The Study of the Current Situation and Approaches to Promoting and Regulating Teachers' Behavior in Accordance with the Code of Professional Ethics
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Abstract
The Code of Ethics for the Teaching Profession serves as a safeguard against the misuse of professional authority and provides standards aimed at upholding the dignity of the profession. This study investigates teachers' compliance with ethical standards and the underlying reasons for any misconduct. Additionally, it aims to identify appropriate frameworks for promoting and regulating teachers’ professional conduct. The quantitative phase involved a survey of 1,190 education professionals regarding their adherence to professional ethics. In-depth qualitative interviews are conducted with 22 key informants, including school administrators, educational supervisors, teacher hiring agencies, and Thai Teachers' Council Secretariat Office officials. The qualitative phase also comprised focus group discussions with 77 participants, including teachers, students, and representatives from teacher education institutions. Data analysis includes descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and qualitative content analysis.
The results indicated that teachers’ overall adherence to professional ethics was found to be at a very high level (=4.77, S.D.=0.34). The area with the highest average score for ethical behavior was how teachers treated the people they served (
= 4.83, S.D. = 0.35), followed closely by how they treated their colleagues (
= 4.82, S.D. = 0.38) and how they acted about their profession (
= 4.78, S.D. = 0.36), in that order. Significant differences in teachers’ adherence to professional ethics were found across school types and geographic regions (p < .05). Most teachers demonstrated ethical conduct across all five domains, particularly concerning their ethics toward themselves and their service users. Only a small number of teachers were found to have violated professional ethics, with contributing factors including individual characteristics, school-level practices, social influences, and generational differences.
The optimal framework for fostering and regulating teachers' conduct by professional ethics bifurcates into two stages: preparation for entering the profession and promoting and regulating behavior thereafter. These findings provide a basis for developing approaches to reduce ethical misconduct and to strengthen the professional standing of teachers, thereby fostering sustainable recognition in society.
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