Professionalism in Teaching in Aotearoa New Zealand

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes
1. Critically discuss what it means to be a member of the teaching profession in Aotearoa and how to engage in professional, respectful and collaborative relationships.
2. Examine teaching responsibilities under statutory, regulatory and professional requirements and apply these to teaching practice situations.

Your tasks 
Part 1: What it means to be a teacher in Aotearoa New Zealand – 40 marks
For questions a. and b. of Part 1, please choose one of the following Standards for the Teaching Profession in Aotearoa New Zealand:

Identify at least one statutory or regulatory requirement and one professional requirement that underpin the Standard you have chosen and explain how these requirements inform this Standard.
(Statutory, regulatory and professional requirements may include but are not limited to: The Education Act 1989, Human Rights Act, te Tiriti o Waitangi, Te Wh?riki and The New Zealand Curriculum.) (10 Marks) Word limit guide: 250–300 words
b. Explain how the standard you have chosen connects with each of the four commitments in the Code for Professional Responsibility.
(10 Marks) Word limit guide: 350 – 400 words

c. Being a teacher in Aotearoa New Zealand requires engaging in professional, respectful and collaborative relationships.
Critically discuss how you intend to do this in your practice by:
describing the specific actions you will take to engage in professional, respectful and collaborative relationships explaining how these actions will contribute to your meeting the Standards for the Teaching Profession referring to at least two key sources of guidance (in addition to Our Code Our Standards: Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession) to support your discussion.

Note: relationships may refer to learner, wh?nau, society/iwi, colleagues and the wider teaching profession. (20 Marks)

Part 2: Teaching practice case study – 60 marks
Read the Case Study relating to your sector and complete the tasks that follow.
a. Using the Aotearoa New Zealand Code of Professional Responsibility:
Examples in Practice (as cited in your course materials), identify three key issues this case study raises in relation to specific commitments from the code. Consider both the immediate issues as well as potential issues and risks. (15 Marks) Word limit guide: 500–550 words
b. Discuss the teacher’s perspective on the issues you have identified and any possible justification for the teacher’s actions. (10 Marks) Word limit guide: 200–250 words
c. Discuss different ways the teacher’s actions could be perceived by others (consider learners, wh?nau, society, the teaching profession and
government agencies such as the Ministry of Education). (10 Marks) Word limit guide: 250–300 words
d. Recommend responses or actions that would lead to a positive outcome, including measures the teacher could have taken to prevent the situation from occurring in the first place. Reference key sources of guidance to support your recommendation such as legislation, professional standards and guidelines.

Your tasks

Case Study 1 – Early Childhood Education
Alex is a 32 year old ECE teacher. She’s been working in ECE for 10 years and is well respected at her centre. The children love her and her colleagues admire the way she is always willing to do extra to engage the children. Recently, a two year old boy named Mikaere, covered himself completely in paint during a potato printing session. Alex and the other teacher supervising the activity agreed that the boy would need a shower to get cleaned up. As here were seven other children who were still printing, it was agreed that Alex would take Mikaere to the shower while the other teacher would supervise the remaining children. So that’s what Alex did.

After the shower, Alex returned Mikaere to the supervision of her colleague where he happily sat and ate afternoon tea with the other children.
When the boy’s mother heard what had happened, she was horrified that a teacher had showered her son without another adult around. While she made her concerns known to the teachers at the time, she then went home and posted a very angry post on Facebook where she named both the centre and Alex. Some of Alex’s friends saw the post and told Alex about it. Alex was mortified and, as the post was shared publicly, she attempted to explain the situation on the parent’s Facebook page. The exchange became extremely heated. The situation was further inflamed by a comment noting that some of the teachers at the centre did not pronounce Mikaere’s name correctly. Several parents weighed in with remarks criticising the centre’s lack of cultural awareness.

The following day, Mikaere’s mum laid a formal complaint about Alex with the centre manager and threatened to get the media involved.

Case Study 2 – Primary Education Simone is a 24 year old primary teacher.

She is employed in a small primary school of around 200 learners and is currently a Year 6 teacher who coteaches in a modern learning environment with another teacher, as well as the school’s ICT lead teacher. She loves ICT and is keen for her learners to engage with it whenever they can. Simone is always friendly with parents, children and other staff.

Earlier this year, some of her learners asked her be ‘friends’ on Facebook. She accepted their offer and set up a small group on Facebook called the Rockstars for them to chat about school and class.
One of the children in the group posted that they should have a shared picnic lunch to celebrate the end of term. At the lunch, a girl told Simone she’d like to say a karakia before they all ate. Simone gently told her that at home that’s totally fine but because this is not a religious school, perhaps she could just say it quietly to herself.

Part 1: What it means to be a teacher in Aotearoa New Zealand – 40 marks

The Facebook group remained active over the coming weeks and Simone and the learners began chatting more and more. Simone learned that one of the boys, Oliver, was having a hard time at home.

The next day, Simone suggested that Oliver stay after school so that they could talk about what was happening. Oliver agreed, but told Simone he didn’t want her to tell anyone else about what was happening. Simone decided that, in order to protect Oliver’s privacy, they should go into the small office next to Simone’s classroom. Almost immediately, Oliver began to cry so Simone gave him a hug. They talked for a while and Simone tried to offer support to Oliver.

