With the dynamic landscape of the education sector, school leadersface several complexities while making decisions that increase the risk related to ethical dilemmas. Naylor, Bird, and Butler (2021) identify challenges of ethical leadership arising from diverse and conflicting expectations of students, governing bodies, staff, and society. The school leader faces challenges due to such diversified needs of stakeholders within the educational environment. Many of them require decisions that are characterised by the need of the individual or group to balance conflicting interests. According to Hall (2001), when an ethical dilemma arises, one should ask what he or she ought to do, emphasising interest consideration to various stakeholders. This question is guided to help leaders make well-rounded decisions, taking into consideration all factors that would be involved. However, the answer to such ethical questions raises concerns over leadership productivity when considering the interests of stakeholders in contemporary environments. Therefore, research is needed to investigate the efficiency of ethical questions under Hall (2001) conference paper.Thiswork draws on recent conceptions of ethical leadership and applies some chosen models of decision-making, including Corey and Duignan model of actual dilemma situations in schools. Finally, the work will illustrate how decisions concerning ethics may indeed be taken cautiously with so much complexity in contemporary educational contexts.
Main Body
Part A: Ethical leader and decision-making
Emerging Understanding of ethical leadership and decision-making
Ethical leadership considers the operations of leaders to lead with integrity, justice, and adherence to moral principles at the workplace.Hall (2001) identifies that the role of educational leaders is to create environments that honour ethical values and not only promote them but also practice ethical values in decision-making and actions. The mentioned studyemphasises that leaders should develop cultures of trust, respect, and equity in the schools so that every action undertaken reflects a true commitment to doing what is right for all stakeholders including, students, teachers, staff, parents, and the community. Similarly, Buonomo et al. (2021) support the functioning of ethical leadership that emphasises not only compliance with rules and regulations but also the demonstration of moral virtues, including honesty, compassion, and justice. Within the context of school operations, ethical decisions that support the welfare of students, respect for staff dignity, and betterment of the community at large help leaders to navigate through moral complexities. The school leaders, therefore balance competing interests while remaining faithful to one's ethical principles.
Hall (2001) states that ethical decision-making involves asking what ought to be done rather than what is easiest or most convenient. This makes ethical choices more reflective and principled and more concerned with the broader moral and ethical meaning of actions taken. Thus, ethical leadership fundamentally represents the effort at the construction of moral courage-the capability to stand for one's ethical beliefs despite pressure or adversity. However, various decisions taken by the leader might incur unfavourable outcomes for some stakeholders but favourable outcomes for others. Therefore, leaders must use reflective thinking at all times to question, to deliberately scrutinise, their biases, assumptions, and moral principles before they can make a decision.
Codes of Behaviour and Professional Conduct
Codes of behaviour and professional conduct potentially direct educational leaders to ethical decision-making (Hall, 2001). Staff Conduct and Discipline Policy, (2023) provides codes frequently developed by governance bodies and professional organisations that include, a set of expectations regarding the proper way for members of that profession to act is established. It guides the leader across the complex ethical environment that is built into educational leadership.One of these is the Australian Professional Standards for Principals, which contains matters in terms of the ethical responsibility of school leaders (Australian Council of Educational Research, 2016). The educational guide aims to promote equity, guaranteeing the well-being of students, as well as maintaining the professional integrity of the staff. Thementioned standards can draw up a clearer set of codes of ethical behaviour but would also leave many to interpret depending on the context of each uniqueness.
Hall, (2001) identified that the purpose of codes of behaviour is not to offer definitive answers to every ethical issue but instead to provide the leadership compass that guides them in making decisions. It is determined that such decisions are not only consistent with professional and moral obligations but practical as well. The leader needs to interpret specific codes with associated regulationswithin the context of specific circumstances and make decisions reflecting those ethical principles that the code provides.However, codes of conduct are not reliable and sometimes not clear (Hall, 2001). Sometimes there are unusual areas in which the right course of action is not clear. Here, leaders must use their ethical judgment, informed by codes of behaviour but also by personal values, community needs, and broader moral principles underlying good decision-making.
