Faculty of Education

Assessment Task Cover Sheet

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Assessment received:

Unit Co-ord./Lecturer Paul Cutler

Tutor:(if applicable) Paul Cutler
Student ID 183159
Student Name Xu Han
Unit Code

EMT 602

Unit Name Ethics, Education and Professional Practice

Assessment Task
AT 2 Take home exam
Title/Number
Word Count 2273
I declare that all material in this assessment task is my own work except where there is clear acknowledgement or reference
to the work of others and I have complied and agreed to the University statement on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity on
the University website at www.utas.edu.au/plagiarism *

Signed

Xu Han

Date 31/05/2015

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EMT602 - Ethics, Education & Professional Practice

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Student ID No: 183159

UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA
EXAMINATIONS FOR DEGREES AND DIPLOMAS
May 2015

EMT602
Ethics, Education and Professional Practice
First and Only Paper

Examiner: Paul Cutler

Time Allowed:
From when the exam is released at 6pm
on Tuesday 26th May, 2015
until the submission time of
11.59pm Sunday 31st May, 2015.

Instructions:
Attempt ONE (1) question from each section.
The questions in sections A and B are worth 30% each, and the question answered in
section C is worth 40%. You should not use more than 2500 words in total in responding
to the three questions.
The completed exam paper is to be submitted (as a single file) to your Dropbox by
11.59pm Sunday 31st May, 2015.

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EMT602 - Ethics, Education & Professional Practice

Page 3 of 12

[Use the appropriate formatting (see Assignment Template under My Links on your
MyLO site) and include the cover sheet with your returned paper.]

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SECTION A ETHICAL DECISION MAKING

Question 1 (Suggested word length; not more than 700 words. Marking weight; 30%)
In this scenario, the Principal stated clearly, right before the test, that he expects
an improvement in scores and they need to do whatever necessary to ensure positive
results. Mr. Ben acted accordingly to meet the Principals expectation and obviously, he
considered his actions as necessary and acceptable. However, Mr. Allan thinks that it is a
violation of his moral principles but he also hesitates to go against the schools decision
(made by the Principal). If he does, he will be the one that breaks the unspeakable
agreement made within the school community. At the same time, he feels himself is
under obligation to keep the exam results reliable.
Mr. Ben thinks he is right because, firstly, the Principal his boss implied him to
do so; secondly, doing this could ensure positive exam results. This, from the view of
ethical egoism, is ethically right because the consequences of his action are more
favorable and everyone (the school Principal, the student, parents and therefore himself)
would be happy. For Mr. Ben, what it matters is if or not the consequences of his action
would benefit him, which, in this case, his boss will be happy with him. The Principal
expects good exam results probably because he thinks that this result will benefit more
people, for example, the school might get a good reputation and get more enrolment and
funding, which will benefit the whole school. This, from the view of Utilitarianism, is
morally right because this action will produce the greatest benefits and the least harm - if
no one knows. Mr. Allan feels Mr. Bens action is morally wrong because Mr. Allans
intention was wrong helping students cheating regardless of good consequences that
might benefit more people in the big picture. By Deontological reasoning, he is morally
right. In addition, from the view of the Social contract model, Mr. Allan would do what

this society expects a teacher to do not according to what the Principal wants him to do
and thats another reason he was struggling with making it right.
Options left to Mr. Allan are tough. He can keep quiet and let it go. He might can
also tell himself that he alone cannot do much to change the situation and he just earn a
living. However, he might suffer from his own guilt. He can also go and talk to the
Principal about his thoughts and feelings. If this does not change anything, he can report
this matter but he might calculate his loss before he goes further to report this matter
Ethical Egoism.
To discuss what is the most ethically appropriate response, the examination of
the purpose of NPLAN is necessary. NAPLAN aims to assess students progress in
literacy and numeracy and provides data and information to schools, teachers, parents
and students (ACARA, 2013). If the test fails to provide reliable data, these parties will
be unable to act accordingly. A beautiful but false exam results may bring some benefits.
However, it might also be harmful. For example, the students with reading difficulties
would not get enough attention because they have improved and the students who have
higher abilities might get lower marks in this test because they did not get help and
consequently, they would feel being treated unfairly and become less motivated.
Decision makers value would expert a strong impact on teachers and students. Students
would not be so stressed if schools and teachers would not take the test as a competition.
Mr. Allan was right because instinctively his value is formed based on what this society
expects teachers to act (social contract). However, working in a small community within
the school, he developed some uncertainties on his value and he does not know which
value he should follow. Suggestions for Mr. Allan is to think what kind of people he

