Comparing James Arthur's 'Legal And Ethical Responsibilities'

Legal and ethical issues create one of the greatest dilemmas for teachers. Because many teachers enter the teaching profession to make a difference in students’ lives, they will inflict their morals and ethics upon students. Teachers will also encounter situations where a law or regulation conflicts with a teacher’s personal values and wonder what to do. James Arthur attempts to help explain to teachers the line between morals and the law and how to handle such situations in his article, Your Legal and Ethical Responsibilities.

Topic/theme

This article focus on the ethics and legal aspect of teaching. Every teacher attains their own idea of ethics and will ultimately apply them to their students. Because teachers strive to inspire and help

Also, many teachers question how much of their own personal values to incorporate in their students without distorting a student’s ability to make personal decisions. This article attempts to distinguish the terms legal and ethical and advise teachers on how to infuse their ethics without violating legal codes.

Demographics

Arthur concentrates the legal factors of his article on English law. For example, he utilizes the General Teaching Council for England’s Code of Professional Values and Practices, and loco parentis, which is English common law, as the legal reference for his article. Although laws differ from countries, the overall idea about knowing and understanding the law of the area taught is universally applied.

Instructional Strategy Used

A basic strategy for teachers to follow if they are concerned about legal issues is to follow the law first. The article defines statutory and the non-statutory frameworks. Statutory refers to “a written law passed by a properly constituted authority” while non-statutory refers to school policies. Usually school policies will not interfere with statutory laws, but prioritizing constitutional and federal laws before school policy is