CEC Professional Ethical Principles In the United States, education has become a highly involved and complicated process, not least because of the diverse nature and needs that teachers are faced with every day. Not only are there highly diverse students in terms of ethnicity and language in each classroom, there are also different cognitive abilities and needs. This is so not only in each grade, but also in each classroom. This means that ethical guidelines and standards have emerged to help teachers understand how to handle these differences. At the core of these principles is that each teacher should be focused upon helping children achieve the best they can, and that each student should be challenged to develop his or her abilities to the highest possible level. For the exceptional learner category, the Council for Exceptional Children has provided 12 ethical principles that teachers need to adhere to in order to reach these goals for children with exceptional abilities (CEC, 2010). What is interesting is that many of these principles also relate to a more general attitude towards an inclusive education practice, where all children are provided with a sense of dignity and respect.

Principle A, for example, focuses on maintaining challenging expectations for persons with exceptional abilities in the classroom. The second part of the principle indicates that this should be done in a way that respects each exceptional individual in terms of dignity, culture, language and background. If the classroom is already inclusive and respectful of the variety of differences represented, this should not be difficult to implement. Also, a teacher who is already faced with cognitive differences as well should not find it difficult to provide appropriate challenges for exceptional children as well. Indeed, the core of the education process is to provide challenges that students are able to reach incrementally to ultimately reach the basic standard of education for a particular grade. Providing appropriate challenges will enhance the process and create a positive attitude to learning.

Principle B. relates to professional competence...

This means that teachers should interact not only with the learners in their classrooms, but also with their parents and guardians in an effective and ethical way. Again, this is not a unique principle that relates only to exceptional learners.
Principle C. relates to inclusive participation in schools and communities. This can prove challenging, as providing different activities for different learning needs could create the perception that some of these are somehow "better" than others. In this, teachers will need to very carefully plan activities in such a way that no child feels that he or she is either better or worse than the others. This will be an important learned principle once students, whether exceptional or not, enter the world of tertiary education and ultimately the economy.

Principle D. is also important, since this concerns helping teachers to find support for their practice involving children with exceptional abilities and needs. Teachers are expected to liaise with others who also provide services to exceptional children. Collaborating with such service providers can help teachers implement classroom practices that focus on helping such individuals to excel to the best of their ability.

Principle E. is closely related to Principle B, which involves working with families on a basis of mutual respect and active involvement in educational decision making. This is also a principle that is not unique to children with exceptional abilities. Teachers are expected to make all families part of the educational process and to show mutual respect and concern for the children in their charge.

In addition to working with other professionals and with families, teachers are also expected to do their own research to inform their practice with exceptional children. Only by maintaining a strong research basis can teachers ensure that they use the best and most recent practices available. While this can be done in collaboration, teachers will generally do individual research to inform their practice. A challenge here…