Name of Student: Peter Carroll

Article/Reading [The National Teaching Council (2012) Code of

Professional Conduct for Teachers]
1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING

An article posted on the Teaching Council website describes this

document most accurately - The Code sets out the standards of
professional knowledge, skill, competence and conduct which are
expected of registered teachers (Teaching Council, 2012). However,
the code is not only made available to teachers, it is also made
available to parents, students, the general public and also to anyone
who possesses an interest in education and teaching. This ensures that
parents etc. are aware of the standards which teachers must comply
with while teaching a class. If these standards are broken parents may
take action through consultation with the Garda. In short the three
main functions or purposes of the code are:
1. To provide a guide to teachers
2. To inform wider public
3. To provide a point of reference where legal issues may arise
The article can be broken into two key parts. The first part deals with
the Core Values which teachers need to work on to develop as an
effective teacher. The core values are listed as: Respect, Care, Integrity
and Trust. These values are directly linked to the second key part of the
article; The Core Standards. There are six Core Standards: Values and
Relationships, Integrity, Conduct, Practice, Professional Development
and Collegiality and collaboration. These Core Standards are further
broken down on pages 6 8 and this is where most of the relevant
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information and main rules of conduct can be found.

The Code of Professional Conduct, in short, underlines the ethics that
inform the work of teachers, helping them to build on their knowledge
and grow to become a better equipped, ethical teacher. All values and
standards are laid out in a straight forward format. This ensures that
everyone, from Teachers, to the general public, will be able to read and
interpret the code easily.

2. CRITICAL REFLECTION

I believe the easy to read layout of the document is very important to

note. As this document is available to the general public, it must be easy
to read and understand. I believe the author(s) of the document do this
very effectively by first underlining the four core values (Respect, Care,
Integrity and Trust). The author(s) then go on to explain the six core
standards which are derived from the core values (Professional values and
relationships, Integrity, Conduct, Practice, Professional Development,
Collegiality and collaboration). These six standards are then further broken
down to provide us with most of the information and rules regarding a
teachers conduct. I believe this step by step approach in explaining the
list of rules which teachers must adhere to makes it clear to the reader
not only what teachers should avoid doing in the classroom but why they
shouldnt do them.
However, I believe substance should be put first when writing an
informative piece, especially where the code also has a legal standing
and will be used by the Teaching Council as a reference point in assessing
teachers fitness to teach, as underlined on the ASTI website (ASTI, 2013).
Although the structure of this document is very clear, I believe it leaves
quite a lot of questions unanswered. This became clear to me during our
class discussion when a number of questions which were raised werent
clearly answered when the code was consulted. I also noticed in my
reading of the document, that many of the rules of the teaching
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profession were not included. One of these unwritten rules that affected
me while on teaching practice was in relation to dress code. When going
on teaching practice, we were told to wear, what we now refer to as
Teaching clothes (suit pants, shirts etc.). When I consulted the code and
found that dress code was not dealt with I decided to do some
independent research and what I found was, for me, quite shocking. In an
article on About Education, Beth Lewis writes about her tips for dressing
well as a teacher. She begins by saying, Wouldn't everyone prefer to wear
sweatshirts and flip-flops to work? When you are a school teacher, such
luxuries are completely out of the question. Our young students, their
parents, our administrators, and the greater community all need to trust
us to be mature, professional, capable, and competent (2015). I believe
that the very idea that a teachers ability to teach might be judged on
their dress is absolutely nonsensical. Furthermore, I believe if this is the
case, it should be outlined clearly in the code of conduct. Larry Ferlazzo, a
practicing teacher writes in an article on Edublogs that, Although the
saying goes that, clothes do not make the man our results suggest they
do hold a strange power over their wearers. If this is the case then a
teacher should feel more comfortable in the clothes they have chosen and
in turn reach their full teaching potential.
Overall, I believe this document is a well-structured piece of writing.
However, the lack of detail in the actual content of the document is
worrying. In my opinion, a document which is used as a reference point
where legal issues are concerned should provide enough detail to say
whether or not a person has broken the rules. However, in our class
discussion we proved that some rules stated in the document are
extremely open ended and open to interpretation depending on the
circumstances of the offence. In order to make the rules in the document
less open ended, further elaboration on topics is necessary. For example,
on page 7 of the document, under the heading of Professional Conduct,
Part 3.1 states that a teacher should uphold the reputation and standing
of the profession. The meaning of this particular part of the document
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seems to be left completely to the discretion of the legal authorities

pursuing any case which may arise.
3. LIST OF REFERENCES

Bibliography
ASTI. (2013, June 6). Professional Conduct. Retrieved from ASTI: http://www.asti.ie/astimembership/student-teacher-network/advice-for-teaching-practice/professionalconduct/
Lewis, B. (2015, January 2). The Right Threads = The Right Classroom Atmosphere.
Retrieved from About Education:
http://k6educators.about.com/od/classroommanagement/a/attire.htm.
The Teaching Council, (2012, June 1). Code of Professional Conduct. Retrieved from The
Teaching Council: http://www.teachingcouncil.ie/en/Professional-Standards/Code-ofProfessional-Conduct/
Ferrlazo, L. (2012, March 1). Can An Educators Clothes Affect How He/She Teaches?
Retrieved from Edublogs: http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2012/03/01/can-an-educatorsclothes-affect-how-heshe-teaches/

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