Ethics in the Teaching Profession: A Practical Approach to Teachers’ Professionalism

Abstract

In our present time, ethics in teacher education plays an important role in the teaching and learning process. In the school context, both teachers and learners need to feel safe in order to learn meaningfully and achieve their dreams. As such, creation of the positive and inclusive school environments is important. Building an effective school culture is essential to teachers as well as to the students. Strengthening the teacher-students relationship offers opportunity for both students and teachers to aspire and achieve their great goals. In this way, teachers will teach effectively; learners will learn well in the school that is safe and that which promotes the practice of the ethical standards. For a successful teaching and learning to take place in school contexts, ethics and its standards need to be considered and improved. To achieve that, how the school and classrooms are organized is fundamental, this paper presents evidence from literature on the significance of ethics and its standards that teachers and other education stakeholders in Tanzania can learn in order to promote teacher professionalism and effective academic performance in school organizations in Tanzania. It also discusses the prevailing teachers’ professional misconducts in Tanzanian schools that have affected the learning outcomes. Furthermore, the paper highlights strategies that could be used by school organization to ensure that the school organizations observe and encourage the development of teaching professionalism for the improved learning and organizational outcomes.

Keywords

• ethical conducts
• ethical behaviour
• ethics in the teaching profession
• professional ethics for teachers
• ethics and academic performance