Integrity in Practice Reponses
Code of Conduct
As a beginning teacher, the code of conduct guides us and protects us on how our work is performed, our professional standards and how we conduct our professional working relationships with others. It is my responsibility to understand the standards, policies and producers and the legal obligations. I have a responsibility even when not on school properties to follow these codes every day.
Standard of Practice
I understand that the standards of practice run in congestion with the code of conduct and provides departmental employees further ethical guidance when implementing the codes, values, and standards of conduct to our daily work.
Professional Boundaries
It is my responsibility to have boundaries in place that separate my professional and personal life such as not having parents/ students on social media and interacting with students outside of work such as parties. This allows no room for misconduct or favouritism to be displayed.
Appropriate communications (social media/electronic communication)
As a beginning teacher I understand that it is not acceptable to have students on any social media accounts, while the student is attending the education system. When using social media, I need to ensure that posts do not contain any personal or confidential information about any students/ staff. Post made are not to be threatening, harassing, bullying, discriminatory towards anyone.
Conflict of Interest
I have the responsibility of ensuring any conflict of interest I have is reported and dealt with in accordance with the conflict-of-interest policy and procedures. When engaging with other employment, I must discuss with my principal.
Information management and security
As a beginning teacher I have the responsibility to protect and manage information that may be confidential or personal. To maintain security computers must be locked when away from it, printing must be printed while in attendance, emails must be sent to correct people and do not repeat information.
Gifts and benefits
When receiving gifts, it is important to see the reason behind the gift giving, I need to ensure that the gift isn’t being given to influence the support given to the child or their marks. However, any gifts of cash or convertible gifts to cash such as lottery tickets, shares etc need to be denied.
Ethical decision making
I understand as a beginning teacher I need to ensure all my decision making is ethical. When questioning if my decision is I can access the ethical decision-making model to help my decision.
Mandatory reporting
As a beginning teacher it is my responsibility and obligation to report suspected wrongdoing with duty of care and/or policies and procedures.
The Benefits and Uses of One School
As a beginning teacher one school can assist me in in meeting your administrative and organisational responsibilities by having one place to store student data. This is helpful as each student has their own profile/ dashboard where I can store and find all their personal information. This allows me to access information concerning their allergies, home life, communications between families, school admin etc in the one spot. This also includes all the student’s extra curriculum activities, the additional supports that may have been implemented and collects pervious data on all assessments and test that they have undertaken. Having access to this information allows for an easy organisation of the classroom, as any additional resources that may be needed to support the students can be accessed before they enter the environment.
Having the data collected and stored in one place allows for a practical viewing of development and improvement or decreases in learning results. However, this brings all the collected data together to show families if/when asked about the students results in school. This also allows for teachers to access and see communications from other classes. By having the student’s personal data stored in the one area, it allows the students marks, communications, supports, interventions and other data to follow them through school.
Professional Engagement – Department of Education
As a beginning teacher the key understandings I took from the Department of Education presentation were that there are multiple settings all around Queensland that you can be employed at under them, they provide a lot of additional support for their beginning teachers as they start their journey into the industry and that they are open about everything needed to successful get employed.
These insights were critical to decision in my future career. As they have multiple settings categized under them such as schools, state delivered Kindy, and schools of distance education. It gives me an opportunity to explore multiple settings under the one employment. The information given gives me confidence in being supported in my journey if I get employment with Queensland Education. They offer centre for learning and wellbeing, teacher learning centre, beginning teacher induction conferences, learning suite, mentoring, and networking events. The presentation was informative about the employment process needed and the steps involved. Throughout the presentation they went over tips to ensure employment and this has helped my decision as they other additional information to beginning teachers tat may be confused about the process. After watching this presentation, I have decided a career in education is what I want to do.
Career Readiness – Strategies to Survive and Thrive in your first year of teaching
The strategies described in the presentation Strategies to Survive and Thrive in your first year of teaching are a combination of both direct action and palliative copying, while avoiding copying strategies from avoidance. In the first year of teaching, I will apply strategies such as asking questions/researching if I need to know something, ensuring myself its okay not to know everything straight away and making mistakes are okay as long as I use them as a learning tool. Accepting and seeking assistance from colleagues and other available supports, ensuring that I make personal connections with others inside and outside the work environment. Getting involved in the community and critically reflecting on issues that might arise. Another strategy I will be applying is looking after myself by setting boundaries for work/life balance. This will ensure that I am looking after my own health and wellbeing. Taking victories, no matter the size of them and talking positively to myself. Another will be depersonalizing things that may have occurred and trying to see the funny side of things later on after it has occurred. By applying these strategies together, I can ensure I cope in a positive way through my first year of teaching.