wants to be, what ethical and professional principles that he should adhere to as a
teacher and most importantly, what kind of models he wants to set for his students.
SECTION B DUTY OF CARE &
NEGLIGENCE
Question 2 (Suggested word length; not more than 700 words. Marking weight; 30%)
In this case, the teacher and the school are the main responsible parties of this
matter. The father with those two brothers as the only adult in the group might also be
responsible to this tragedy. In scenario description, it says the students older brother
(15 years old) was selected to accompany him (his younger brother) on the hike.
Information remains unknown is that by whom this older brother was selected and how
the school describe this persons duty while promoting the event. If the school states the
purpose of the presence of family members is to have an opportunity to take part of
students school event and the school also permitted the older brother to come, then it is
understandable that the parents of the brothers expect that the school will take care of
them. Therefore, if it is the case, the parents would not be sustained a charge of
negligence. For the father in that group, he, along with his son and two brothers, left the
big group for unclear reason. The question here is that whether or not he notified his
leave to the teacher in charge? If the teacher was notified and allowed them to leave the
main group, the teachers action might contribute to their exposure to possible risks. The
situation when they decided to cross a flooded tributary of the creek on a log crossing is
unclear. Therefore, we do not know is that the only option for them. If this is the best
option for them at that moment, the father cannot be sustained a charge of negligence.
However, if he made the decision without careful thinking and then caused the tragedy,
he can be blamed for his negligence.

On the other hand, as we discussed briefly above, the fact that older brother was
selected and allowed to participate in the hike shows that the school will be the
responsible party for their safety because no one would expect a 15-year-old boy can be
responsible for that. There is no information regarding if the teacher reported to the
school once she made the decision to leave the campsite. If she did notify the school of
the situation, then the next question is what instructions or suggestions the school gave
to her at that moment. According to the text, the school had a policy, in relation to
missing group, of waiting 24 hours before contacting emergency service. The missing
information is that whether or not there is an exceptional situation or certain procedures
for extreme situations such as unexpected natural hazard. It is also important to know
whether or not the Bureau of Meteorology had already issued the hazard warning before
the hike group set off. If the Bureau of Meteorology had already done that, a charge of
negligence could be sustained against the school because as the organizer, it is its
responsibility to take the weather condition into consideration. If the school failed to
respond to the weather forecast, it could be sustained the charge of negligence.
In a school event, there always is a legal duty of care that lies upon the teacher.
Apart from points that has been discussed above, the small group left early on Saturday
morning and the teacher did not report to any emergency services until Sunday afternoon
2.40pm, which is later than schools policy 24-hour waiting. If the teacher could notify
local emergency services earlier, the tragedy could be prevented. When the main group
left the campsite, no message left to the missing group. Anyone would leave any forms
of message to the small group just using their common sense because this would be the
first place to go after coming back. It is foreseeable that they might get lost again
without any information of the direction the main group was heading. Clearly, the

teachers failure to response to the foreseeable risk contribute directly to the harm
occurred. It is definitely the breach of her duty of care.

