Abstract: Teachers have a dual moral responsibility as both values
educators and moral agents representing the integrity of the
profession. Codes of ethics and conduct in teaching articulate
shared professional values and aim to provide some guidance for
action around recognised issues special to the profession but are
also instruments of regulation which position teachers in
sanctioned roles. This paper offers a rationale for reviewing the
purposes of codes of ethics in Australia as instruments which
profoundly influence teacher morality and have significant
educational implications. As one of the first comparative reviews of
Australian state and territory codes of ethics and conduct
procedures the author finds that policies around ethical action in
teaching can be characterised as either ‘aspirational’ or
‘procedural’; each type shaping teacher role morality differently.
The aim is to spur dialogue about notions of ‘value’ and to
articulate problems of individual autonomy, regulatory control and
collective integrity.
In this article I examine codes of ethics and conduct across the States and