TUTORIAL PAPER One

ID of Student: G0039463-Gearóid Reynolds

Article/Reading: The Teaching Council’s Professional Code of Conduct for Teachers

1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING

The Teaching Council Code of Professional Conduct for teachers is a set of guidelines that reiterates
the values and standards that are expected of a professional teacher in Ireland. It describes the vision
of what good teaching should look like and it epitomizes the dual mandate of the professional
standards body for the Teaching Council. The Teaching Council ensures that the Code of Professional
Conduct for teachers is promoted and observed to maintain public trust and confidence in the teaching
profession.
The purpose of the code is to help guide teachers throughout their professional careers to uphold the
honour and dignity of the teaching profession. The code can also be used by members of the public to
develop their understanding and knowledge of what is expected from teachers in Ireland and acts as a
legal point of reference.

The structure of the code presents the ethical foundations for the teaching profession. The Teaching
Council sees teachers as a reflective practitioner whose main role is to educate pupils. The Teaching
Council promotes the code to help student teachers and newly qualified teachers continue their
professional development.
While the code sets out the guides to help a teacher flourish, they are aware of factors outside of a
teacher's control which can have a bearing on the standard of teaching in a classroom. This can be the
engagement and commitment of students’ parents and the wider community, along with the
availability of resources and support for both students and teachers.

The Code of Conduct discusses how the role of a teacher is to educate and outlines the four ethical
values that underpin the standards of teaching, knowledge, skill, competence, and conduct. These four
values are Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Care. The goal of respect is for teachers to uphold human
dignity and promote equality and emotional and cognitive development in their professional practice.
Teachers demonstrate respect for spiritual and cultural values, diversity, social justice, freedom,
democracy, and the environment. Integrity: Honesty, reliability, and moral action are embodied in
integrity. Teachers exercise integrity through their professional commitments, responsibilities, and
actions. Trust: This embodies fairness, openness, and honesty. A teacher’s relationship with students,
colleagues, parents, school management, and the public is built on trust. Care: A teacher's practice is
motivated by the best interests of the students entrusted to their care. Teachers show this through
positive influence, professional judgment, and empathy in practice.

The Teaching Council then set out standards that apply to teachers which discuss professional values
and relationships, professional integrity, professional conduct, professional practice, professional

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024

 development, and professional collegiality and collaboration. The sections set out the standards that
registered teacher should follow regardless of their position. In the final section of the document, the
Teaching Council explains complaints relating to registered teachers in which they go over the
reasons why a teacher may be reported due to them not fulfilling the standards expected of a
registered teacher in Ireland. These range from poor professional performance to being medically
unfit to teach. The whole document is a guide to the high standards of which Irish teachers a held to
throughout the world.

2. CRITICAL REFLECTION

After reading through the code of conduct and critiquing each section I agree with most of what is
set out in the Code of Conduct. In this paper, they set out as an advocate for teachers, and it plays
a key role in setting out the foundations for a teacher on professional standards and how as
teachers we can develop continually. The code sets out several principles and standards that
regulate educators' ethical behaviour and professional obligations. This code emphasises the
importance of supporting students' well-being, learning, and growth, preserving high standards of
professional competence, and protecting the dignity and rights of all members of the school
community.
It also emphasises the need to build strong relationships with coworkers, parents, and the larger
community. Teachers in Ireland are expected to follow these ideals, displaying integrity, fairness,
and respect in all aspects of their professional work. I believe the Teaching Council set out a good
base for teachers with the code of conduct as it provides us with a set of guidelines to underpin a
high standard in your classroom and in general to be a highly developed professional teacher.
Overall, I do believe that the Code of Conduct does provide a good outline for teachers on how to
act and develop into a professional teacher.

One of the strengths of this paper is how the Teaching Council set out the key ethical values that
underpin the standards of teaching. I believe that this section of the document emphasises the key
values you should have as a teacher to succeed. As teachers, it is our role to educate but we also
must have respect, integrity trust, and care.
By having the values mentioned a teacher can get the best work out of students and this will stand
to the students if they see a teacher willing to put in time and effort with them. (Wood. P. et al. pg.
15. 2019) writes ‘the quality of teaching has increasingly been viewed as the most significant
factor determining the quality of students learning in school, with numerous studies revealing the
significant difference in learning gain achieved by students according to the teachers whom they
believed helped them the most’. Wood P et al (2019) talk about how the relationship between the
student and teacher can have either a positive or negative effect on work in the classroom. This is
logically structured and very easy to follow in the Code.

