7.1 Meet codes of ethics and conduct established by regulatory authorities, systems and schools
Evidence: 1A, 7C
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Professionalism in conduct and ethics is of paramount importance in teaching as it establishes education as an important and respectable enterprise. In doing so, it highlights the intrinsic value of education to students and the community. As a teacher, I establish my professionalism by taking measures such as maintaining professional dress; communicating with staff, students, parents and the wider-community in a professional tone, including electronic communication such as email with parents; developing working relationships with students based upon strong rapport with professional boundaries (for instance meeting in public spaces and leaving the class door open and the room available to all students during breaks when I am available). In addition, I ensure student data, and this portfolio evidence, is de-identified to maintain anonymity of those individuals discussed. Furthermore, I have continually annotated both my reflections and teaching programmes with accurate references giving credit to the sources, teaching colleagues, journal articles and books that I have drawn from (see the reference and resource list in my Visual Literacy Unit) and in doing so emphasised the importance of respecting others intellectual property as well as the importance of collaboration with peers.
7.2 Understand the implications of and comply with relevant legislative, administrative, organisational and professional requirements, policies and processes.
Evidence: 5D, 7C
As a teacher I am required to comply with relevant legislative, administrative, organisational and professional requirements. I understand that failure to comply with any such requirements will have implications ranging from an interview with executive staff to termination from employment and/or the ineligibility to teach.
Firstly, I am required to hold adequate tertiary qualifications to teach (Bachelor of Psychology – Masters in Primary Education with a Graduate Certificate in Religious Education), I am required to hold a Working With Vulnerable People card (renewed every 3 years) and be a registered member of the Teacher Quality Institute (renewed annually). To keep my registration with the TQI I am required to complete and reflect on at least 20 hours of Professional Learning each calendar year. Furthermore, in my day to day role as a teacher I am also bound by mandatory reporting requirements and all school-based policy documents must be read and referred to where required. With respect to these requirements I have completed workplace and child safety courses to ensure my understanding of professional requirements, policies and processes are up to date, and have subsequently complied with legislative and professional requirements by confidentially reporting issues and incidents to executive staff to ensure the safety and well-being of students. Finally, in addition to maintaining a professional relationship with all staff, students, parents and school stakeholders, I also adhere to further job requirements including ethical and responsible use of ICT, completing risk assessments for an inter-state excursion, seeking parental permission for student excursions, maintaining accurate rolls, consistently and clearly marking student work and accurately recording in-class and standardised assessment data for reporting and school records.
Firstly, I am required to hold adequate tertiary qualifications to teach (Bachelor of Psychology – Masters in Primary Education with a Graduate Certificate in Religious Education), I am required to hold a Working With Vulnerable People card (renewed every 3 years) and be a registered member of the Teacher Quality Institute (renewed annually). To keep my registration with the TQI I am required to complete and reflect on at least 20 hours of Professional Learning each calendar year. Furthermore, in my day to day role as a teacher I am also bound by mandatory reporting requirements and all school-based policy documents must be read and referred to where required. With respect to these requirements I have completed workplace and child safety courses to ensure my understanding of professional requirements, policies and processes are up to date, and have subsequently complied with legislative and professional requirements by confidentially reporting issues and incidents to executive staff to ensure the safety and well-being of students. Finally, in addition to maintaining a professional relationship with all staff, students, parents and school stakeholders, I also adhere to further job requirements including ethical and responsible use of ICT, completing risk assessments for an inter-state excursion, seeking parental permission for student excursions, maintaining accurate rolls, consistently and clearly marking student work and accurately recording in-class and standardised assessment data for reporting and school records.
7.3 Establish and maintain respectful collaborative relationships with parents/carers regarding their children's learning and well-being
Evidence: 7C, 6D
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As a classroom teacher I have established and maintained collaborative relationships with parents of students. For instance, with regards to two students on independent behaviour and engagement plans, I have consistently provided feedback regarding the engagement, well-being and subsequent learning of students. Similarly, after co-creating and highlighting learning goals with students and parents during three way conversations I have been in frequent contact with parents regarding their child’s progress; for instance, I had the privilege of calling student D’s parents to inform them of their child’s progress and effort towards accomplishing her set goals and subsequently outline at home strategies to assist in the revised learning goals. Furthermore, after being introduced to a new student at the beginning of third term, I became aware of his social anxieties and was able to collaborate with parents and the staff social skills worker to support his inclusion, ensure his well-being and ultimately improve his learning outcomes.
7.4 Participate in professional and community networks and forums to broaden knowledge and improve practice
Evidence: 1D, 5C, 5E
I constantly strive to broaden my knowledge and improve my practice as a teacher by collaborating with others. Having only recently moved to Canberra, I relished the opportunity to participate in beginning teacher induction and training days so as to develop professional networks and improve my practice. After attending and reflecting on these days, not only had I improved my teaching practice through collaboration with peers, but I was also able to draw on the networks I had created to access resources for and seek advice regarding my practice and teaching. In addition, I have joined early career teaching networks (such as Teaching Resources, teaching ideas and teacherspayteachers) to share ideas, collaborate and support one another, subscribed to newsletters from TES Education and ACARA, and follow an educational feed from TEDtalks. Furthermore, I continue to share resources with other educators through networks I established in NSW and my post-graduate teaching degree.
Indeed, by collaborating with others I am continually provided with opportunities to share, learn, and improve my practice whilst also sparking creativity and highlighting ideas that could further engage learners and evoke change. Furthermore, by engaging in a community of learners you are often led to resources and ideas that promote further education and improvement. For instance, below is the first TEDtalks I viewed upon recommendation from a teaching colleague - whilst it emphasised the importance of personalised learning and engaging students in using their personal talents, more importantly, it sparked an interest in TEDtalks which led to an ongoing participation in the TED-Ed community. Truly ongoing learning is the crux of improving practice, but it is also the key (at least for me) in staying engaged in and excited about teaching.