{"id":40337,"date":"2017-08-30T21:34:09","date_gmt":"2017-08-31T04:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=40337"},"modified":"2017-08-30T21:34:09","modified_gmt":"2017-08-31T04:34:09","slug":"doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctors, lawyers and ministers all take a professional pledge: here\u2019s why teachers should too"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

What do these occasions have in common: a wedding, a witness about to give evidence in court, and a citizenship ceremony? All are public occasions, all require witnesses, and \u2013 most importantly \u2013 all require those at the centre of the occasion to make a vow, swear an oath, or make a binding pledge.<\/p>\n

Such occasions are far more common than we might think. Those joining the legal profession pledge to uphold certain values and behave accordingly. Think also of the words required at the swearing in of ministers of the crown or a president. Members of police and security forces, those joining the armed forces \u2013 even scouts \u2013 have to pledge to abide by codes of conduct and ethics.<\/p>\n

So why not teachers too?<\/p>\n

An important question to ask is what would be gained by having teachers publicly record their commitment to uphold their professional codes of conduct and ethics. To put it another way, what would be lost by removing the requirement for lawyers, doctors, ministers and others?<\/p>\n

The findings<\/a> from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse are instructive. Allegations were received from 1,467 survivors of sexual abuse suffered from at least as far back as 1940.<\/p>\n

Of the institutional categories employed by the commission, educational institutions were the second-most-represented: 29.8% of the total. Of all alleged perpetrators, about one in six was a teacher, and by far the majority were male. Importantly, many were also clergy. Of faith-based institutions, the two most prominent were Catholic (40.9%) and Anglican (7.4%).<\/p>\n

More than three-quarters of all survivors experienced multiple episodes of abuse, while 42.8% reported having been abused by physical contact, such as vaginal, oral and digital penetration. The average age of first abuse was 9.5 years for females and 10.3 years for males.<\/p>\n

Even without any of the harrowing detail of particular cases, all involved in education must heed the questions asked time and again by survivors of childhood sexual abuse: how could anyone do this to me? Why didn\u2019t anyone notice? Why wasn\u2019t I believed?<\/p>\n

Wherever it has happened, children have been confronted by the criminal duplicity of teachers, principals \u2013 even school counsellors and chaplains \u2013 and in schools characterised by survivors<\/a> as having a culture of violence, intimidation and a sense of entitlement. For example, in the Interim Report Volume 2<\/a>, the school chaplain at a Christian Brothers\u2019 college told an 11-year-old boy who complained of being molested:<\/p>\n

Some of us have a cross to bear boy, and that\u2019s yours.<\/em><\/p>\n

Grooming has hidden in plain sight in many cases. Grooming was defined in a research project<\/a> commissioned by the royal commission as:<\/p>\n

The use of a variety of manipulative and controlling techniques; with a vulnerable subject; in a range of interpersonal and social settings; in order to establish trust or normalise sexually harmful behaviour; with the overall aim of facilitating exploitation and\/or prohibiting exposure.<\/em><\/p>\n

It can look like the very trusting behaviours teachers strive to attain and school policies have been rendered futile by ambiguous wording or a lax environment of implementation. For example, evidence given<\/a> by a former female student of Geelong Grammar describes how a music teacher at the school used his position to convince her to take additional music lessons, during which he repeatedly molested her.<\/p>\n

The teaching profession simply can\u2019t leave the responsibility for a forensic response to others. The profession, through its peak bodies, must respond.<\/p>\n

Respect for teachers has increasingly focused on their contribution to fairly narrow educational outcomes. But historically, teachers were expected to be \u201cmoral agents\u201d as well as \u201cvalues educators\u201d.<\/p>\n

While such expectations may have assumed a questionable consensus and been inadequately monitored, in more recent times peak bodies have formulated codes of conduct and ethics<\/a> according to which teachers are meant to conduct themselves.<\/p>\n