In the context of ethical leadership, the decision-making model gives a well-defined approach that school leaders would use to cut through the complexities of dilemmas (Martinez&Partin, 2023). The first step should be to define the nature of the issue, which involves the significant recognition of ethical components, above and beyond legal or operating concerns. The leader should acknowledge that their decisions have impacts on stakeholders, including the staff and students, parents, and finally the community. After gathering all the relevant facts, leaders should come up with alternative actions and possibly their implications in the conflicting situation. That means there will be consideration of alternative courses of action, away from the beaten track and conventional approaches or just imitations of others' actions in similar scenarios. Seeking input from peers or other experts may also help to broaden options. After considering all available options and possibilities, leaders should make decisions that respect everyone's rights and come within their authority and capacity to act upon them. When considering the implications of the decisions finalised, leaders should test the decision against professional standards, codes of conduct, legal requirements, and the broader public interest before they act. Finally, leaders should reflect on the outcome to ascertain whether the decision resulted in the intended outcome or whether some unintended consequences occurred. The reflective process would allow continuous learning on how to improve future ethical decisions. The model allows leaders to strike a balance as they make proper and well-thought-out decisions regarding issues in education amid practical challenges while upholding ethics.
Part B: Case Study 1
Overview of case
In Scenario 1, the ethical dilemma is presented by Mary,a high-performing and ambitious staff member who requires secondment for 12 months to complete a research project for 1 year at her local university. The institution is keen to have her but her absence would be highly disruptive to the school. The HOD does not want Mary to leave as he feels it would be tough for him to find the right replacement, while his parents expressed their hesitationabout missing an event if Mary is not provided with a resolution. The scenario provides a conflicting situation between the decision ofthe school authority to support Maryfor professional growth andthe school and student's immediate needs as a priority in this conflict.
Proposed Solution to the Problem
The ethical judgment in this case would be granting secondment provided to Mary, subject to specific conditions, where the needs of the school and students are addressed. While arriving at such a decision, it will acknowledge Mary's ambitions, ensure her professional growth, anddiscuss the concerns of the head of the department and parents by ensuring that her temporary leave has the least negative impact on the education of students. With this regard, Mary would help qualify the temporary replacement. She would also assist in the transition process and offer her support from a distance if required. This way, Mary can continue her personal and professional development while, due to her not being present, the students will not suffer from academically weaker coverage.
Process followed to come up with the decision.
The process followed for making the ethical decision in the case of Marry employs the use of the Duignan model. The Duignan ethical decision model was developed by Patrick Duignan and provides a framework for making ethical decisions within the crisis (Duignan, Drennan& Mc Carthy, 2024). Following steps in the framework were followed to propose solutions within the case of Marry;
Identify the Ethical Problem
The dilemma lies in the conflict between the school's responsibility to deliver quality education to its students and the duty towards its staff members' professional ambitions. Its interests are at play for all the parties involved, parents, students, and Mary herself well as this goes down as a multi-layered ethical issue.
Important Gathered Facts
Mary had shown commitment to the teaching profession with competence for five years and taking up research work at the university would surely uplift the profession and reputation of the school. However, her absence would also somehow influence the learning process of the students, and points of HOD's concerns for finding a proper substitute have merits. Hence, the demands of the parents reflect the prime need for continuity of education from their children's earlier schooling.
Several alternatives were considered in handling this dilemma
- Refusing the secondment: In this, Mary would continue to teach, but an opportunity for dissatisfaction and restricted growth in her career may be seen. She would perhaps quit the school at the end.
- Approving the secondment without any conditions: This would go a long way in providing support to Mary's growth at the professional level, but finding a reasonably qualified substitute could pose a challenge. The parents as well as the students would be dissatisfied.
- Rendering the secondment subject to conditions: This approach balances both the professional development of Mary and the school's duty to maintain good educational standards. Proposing conditionality such as help in finding a suitable substitute teacher and staying updated in remote locations would reduce the impact on the students.
Reference to Ethical Principles
- Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA): Staff Conduct and Discipline Policy, (2023) states that this principle requires that persons must be treated justly; all parties should be dealt with equitably. There is a consideration of Mary's right to professional development, the right of the students to continue education, and the right of the school to fulfil its obligations on resource management.
- Beneficence: The beneficenceprinciple is the support for positive acts designed with an intent to do good for others (Cheraghi et al. 2023). The act of helping Mary advance in her profession translates to working in her best interest while an easy transition and replacement to another helps the student's educational experience.
The Decision-Making Process
After careful consideration of all the alternatives and ethical principles, the decision has been made to permit Mary to go for the secondment on certain conditions. The conditions are that she should be part of the process of identifying and training a competent temporary teacher who will take her classes and also provide remote support if there is a need for her input. This makes for a balanced solution and one that appears to satisfy all parties involved: Mary, the students, and the school.
