NAEYC Code Of Ethics Essay

After reading a story in my local newspaper about a Spanish teacher taking inappropriate pictures of females in the school he taught at, I must ask the question how can every educational environment assure all students are safe from any violation as this at all times? What can the educational system, law enforcement, as well as stronger legislation do to protect our children against abuse and/ or negligence. As the article reports, this teacher was caught with inappropriate pictures of females on his iPad. He was immediately suspended, although with pay pending investigation, was charged with 14 counts of invasion of privacy and put in jail with a 10,000-bail sentence (Kohut, 2018). Unfortunately, this is not an isolated situation. In fact,

it is quite a common thing to hear of teachers having inappropriate contact of some sort with their students of all ages.
How can a code of ethical conduct prevent or help in a situation as this?

The NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct was designed to serve as a framework to guide teachers through ideals and principles that support ethical behavior. Such as Ideal 1-1.5 which states that it is a teacher’s responsibility to ensure a safe and healthy setting that fosters children’s social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development as well as respect for their dignity and individualism (NAEYC, 2011). Likewise, principles 1.8-1.11 all speak to our professional responsibility to report any type of suspected abuse or suspicious activity that could jeopardizes the health, safety, and welfare of a child (NAEYC, 2011). According to the article, these photos were found by a student who was using the teacher’s iPad to work on an assigned project (Kohut, 2018). The student immediately understood the seriousness of the situation and reported it to the school’s administration. Although, this is not in an early childhood setting and it was not reported by a professional, the code clearly offers an objective resolution to this kind of situation. Such as, P. 1.8 suggests that as a professional you should with familiar with the warning signs that demonstrates any form of child abuse as well as report said abuse to the proper authorities and follow all state laws (NAEYC,

2011).
As a result of reading this article, I appreciated how the writer was respectful of the victims and used objectionable language throughout the story. However, news like this honestly makes me feel sickened. It is difficult thinking about people who want to harm children in this manner. Therefore, going through NAEYC’s Code has proven useful when reading through scenarios such as this because it gives perspective to how a professional is to handle themselves in a similar situation. Even in less than serious circumstances, the Code is proven useful to assist teachers in an objectionable way through various problems that might arise as they care for children.