Discuss various Ethical Futures.

There are a few key issues in the Ride Share scenario, including the student arriving late to school due to her single mother attaining a second job, with shifts finishing after school starts in the morning. After the teacher addressing the late arrivals to his classes, the mother has resulted to asking the teacher if her daughter could ride share with him, since he lives close to them. The single mother of two has no other family members or friends who can drop her daughter off to school, and no school buses with them living out of the school district. From a personal value perspective, the teacher would want the best for his student – he may have kids of his own, and it is also the responsibility of the teacher professionally, to encourage regular attendance, as stated in the context 2.2 (NSW Government, 2024). The daily late arrival to school is an ethical dilemma because as the rights of a child, they have the right to access the full amount of education (UNICEF, n.d.). Context 2.1 of (NSW Government, 2024), states regular attendance at school, is essential to assist students to maximise their potential. As teachers, this also involves a clash of professional values because it is the parents and carers responsibility for their child’s safety of travel to and from school, and not the teachers.

Justice in this scenario is present through the teacher checking in on the mother about her daughter’s attendance, as he would for other students too. The mother asks if the teacher can bring her daughter to school on the way from her workplace since he lives close by. But with justice, being fair to other family’s needs to remain the same, so it would not be ethical for the teacher to agree to this suggestion. The theoretical approach to assist with the decision making in this case would best be suited to the fairness or justice approach where “all equals should be treated equally” (Lon’s Daily Calibration, 2016). The fairness approach is the approach that treats everyone with equality and fairness of consistency, equity, respect and truthfulness (Colquitt & Rodell, 2015). If the stakeholder (teacher), decided to agree and go ahead with picking up the student and dropping her off to school, this goes against the approach as it is unfair to other students and families that they are not getting the same treatment. This would result in inequality.

If I identified as the teacher, I would use The Preston Ethical Decision-Making model, as it can be used to assist teachers in the situation of decision making. The model founded by Preston is a guided tool for teachers to use and based around on responsibility. Based on the model, it gives particular emphasis to three major guiding principles: respect for life, justice and fairness, integrity and promise keeping (Preston, 1996). The principles based in the model are vital practices for teachers to use and keep themselves ethical, trustworthy and respectful towards others when making decisions. Using this model to create a well thought decision about the ride share scenario, would assist ethically and would be a reliable source, because it was created by a Theologian and has been used by teachers in their practice for a few decades yet. (Newman & Pollnitz, 2005) state from Preston, the ethics of response will not result in one neat answer but delivers sound moral reasons for our decisions. “The steps taken in applying the model include assessing the situation, considering the values and dispositional or character factors, making a comprehensive assessment of the situation and finally, arriving at a decision”. By analysing the steps in the model, some research and questions I would ask the mother as the stakeholder (teacher), is if she considered moving to a school in their district that way the mother can keep her two jobs while her daughter can catch the school bus to get to school on time. The second thing I would do as the teacher, is talk to the principal and ask if there were buses that would perhaps go to the district that they live in, to ensure the daughters attendance is improved. After receiving the answers I acquire, I would move onto the following component of the Preston Model to ensure the ethical solution is achieved. Ensuring to follow the code of ethics and theories put in place for daily dilemmas, these elements can assist in the resolution of issues because the individual would be immersed in ethical thinking, and consistent with wise practices (Newman & Pollnitz, 2005).

Although the mother is trying to do the best she can for her family by working more, this links to the ethics of non-maleficence. Non-maleficence is about not causing harm and doing good to others (Newman & Pollnitz, 2005). In this case, the mother is doing good by working two jobs to earn extra money to ensure she has enough food and clothes her family. If I was the Stakeholder (mother), in this scenario, I would consider a few options prior to the suggestions the teacher could provide me, due to the late arrivals that could be affecting my child’s education. Such things include moving my child to a school in the same district as the residential address, seek other public transport options including connecting buses, or if possible, finish my shift a little bit earlier to ensure my child is attending school on time and receiving the rights to education they deserve.

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