Aspirational sentiments such as these, and behavioural expectations such as that \u201cTeachers Treat Their Learners With Courtesy And Dignity\u201d have meant nothing to those paedophiles who have worked \u2013 and hidden or even been protected \u2013 among the vast majority of teachers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What the royal commission and media coverage of other cases have revealed is that it has been too easy for some teachers, principals and others working with children in schools, to make a mockery of their duty of care<\/a>. It reveals their criminality in grooming and abusing children, in trivialising their reports of abuse, and in striving to protect schools\u2019 and individuals\u2019 reputations at children\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n

Regardless of police checks for those working with children, regardless of the legally binding duty of care and of the obligatory mandatory reporting of suspected abuse, and regardless of responsibility for pastoral care, the sexual abuse of children in educational contexts has continued.<\/p>\n

A pledge for educators could be made within schools and upon first employment. Its declaration could be made a requirement for all job applications, just like police checks. It would indicate a formal declaration to conduct oneself ethically in all educational contexts, regardless of whether or not some individuals ultimately fail to do so.<\/p>\n

But much more is needed as well. Teachers need help in their duty of care<\/a> to identify grooming. Teacher training should pay far more attention to ethical decision-making in the practice of being a teacher.<\/p>\n

It seems prudent that in a public and open profession, a public and open pledge to uphold its values should be made.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> John Whelen is an Associate Fellow, Faculty of Education at Monash University <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do these occasions have in common: a wedding, a witness about to give evidence in court, and a citizenship ceremony? All are public occasions, all require witnesses, and \u2013 most importantly \u2013 all require those at the centre of the occasion to make a vow, swear an oath, or make a binding pledge. Such […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":40338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[136852],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-40337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-codes-of-conduct-and-ethics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDoctors, lawyers and ministers all take a professional pledge: here\u2019s why teachers should too - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Doctors, lawyers and ministers all take a professional pledge: here\u2019s why teachers should too - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What do these occasions have in common: a wedding, a witness about to give evidence in court, and a citizenship ceremony? All are public occasions, all require witnesses, and \u2013 most importantly \u2013 all require those at the centre of the occasion to make a vow, swear an oath, or make a binding pledge. Such […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-31T04:34:09+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/newsclips.jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"452\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Doctors, lawyers and ministers all take a professional pledge: here\u2019s why teachers should too\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-31T04:34:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":914,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/newsclips.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"codes of conduct and ethics\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\\\/\",\"name\":\"Doctors, lawyers and ministers all take a professional pledge: here\u2019s why teachers should too - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/newsclips.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-31T04:34:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/newsclips.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/newsclips.jpeg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":452},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Doctors, lawyers and ministers all take a professional pledge: here\u2019s why teachers should too\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Doctors, lawyers and ministers all take a professional pledge: here\u2019s why teachers should too - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Doctors, lawyers and ministers all take a professional pledge: here\u2019s why teachers should too - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"What do these occasions have in common: a wedding, a witness about to give evidence in court, and a citizenship ceremony? All are public occasions, all require witnesses, and \u2013 most importantly \u2013 all require those at the centre of the occasion to make a vow, swear an oath, or make a binding pledge. Such […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2017-08-31T04:34:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":452,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/newsclips.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Doctors, lawyers and ministers all take a professional pledge: here\u2019s why teachers should too","datePublished":"2017-08-31T04:34:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/"},"wordCount":914,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/newsclips.jpeg","keywords":["codes of conduct and ethics"],"articleSection":["Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/","name":"Doctors, lawyers and ministers all take a professional pledge: here\u2019s why teachers should too - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/newsclips.jpeg","datePublished":"2017-08-31T04:34:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/newsclips.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/newsclips.jpeg","width":680,"height":452},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/doctors-lawyers-ministers-take-professional-pledge-heres-teachers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Doctors, lawyers and ministers all take a professional pledge: here\u2019s why teachers should too"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40337"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=40337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}