Statement of ethical and legal responsibilities

I stand by, believe in and strive to deliver education in accordance with the Code of Ethics for Teachers in QLD I endeavour to ensure my relationships with my fellow teachers, my students, and their parents and caregivers, are appropriate and professional and that I show integrity by being transparent and independent. Diversity will always be dignified not only by recognition but by celebration, and by incorporation into lesson plans and individual and group learning opportunities. I advocate on a personal level to strive to expand my pedagogic repertoire in order to ensure relevance to the students I am teaching and demonstrate responsibility to all stakeholders. Confidentiality is of the utmost of importance and understanding what can and cannot be divulged is the starting point to showing respect to children and their families. A teacher’s role will inevitable mean at some stage that ethical judgements will need to be made, because of and in some cases despite of my personal beliefs of utilitarianism, I will always ensure that impartial justice is upheld in matters of ethical differences. Finally, the well being and care of my students, their families and caregivers will always be my number one priority. Care leads to the integration of integrity, dignity, responsibility, respect, and justice.

All teachers are mandatory reporters under the Child Protection Act 1999, and as such, I vow to report any reasonable suspicion of physical or sexual abuse to Child Safety and QLD Police. Further to that I will endeavour to keep up to date with legislation and treat children who report with confidentiality, dignity and non-judgement. On that basis, and dependent on the report will work with Child Safety, family support services, Family and Child Connect or any appropriate support service in the best interest of the child.

I advocate for the key decisions made in the Melbourne Declaration, to promote equity and excellence and strive to develop active, confident, informed, creative and successful members of society, equipped with the necessary tools to make the transition from a primary setting to secondary school. I acknowledge the highlighted failures of Australian schools as noted in the Melbourne Declaration, and will strive to improve educational outcomes for Indigenous Australians and students from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Digital media is the future of schooling and education and of future occupational success, and as such, I strive to ensure lesson plans include an appropriate amount of digital content. I encourage the use of social networking for appropriately aged children, but I am also aware of the issue of bullying and cyber-bullying, and as a teacher I will endeavour to ensure such incidents do not take place within my classroom, the playground, or the wider school community, and where cases are identified, I will ensure these are seen to suitable conclusions. It is also necessary to ensure appropriate measures are taken to not expose children to inappropriate content.

I vow to adhere to common and criminal law, and to have the utmost of respect for children when it comes to matter of discipline, punishment and personal space. My duty of care responsibility covers not only my student’s physical welfare, but also their social, intellectual and moral well-being. It expands also to a duty of care for other members of the educational environment within which I teach; my principal, my fellow teachers, my school, and the parents and caregivers. I abide by each schools’ statutory requirements including but not limited to; workplace health and safety, anti-discrimination, freedom of information, juvenile justice, taxation and government payments. As part of my teaching duties I will remain first aid certified, including specific instruction in the management of asthma and anaphylaxis. I will also update my QLD Blue Card when necessary.

Kaelib Reece