Testing the Decision
This decision had to be made to meet the ethical standards, legal obligations, and values of the school before implementing it. This decision complies with the school's policies concerning staff retention, the welfare of students, and professional development. To add that, this decision respects fair and responsible principles. All these concerns were well covered by ensuring that Mary would be available to help find a temporary replacement and that no gaps existed in the children's education when the parents were around.
Implementation of the Decision
Once the decision was made, it was then necessary to communicate that to all the stakeholders. A meeting was conducted with Mary to discuss the conditions of secondment and the responsibility concerning finding a replacement. HOD and parents were briefed on the plan while being reassured of the efforts done by the school to not disrupt the education of these students. Recruitment of replacement started, and a plan to keep in touch regularly between the replacement and Mary would be implemented.
Reflect on Outcome
After the secondment, reflection on the decision taken will have to be done and its outcome studied. Feedback from students and parents, the temporary teacher, and Mary herself shall be sought to judge whether the level of the experience of education was maintained in her absence. This process will also help in deciding whether the same strategies should be repeated again and again while balancing staff development with the needs of students.
Reason for the Decision
According to Mlambo, Silén, and McGrath (2021) supporting the professional development of staff contributes to long-term success both personally and organisationally.The justification for the awarding of a conditions-covered secondment to Mary can be emphasised through the findings obtained under the mentioned study. The research project by Mary would bring valuable insight and innovation to be utilised when she returns to school. Not giving her that chance may mean she becomes unsatisfied and will decide to move away and find employment elsewhere, depriving the school of her skills and abilities.
Contributing Factors
- Mary's Professional Growth: The secondment will initiate the carrying of new knowledge that will improve school programs by supporting Mary's research project. This indirectly promotes the school with professional growth and innovation in education.
- Impact on students: The major concern was keeping the students back from any loss in education due to the absence of Mary. Bringing in the right temporary replacement and ensuring that the transition was smooth would do that.
- Responsiveness: It ensured education standards were maintained while ensuring it supported its staff. It could, however, leave Mary frustrated and demotivated at work, which could down the line affect her performance and lead to turnovers in staff.
- Parental concerns: The interjection of the disruption to education caused by the secondment was taken seriously. With such a consideration, the granting of the secondment condition is found to strike a very balanced approach to meet the concerns of the parents.
My Reasoning
Allowing Mary to take a secondment for 12 months to the university while placing conditions to ensure a smooth continuation of her student's education is thus balanced and ethical in leadership. This outcome would therefore not only support Mary's professional development but also ensure the school discharges its role effectively in offering quality education while promoting aphilosophy of high moral and caring standards within the school.
Part C: Case Study 2
Overview of the case
Scenario 2, includes an instance of an ineffective young teacher who was always underperforming. Such a teacher is often found late, unprepared, and lacking basic teaching skills. Several parents complained that progress had been affected. The respective situation was not made any better because he also took care of his elderly mother and never had proper mentoring as the HOD had neglected him. The DP wishes to terminate the teacher on the spot, but this will provide other ethical issues of equity, mentoring, and counselling to employees facing private issues.
Proposed Solution to the Problem
Implementing a comprehensive support and development plan for the young teacher will be the ethical decision in the case. The school has an ethical duty to offer support services before dismissal becomes an option due to the personal conduct of the teacher (Jacob et al., 2022). Following the ethical duty, the school maintains responsibility for training and assisting staff but can guarantee the students' education will come first and foremost. Improvement will be carefully monitored to allow the teacher to receive the necessary training and guidance; if performance fails to measure up, it will provide a fair basis for termination.
Process followed to come up with the decision.
The process followed for making the ethical decision in the case of a young teacher employs the use of the ethical decision model. The Coreyethical decision model was developed by Gerald Coreyprovidinga framework for making ethical decisions within the crisis (Corey, Corey &Callanan, 1998). Following steps in the framework were followed to propose solutions within the case of Marry;
Identifying the problem
The core moral dilemma lies in the responsibility of the school toward employees, more specifically those who are not taught well. The situation gets complicated by the circumstances of the teacher due to their old mother for whom they seem to care, thus invading their professional duties.
Identifying the potential issues involved
The case required a close look at the entire situation to see how deep the problem was. In the short term, the young teacher had underachieved consistently; and on another level, the older mother of the teacher was right to be concerned. However, no one ever mentored the teacher, which would explain much of the underachievement. Finally, the teacher's obligations towards the elderly mother that need to be taken care of could be a disturbing element in their professional work and other activities, however,the HOD at school has not shown concern for the scene which would result in an ethical dilemma.