A critique I have after reading through the document was that there was no real input or
comments from teachers in the Code. By comparison, the Australian Teachers Code of
Professional Conduct uses a descriptor to help teachers at all stages of their careers. ‘Their
development included a synthesis of the descriptions of teachers’ knowledge, practice, and
professional engagement used by teacher accreditation and registration authorities, employers,
and professional associations. An extensive validation process involving almost 6,000 teachers.
ensured that each descriptor was shaped by the profession.’ (AITSL, pg. 2., 2018). This gives me
a greater sense that teachers were consulted with when this document was being drafted. The
Australian Code of Conduct for Professional Teachers discussed implementing professional
knowledge and professional practice within the classroom at three stages all at varying levels.
One such topic was implementing effective teaching and learning strategies. (Buehl. M. pg. 212.,

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024

 2022) writes ‘It is important for teacher education instructors to model both effective teaching and
effective learning, as it provides a clear example of what is expected from the students.’ After
reading through the various sections I had a clear view of how to teach and what standards were
expected of me, whereas I find that topics like this are not addressed in the Teaching Council code
of conduct and is something which I think they should try to incorporate it into the document in
the future.

Having completed my school placement and looking back on it after critically reviewing the Code
of Conduct, I am happy to say that it does provide a student teacher with adequate knowledge to
aid them through their teacher training and indeed further on throughout their professional
teaching career.
As someone starting their teaching career the Teaching Council set out important and valuable
guidelines which if followed, can aid you in developing and performing to the highest level
throughout your teaching profession. One detail in the document that I thought was well written
was the discussion on factors that are out of a teacher's control which may hinder their own or
their students' performance.
I think this was an important section to have in the document as it tells the reader how things
aren’t going to be perfect every time and some things will trip you up along the way but to
continue displaying the core ethical values and standards set out by the Teaching Council and
learning how to adapt in these situations. Feimen-Nemser S. et al (2017) discuss how teaching is
based on the same timeless principles, but if we want to develop as a professional teacher and as a
society we must adapt to situations and sometimes evolve our subjects if needed. This is one
section from the Code of Conduct that I have a very positive view of.

While conducting my research for this paper I read through the respective Code of Conducts for
Professional teachers in both Australia and the UK and one section that was present in the
Teaching Councils document but not talked about in the other two reports was complaints relating
to registered teachers and reasons as to why a teacher may be reported to the Teaching Council.
As is set out at the start of the document the Code of Conduct is not only for teachers but also for
students, parents, and members of the public, and by showing all these standards of good practice,
I think it is good to outline to the reader when there may be grounds to report a teacher.
As we know the main role of a teacher is to educate their students and to teach to the highest
standards as set out by the Teaching Council, but it is good to see that they do include this section
as a reminder that if the standards outlined are not met, the teacher will need to be questioned on
the matter and I feel this is an important inclusion in the paper. As teachers, we should be aiming
to achieve these standards and applying our knowledge to the best of our ability while continuing
to develop as a professional teacher.

While there are some parts I would like the Teaching Council to improve upon to help teachers
develop in their profession, overall, I feel as if the Code of Conduct is an asset to teachers
throughout their professional careers as it sets out the standards that are expected of them for the
duration of their teaching career, and is something which I will look to help me in my profession.

3. LIST OF REFERENCES

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (2018) Australian Professional Standards for
Teaching

Buehl. Michelle M. (2022) Teaching Learning for Effective Instruction. Charlotte, NC: Information
Age Publishing (Theory to Practice: Educational Psychology for Teachers and Teaching).

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024

 Feiman-Nemser. Sharon., Ben-Peretz. Miriam (2017) Getting the Teachers We Need: International
Perspectives on Teacher Education

Wood. P., Lynn Sorton Larssen. D., Helgevold. N., Cajkler. W (2019) Lesson Study in Initial Teacher
Education: Principles and Practices

© ATU Dept. of Creative Education 2023-2024