How do teachers make judgments about ethical and unethical behaviors? Toward the development of a code of conduct for teachers

The authors examined the dimensions that underlie teachers' judgments about ethical versus unethical behaviors. 593 educators and teachers in training were administered a 41 item survey. For each item, respondents rated the extent to which they believed the behavior (a) occurred frequently and (b) represented a serious violation of professional standards. Four factors were identified: Personal Harm, Grade Inflation, Carelessness and Public/Private boundary violation. Personal Harm violations were rated as most serious and Carelessness violations most frequent. Professional educators viewed Carelessness violations as less serious than did teachers in training. Implications for a code of ethics for teachers were addressed.

► We examined teachers' judgments about ethical versus unethical behaviors.
► Four factors: Personal Harm, Grade Inflation, Carelessness, Public/Private.
► Personal Harm violations rated most serious, Public/Private least.
► Practicing teachers differed from pre-service in ratings of seriousness.