SECTION C EDUCATION ETHICS & VALUES

Attempt only ONE (1) question from section C. (Suggested word length; not more than
1000 words. Marking weight; 40%)
Question 3
To find out what values, attributes or dispositions that a teacher ought to
cultivate, the easiest way is to just cultivate what authority considers as the most
important values such as AITSL Australian Professional Standards for Teachers or Code
of Professional Ethics for the Teaching Profession in Tasmania. The former one is part of
requirement for teacher registration and the later one is a professional commitment as
educators including dignity, respect, integrity, empathy and justice (TRB, 2006).
However, these standards or guideline documents cannot cover every situation. What
teachers values lie when the situation is not included in these documents? Another
concern is that if following the authority is the rule here, in the scenario presented in the
question 1, Mr. Bens action is acceptable because his action is in accordance with the
expectation of the school Principal. Therefore, the important values teachers should hold
is the ones that the society agrees that are good for the most people. However, different
countries, religions or even communities own different values. For example, some areas
in this world still think boys are better than girls in general and it is a waste sending girls
to schools. As a teacher, should he/she accept it? In such situation, the principle could
lead teachers to do the right thing is to adhere to universal principles such as equal rights
and respects (Norman, 1983). This is not saying that the current professional standards
for teachers or code of conduct are conflict with or inferior to universal principles. As
the discussion above, there would be expected situations not covered in those documents
and ethical decisions have to be made by teachers based on their models of reasoning.

Back to the discussion at the beginning of this essay, one can start from
answering the question of what values one should hold as a human being and what kind
of values you as an educator want your students to hold because teachers have a huge
influence on students moral development. The first one I could think of is being
respectful. It is very important for a teacher to be respectful, especially in the social
context nowadays; people in one community might come from different background in
terms of culture, religion or education. This means students in one classroom might have
different traditions, beliefs and abilities. The teacher should accept and respect these
differences and take one step further, to promote the appreciation of differences in
his/her classroom to make an impact on students value formation (Ashman, 2015).
Being able to be a respectful teacher requires the sense of empathy understanding
other peoples feelings. An example I heard from one teacher that in her classroom they
celebrate each students birthday but there is one girl who refuses to do so because she
never had a birthday party before and in her culture, they do not celebrate birthday. This
teacher tried to be inclusive by convincing her to join the big group but she failed. She
told me this story as an example showing how hard to be an inclusive teacher. However,
one point she missed is that, in fact, what she has done is to force others to accept her
traditions and she did not realize that acceptance and being respectful is the first step
towards building up an inclusive classroom. It is fine if a person never celebrate his/her
birthday and this can also be a very good teaching opportunity for teacher to promote
acceptance of difference in the classroom. For instance, the teacher can lead a discussion
about what kind of important date students celebrate and what the most important date
for each student.

The classroom is a small society for students so being fair is a very important
disposition of teachers. They form views and values about this world through interaction
with teachers and classmates (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2010). The teacher as the authority
figure to students at their early age (the first one would be parents) has a huge influence
on students value formation. If the teacher is unfair or fails to maintain rules, students
will feel mistreated and then grow up with distrust of rules or being rebellious to the
authority (Brennan-Kemmis & Smith, 2006). With the respect to each individual, it is
easy to understand why being fair is necessary because everyone deserves to be treat
fairly regardless their nationalities, religions, sex and so on. However, teachers are
human beings after all and they do have personal preference. Therefore, teachers need to
beware of that and reflect on themselves constantly.
Being reflective and a critical thinker would ensure teachers do the right thing
even there is no policies or law regulates it or when there is a conflict. These two
attributes can also make a teacher a self-learner examine his/her own action, then
overcome their own weaknesses and perfect himself/herself. Finally, integrity and
courage are essential when teachers are facing ethical dilemmas and when they
recognise conflicts, he/she will need have the courage to stand up for his/her own values
and act accordingly.

Reference
ACARA (2013). NPLAN: National assessment program. Retrieved from
http://www.nap.edu.au/verve/_resources/Acara_NAPLAN_Infographic(V4-2).pdf
Ashman, A. (2015). Education for inclusion and diversity. Melbourne: Pearson
Australia.
Brennan-Kemmis, R., & Smith, E. (2006). Equity and diversity considerations:
Different contexts, different learners. Wagga Wagga: Charles Sturt University.
Kail, R. V., & Cavanaugh, J. C. (2010). Human development: a lifespan view. Belmont:
Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Norman, R. (1983). The moral philosophers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
TRB. (2006). Code of professional ethics for the teaching profession in Tasmania.
Retrieved from https://www.trb.tas.gov.au/Shared%20Documents/Code%20