Teachers Strikes and Options

¶ … Ethical Issues in Education From your understanding of the module materials and optional external literature concerning contemporary ethical issues in an educational or organization setting, describe three significant contemporary ethical issues which you feel are not being adequately addressed and their unacceptable effect in an educational or organizational setting. Leaders in an educational institution have a special duty to maintain ethical behavior in their roles as the educators for future generations. However, in many cases, leaders are largely unprepared to effectively engage in an ethical decision making process.

One issue that should receive a significant amount of attention due to its implications would be how to address teachers with inadequate performances in their roles. There is a duty to somehow intervene or at least address this issue because it affects students and their education. Yet, such an issue is often disregarded or dismissed because of many factors which might include teachers unions or even personal relationships. However, there are different techniques that can be used to lessen the stigma associated with ethical duties.

One technique that has shown promise is an interdisciplinary workshop that acts out different scenarios so that participants and views can practice ethical decision making (Cranston & Kusanovich, 2014). Others have used sports to illustrate the inherent value to everyone involved in ethical decision making. Some individuals compete in sports with the emphasis on gamesmanship in which places the highest priority on winning; others place the on sportsmanship which is the more ethical position (Hanson & Savage, N.d.). I think this analogy to education is fitting.

For example, some educators can focus on test results and performance metrics (winning is everything) while others may focus on the actual education that the students receive while they are in school (the way the game is played is more important). Strong Educational Leadership One of the most tension situations in educational environments can result from disagreements between the teacher's unions and the Boards of Education in which they negotiate with for things such as compensation, benefits, vacation days, and other similar job related factors.

Teachers may strike through their union in protest of issues such as layoffs of teachers who lack tenure protections as was the case in Los Angeles (Blume, 2009). Such situations often take leadership from both sides to mitigate the worst effects of such strikes -- which generally involves the students missing educational time. In the case in LA mentioned, the school board showed leadership to help prevent the looming strike. One strategy that they used involved the courts.

The school board petitioned the court and the judge prohibited the city's teachers union from staging a one-day strike this week to protest layoffs and other budget-cutting proposals (Blume, 2009). The mass layoffs were due to budget shortcomings which is unfortunately a common phenomenon in education. However, the School Board also showed leadership in creating an innovative alternative for teachers that did not fully support the strike.

Teachers were allowed to "cross" picket lines and teach, while their salaries for the day were donated to the unfortunate teachers that were going to be laid-off. This position seems like a creative compromise for such teachers. They can refuse to let the students miss school for the day, while at.