things we should and
shouldn’t do and they are listed in the codes of conduct. So that is a good question.
FROM THE CODE OF CONDUCT
1. The professional educator strives to create a learning environment that nurtures
to fulfillment the potential of all students.
2. The professional educator deals considerately and justly with each student, and
seeks to resolve problems, including discipline, according to law and school policy.
3. The professional educator complies with written local school policies and
applicable laws and regulations that are not in conflict with this code of ethics.
The example I’m going to give you know, see how a code of conduct is never a single way
of telling you how to act out to solve a specific problem. To make that clear I’ve selected
three guidelines from the code of conduct from American educators. This is from a whole
list!
The first one selected is: The professional educator strives to create a learning
environment that nurtures to fulfillment the potential of all students. Sounds reasonable.
The second one is: The professional educator deals considerately and justly with each
student, and seeks to resolve problems, including discipline, according to law and school
policy. And thirdly: The professional educator complies with written local school policies
and applicable laws and regulations that are not in conflict with this code of ethics.
CASE STUDY 1: THE CHEATING STUDENT
These are just 3 elements of the code of conduct and what I want you to think about
now… and what I’m gonna do now is a really small thought experiment. And hopefully
you’ve seen in the book of wolf that tought experiments are a way of moral philosophers
to get to the core of a moral problem or to think about the repercussions of a moral
theory or to ask yourself: does this theory comply with my moral intuitions? Basically
thought experiments are ways to get you think about morality in a much more deeper
level.
Imagine that you’re a school teacher. And one off your students has a really important
scholarship coming up. It is a student from a lower social economic background and this
students has worked really hard for years and there is a great sports scholarship coming
up for the specific student. There is one precondition to get the scholarship (funding for
really good further education) and the precondition is that the student needs to have a