After Simone finished speaking with Oliver, they left the office. Oliver’s mother happened to arrive at school just as they were leaving the office and observed Oliver hugging Simone. She was aware that her son was friends with Simone on Facebook and was concerned about what she has just seen. The next day she requested a meeting with the school principal.

Case Study 3 – Secondary Education
Colin is a 52 year old science teacher at a large co-educational high school. He is a provisionally registered teacher who came to teaching later in life and who has a great passion for helping young people succeed and get excited about chemistry. The loud bangs, applause and smiling learners wearing safety glasses appear to suggest he’s succeeding.

As well as teaching science, Colin also manages the debating team, which consists of two Year 13 girls and two Year 13 boys. One of the girls from the debating team, Helen, is also in Colin’s Year 13 Chemistry class. The debating team often had to travel away to compete so Colin exchanged his cell phone number with the team so that they could coordinate their travel arrangements. It was also getting near to exams, so sometimes Helen used Colin’s cell phone number to check on things relating to the Chemistry class.

At debating practice, Colin could see the team was not performing and quietly told them that unless they worked a lot harder, it was unlikely they’d do very well in the upcoming competition. The learners knew Colin was right and were unhappy to have disappointed him.
Maybe we could fit in an extra practice this week when that function’s on?’ said one of the boys.

Part 2: Teaching practice case study – 60 marks

‘You mean during the p?whiri for the new deputy principal?’ replied Helen.
‘Yeah,’ the boy said.
‘I don’t think they’ll miss us but probably don’t advertise your absence,’ said Colin, ‘Meet me in 311 after interval’.
Later that night, when Colin was at a friend’s for dinner, he received a text from Helen saying how much she wanted Colin to be proud of her and the team, that his opinion meant everything to her. Slightly inebriated and chatting with his friends, Colin distractedly responded to Helen’s text with, ‘Aww, you’re gorgeous – don’t worry, you and the team will do great.’

After the competition, Colin dropped the learners home. Helen was the last to be dropped off and when Helen’s father looked out the window, he saw Helen sitting in a car, chatting with Colin. He also observed Colin touching Helen’s arm. Helen’s father felt concerned about what he saw.

Three days later, when Helen’s father saw a photo of Colin marking some assignments on Helen’s Instagram page captioned ‘My chemist’, he immediately contacted the school principal. Colin reassured the principal that nothing was going on, he had no knowledge of the Instagram photo and was just dropping Helen at home and talking about the Chemistry exam when Helen’s father saw them. However, he did acknowledge that he and Helen had been texting each other a number of times over the past few months.  

Part 1: What it means to be a teacher in Aotearoa New Zealand 40 1000-1300
Part 1, Question a
The statutory/regulatory requirement and professional requirement selected are appropriate to the Standard chosen.
The connection between the standard and each of the chosen requirements is clearly explained.
The explanation is supported by relevant examples from Our Code Our Standards: Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession and relevant citations from the underpinning requirements selected. 10 250-300

Part 1, Question b
The connection between the Standard and each of the four Code for Professional Responsibility commitments are clearly explained. 
The explanation is supported by relevant examples from Our Code Our Standards: Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession and Code for Professional Responsibility: Examples in Practice.

Part 1, Question c
The specific actions the teacher will take to engage in professional, respectful and collaborative relationships are described.
At least two of the following relationships are considered: the relationship with the learner, wh?nau, society/iwi,colleagues and the wider teaching profession.
An explanation is given that clearly shows how these actions will contribute to the teacher’s meeting of the Standards for the Teaching Profession supported by examples from Our Code Our Standards: Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession.
The discussion demonstrates evidence of wider reading and is supported by references from at least two key sources other than Our Code Our Standards: Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession.

Part 2: Teaching practice case study 50 1500-1700
Part 2, Question a
Three issues are identified from the case study in relation to Code of Professional Responsibility: Examples in Practice.
The response demonstrates an awareness of both the immediate issues as well as potential future issues and risks A clear connection is established between each issue and a specific commitment of the Code of Professional Responsibility. Relevant citations from the Code of Professional Responsibility: Examples in Practice support the response. 15 500-550

Part 2, Question b
The discussion presents how the teacher would likely view each of the issues in the case study.
The discussion includes consideration of any factors in the case study that may have lead the teacher to act as he/she did and hold his/her view of events

Part 2, Question c
The response discusses how at least two other parties might perceive the actions of the teacher (learners, wh?nau, society, the teaching profession and government agencies such as the Ministry of Education).
The perceptions of the teacher’s actions are accompanied by at least one reason why the other party may hold this view. 10 250-300

Part 2, Question d
Recommendations clearly articulate actions that would remedy the current situation and focus on how to prevent this or a similar situation from occurring.
The recommendations provided are appropriate and practical to the learning environment in the case study.
Key sources of guidance are referenced to support the recommendation such as legislation, professional standards and guidelines. 15 550-600
Style, presentation and reference 10 N/A

The assignment is within 10% of the word limit guideline.
Correct grammar and sentence structure.
Correct spelling and punctuation.
Clear and structured writing.
Supporting information and corresponding sources are consistently cited within the text.
A reference list in APA format is provided for all reference materials cited.