School problem with staff member

Jump to Last Post 1-4 of 4 discussions (4 posts)
  1. profile image57
    mina_77posted 13 years ago

    What is virtue ethics within this dilemma???

    You are a new teacher, fresh out of university. You are employed on a short-term contract.  So is Kylie, a know-it-all pain-in-the-neck to whom you have never warmed. You know there is a permanent position coming up, and believe you will be in competition with her.  You suspect that she has been trying to sabotage your chances of permanent appointment by spreading rumours about you being sly and ruthless in pursuit of your interests.  You have been supported through this by Mr Holland, the Deputy Principal. It was he who suggested to you that Kylie was trying to undermine your standing in the school.  His siding with you appears to have really got up Kylie’s nose.

    Mr Holland seems to have taken quite a shine to you.  He is a teacher you greatly admire (and whose patronage might do your career no harm).  He is a forceful character, with strong ideas about the importance of Australia’s English and Christian origins, and its proud military history.  While not sharing all of his enthusiasms, you still consider him the sort of spirited teacher you aspire to be.

    One day you find Nelson weeping behind the toilet block.  He is a shy Sudanese refugee, whose family has been having trouble adjusting to life in Australia. You think they keep to themselves more than they should, as does Nelson.  He is a beautiful child, very dark with flashing white eyes and teeth.  He lives not far from you, and you have recently found him joining you for the walk home.  You find his sad expression and quiet intelligence appealing, made even more so by his hilariously mangled English.

    Nelson tells you that Mr Holland has just humiliated him in front of the class (and Kylie) by making fun of his English skills.  Nelson begs you not to make matters worse for him by making a big issue out of it.  You promise him that you won’t (partly because you find his story hard to believe).

    You nonetheless head to Mr Holland’s office to ask him if there might have been a misunderstanding.  When you get there you hear raised voices within.  Unsettled and unsure of what to do, you listen outside the door.

    Mr Holland: “If you can’t stand shoulder to shoulder with your colleagues in maintaining our cultural values you are not a decent teacher, certainly not the sort this school prides itself in.”

    Kylie: “But you were cruel…”

    Mr Holland: “I don’t trust that little monkey.  Those people expect everything to change to fit in with their requirements. I don’t buy that lost soul act.  I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. Someone demanding that he speak and act like his peers is precisely what he needs!”

    Kylie: “I think the principal should be informed of this.”

    Mr Holland: “The principal and I see eye-to-eye on this. Telling tales behind your colleagues’ backs shows why you are not a good teacher. The teaching staff are supposed to stick together! You should act as one of us, not one of them.”

    You are confused. You certainly don’t trust Kylie’s judgement, and still think Mr Holland must have meant well, but feel uncomfortable about the amount of pressure he seems to be putting on her.




    What are the ethical issues embedded in this scenario?

    How should you act in this situation?

    How would you justify your actions if they were called into question?

  2. CASE1WORKER profile image59
    CASE1WORKERposted 13 years ago

    I think i'd try to get to know Kylie better as the rumours about her making rumours about you could have been started by the management.
    Would you really want to work in a school like that anyway in the long term?
    Hows about suggesting an outside speaker to speak to you all on inclusion therby demonstrating your positive approach and commitment to continued professional development, so that the management publicly go on record stating their policy and belief which will be so PC perfect, then take inclusin to heart.

  3. profile image0
    EmpressFelicityposted 13 years ago

    The problem is that you don't have all the information you need.  If you'd actually been in the class when Mr Holland had spoken to Nelson, you would have been able to make a first hand judgment call about his behaviour towards Nelson. 

    As it is, you've only got hearsay to go on.

    In your situation I'd probably sit tight and wait to see how things went.  Although if the opportunity presented itself to actually be present in Mr Holland's classroom while he taught Nelson, I'd grab it with both hands.

    Rumour is no substitute for first hand knowledge.

  4. BobbiRant profile image61
    BobbiRantposted 13 years ago

    Boy I had a lovely staff member act like this on one of my jobs.  They cannot get ahead on their own merit so they under mind everyone else to climb the ladder on the backs of their coworkers, lovely types of people these are.  Making fun of a child (which educators swear they never do, but of course they do) tells me those people have no business in education at all.  Just because someone chooses a profession does not mean they are good at it.  I'd go over their heads to their supervisors.  They want to play games and I personally would have no part of it.

 
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)