TJHSST Professional Ethics in Education 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A TJHSST teacher discovers that a student plagiarized a significant portion of a research paper. According to professional ethics, what is the teacher's primary obligation?
- Ignore it to avoid damaging the student's college prospects
- Report the incident through the school's academic integrity process (Correct answer)
- Handle it privately by making the student redo only the plagiarized section
- Notify the student's parents without involving the school administration
Correct answer: Report the incident through the school's academic integrity process
Professional ethics require teachers to follow established academic integrity procedures rather than handle infractions informally or ignore them.
Question 2: Which ethical principle is most directly violated when a teacher shares a student's confidential IEP details with other students' parents?
- Beneficence
- Fidelity
- Confidentiality (Correct answer)
- Non-maleficence
Correct answer: Confidentiality
Confidentiality requires educators to protect private student information, including IEPs, which are protected under FERPA.
Question 3: A TJHSST counselor is approached by a student who discloses ongoing emotional abuse at home. What should the counselor do first?
- Advise the student to speak with their parents directly
- Consult a colleague before taking any action
- File a mandatory report with child protective services (Correct answer)
- Keep the information confidential per the student's request
Correct answer: File a mandatory report with child protective services
Mandatory reporting laws require school counselors to report suspected abuse to child protective services regardless of the student's request for confidentiality.
Question 4: What does 'professional boundary' mean in an educational context?
- The geographic boundary of a teacher's assigned school district
- The appropriate limit of a teacher-student relationship that protects both parties (Correct answer)
- The maximum number of students a teacher can advise
- A rule prohibiting teachers from attending school events
Correct answer: The appropriate limit of a teacher-student relationship that protects both parties
Professional boundaries define the appropriate limits of teacher-student relationships to prevent exploitation and maintain trust.
Question 5: A TJHSST teacher coaches an extracurricular team. Giving a roster spot to a student solely because the student's parent donated money to the school most directly violates which ethical principle?
- Equity and fairness (Correct answer)
- Transparency
- Autonomy
- Academic freedom
Correct answer: Equity and fairness
Equity requires decisions to be made on merit-based criteria, not financial influence or personal favoritism.
Question 6: Which action by a teacher best demonstrates the ethical principle of 'non-maleficence' in a high school setting?
- Assigning challenging coursework to push students to excel
- Refraining from publicly ridiculing a struggling student (Correct answer)
- Recommending extracurricular activities to students
- Inviting guest speakers to enrich classroom learning
Correct answer: Refraining from publicly ridiculing a struggling student
Non-maleficence means avoiding harm; publicly ridiculing a student causes psychological harm and violates this principle.
Question 7: A teacher at a competitive school like TJHSST suspects a colleague is unfairly inflating grades for athletes. The most ethical course of action is to:
- Confront the colleague aggressively in front of students
- Ignore the situation since it does not affect their own classroom
- Report concerns through proper administrative or ethics channels (Correct answer)
- Spread information about the issue on social media
Correct answer: Report concerns through proper administrative or ethics channels
Ethical responsibility includes reporting suspected misconduct through appropriate institutional channels rather than ignoring it or acting outside proper procedures.
TJHSST Professional Ethics in Education 2
A TJHSST teacher discovers that a student plagiarized a significant portion of a research paper.
According to professional ethics, what is the teacher's primary obligation?