Professional Ethics, Decision-Making, and Interdisciplinary Collaboration: An Exploration of Teacher Preparation Programs and Practice

<p>The first purpose of this research was to explore the prevalence, methods of instruction, and perceived value of professional ethics, ethical decision-making, and interdisciplinary collaboration in teacher preparation programs throughout the U.S. These factors were addressed using the Ethics Training and Curriculum Survey (ETCS). Participants for the ETCS included teacher educators (<em>n</em> = 977) from CAEP accredited preparation programs. Survey results suggest that professional ethics is widely addressed throughout CAEP accredited programs, but that instruction in ethical decision-making varies considerably. To connect these findings with practice, a second purpose of this study was to explore how educators make ethical decisions, using the Inventory of Ethical Decision-Making and Collaboration (IEDMC), and, following this investigation, to identify meaningful clusters of educators. Participants for the IEDMC survey were certified teachers (<em>n </em>= 482), Pre-Kindergarten through 12^th grade. Participants reported feeling unprepared to make ethical decisions, despite training and access to codes of ethics. Two meaningful clusters were found, based on differences between training, use of ethical decision-making models, years of experience, presence of a school psychologist, and accreditation status of preparation programs. The culmination of results illustrates a continued gap between preparation and practice. Discussion and implications follow.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy - School Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human Services

Year dc:date.available

2019

Author dc:creator

• McCreary, Brittany

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Jillian Dawes & Dr. Luis Aguerrevere
• Dr. Paula Griffin
• Dr. Frankie Clark

• ethics
• teacher preparation
• ethical decision-making
• consultation
• ethical dilemmas
• education
• Educational Psychology
• School Psychology
• Teacher Education and Professional Development

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/254

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.sfasu.edu:etds-1291