Week 28 / Activity 4: Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

Week 28 - Influence of Law & Ethics in Practice

After reading through some of the other students responses, I sense and feel tnat Seesaw is a tpical issue to explore through the lense of ethics. 
I will be addressing ethic around ‘care’ and some ‘grey’ areas around family digital contact and journal. “making moral decisions was a daily activity for teachers, and that teaching was a moral exercise as it was essentially linked to being in a relationship with others” (Ehrich, Kimber, Millwater & Cranston, 2011, p. 175)

Rolfe et al.’s (2001) reflective model

Step 1 (What): 
2018 has seen our school adopt Seesaw. Whilst this is aimed at increasing the number of interactions between families and school it does raise some issues. 
Families who aren't able to access the app
Are children yet cyber safe?
What will the interactions be like?
Will it increase the variance between families?
e.g. the families who are more proactive, will it cause a negative impact on the children whose families are less active?
Part of our code as educators is promoting the wellbeing of our learners and protect them from any possible harm, being physical or emotional (Education Council, 2017).
Thinking through the questions posed....can I honestly say I am doing that.....protecting them from any harm?
It is adding to the workload, having to scroll through the in box and reading the responses and posts from other children and the adult community?


Step 2 (So What): 
Some of the  competing forces within this ethical dilemma include:
organisational culture
professional ethic
legal issues
policies - school
team expectations 
society
community
Co Teachers
My personal beliefs
Personal Values  

Welcome Bay School has an open door policy and we have actively communicated to our community via Facebook. This has had pleasing results. This term the school moved into see saw, which saw learners given a code to share with family members to connect to the journals. The family can share with who ever they like as long as it is not on social media platforms and they cannot re-share items onto platforms. Our community shares our values, including the use of technology as a sharing tool. Parents enjoy seeing what their child has achieved.
Because the shift into see saw has been so quick, have we laid a united expectation  of what should and or can be issued online?
Does the enrolment form when children enrol cover seesaw, as its a closed community?
If families share the code outside of the expected area, how can we monitor and check this?


Step 3 (Now What): 
Therefore after reading through others blogs, I see we as a school must quickly clarify what the expectation is for the new platform as otherwise it can result in a grey are which will cause friction within the staff and or community. In the Code of Professional Responsibility, it states that teachers have both a commitment to the children and keeping them safe but also to families and engaging them in their child’s learning (Education Council, 2017). Therefore in understanding this the next steps will be to inform both staff and the community what would be an appropriate and consistent or appropriate details to post on line


References

Education Council. (2017). Our Code Our Standards. Retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/file...

Ehrich, L. C. , Kimber M., Millwater, J. & Cranston, N. (2011). Ethical dilemmas: a model to understand teacher practice, Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 17:2, 173-185, DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2011.539794

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001) Critical reflection in nursing and the
helping professions: a user’s guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

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