Alternative Courses of Action
- Instant dismissal. This would meet the sentiments of parents or guardians while at the same time getting an ineffective teacher out of the class. However, this would not eliminate the issue of absence of mentorship or support that has led to the failure of the teacher in question and is unfair to the teacher given his background.
- Neutral: That way, the teacher stays in the classroom as usual, and comes time would have gone into years without doing anything about the complaints of the parents. She may be a menace to the students at school again. And that's not even a question of fairness to the teacher but also to the students.
- Implement a plan of support and development: This is the most balanced approach as it deals with the need of the teacher for guidance. The plan would include mentoring, professional opportunities for development, and continuous appraisal to monitor progress.
Review relevant ethical guidelines.
- Justice: This principle calls for fair treatment of individuals. To dismiss the teacher at the very time when his lack of mentorship and support is left uncorrected would not be justifiable(Corey, Corey &Callanan, 1998). On the other hand, justice for the students also calls for him to improve in performance as soon as possible.
- Beneficence: The beneficenceprinciple, emphasises action that benefits others(Corey, Corey &Callanan, 1998). Involution will be advocated for because it will help mentor the teacher for ultimate development and enhance the quality of education for the students.
Making the Choice
The decision was to implement a program of definite support and development for the young teacher. The policy under the plan for the teacher mentorship program includes regular mentoring sessions, professional development workshops, and regular performance evaluations within a specified period. This way, she is given all the opportunities to upgrade her skills for the best possible delivery toward meeting the expectations of the school. If the performance cannot be raised to reasonable levels even after a significant period, then it might be brought to termination as the last option.
List the consequences of the probable courses of action
Policies within the school on staff development and professional conduct support the decision to offer mentoring and development opportunities before termination. Also, this is supported by educational values more broadly which highlight the significance of facilitating teacher professional growth.
Consider possible and probable courses of action.
The teacher will be informed of the support and development plan and what is expected of improvements. A senior teacher will be assigned as a mentor; regular meetings for guidance and feedback will be scheduled. In addition, the teacher will attend professional development seminars including classroom management, lesson planning, and time management. Monthly reviews will be conducted to determine the improvement of the teacher and actions being made to address complaints from parents.
Decide on what appears to be the best course of action.
After the support plan has been given for a certain period, the school will reflect on the outcomes. In case the teacher has improved highly, then the plan can be revisited, and support can be provided as required. In case the performance of the teacher remains unsatisfactory, then the school could fairly consider termination. This reflection process ensures that the school learns from the experience and applies those insights to future cases.
Reasonfor the Decision
A supposed justification for the support and development plan instead of dismissing the teacher immediately is on grounds of justice, beneficence, and non-maleficence. In this respect, the dismissal of the teacher without actually fixing failure on a lack of mentorship would be deemed unjust in the sense that the teacher was not given adequate opportunity to succeed. Furthermore, giving support and professional development to the teacher is a benefit since it benefits not only the teacher but also the students with improved quality education. Finally, the decision avoids unnecessary harm on the teacher's part because the teacher might be struggling due to his or her respective responsibilities and lack of guidance.
Contributory Factors
- Lack of Mentorship by the Teacher: Partly, a failure on the part of HOD, the teacher is performing unwell in his work, and this might be because of a lack of good mentorship. To lay him off without having provided a good direction would be a wrong thing.
- Circumstances of the Teacher: In his case, the teacher is taking care of his old mother, so his conditions are seriously preventing him from performing optimally. Consideration of these personal conditions when judging his performance and interventions applied is quite essential.
Reflection on the decision
In reflection, the support and development plan is therefore a balance between respect for the rights and needs of all stakeholders. A school's provision of space to improve her teaching and learning through the teacher action plan will show commitment to openness and professional growth. At the same time, the plan addresses the concerns of parents as it involves concrete ways of improving the quality of education that the class is to be provided with.This would indeed be indicative of a reflective and ethical leadership style when the school decides to implement a support and development plan for young teachers.
Conclusion
In conclusion, ethical leadership in schools demands meeting the different needs of various stakeholders while keeping integrity and moral principles intact. Examples such as Hall's ethical questioning and decision-making frameworks of Corey and Duignan can therefore guide reflective action appropriately and responsibly. Examples include cases dealing with Mary's secondment and the young, struggling teacher, which create a need for reflective, principled action that respects individual as well as institutional needs. Through staff development, care for students' welfare, and upholding ethical standards, education leaders can produce an environment that supports the making of ethical choices both for personal growth and in schools.