Standard 7 - Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community

7.1 - Meet codes of ethics and conduct established by regulatory authorities, systems and schools.
Integrity and Respect

Integrity and respect are important elements in any area if academia. In teaching, it is important that your own, and your students' work reflects these values.

In my own work, I ensure that I reference material which is not my own work, and give credit to other teachers who have created resources, such as the student workbooks, and powerpoint. This maintains the integrity of my own work, and shows respect for the work of others.

In the students' work, we ensure integrity by requiring that they reference any work which is not their own, and that they submit each assignment through Turnitin. This is an online resource which checks documents for plagiarism.
Confidentiality 

Maintaining confidentiality is an important aspect in a number of different areas of teaching. 

As teachers, we have access to a large amount of confidential student information. It is important that this information is not shared without the permission of parents, to maintain privacy.

Parental privacy is also maintained in our weekly emails. As these are sent to all of the parents in addition to the students, it is important to ensure the parents' privacy by blind copying them into the email so the other students to not have access to their email addresses.

Students are also often very insistent about knowing other students' grades. As not all students want to share their grades with their classmates, it is important to maintain confidentiality in this area.
7.2 - Understand the implications of and comply with relevant legislative, administrative, organisational and professional requirements, policies and processes.
Legislative Requirements for Teachers

There are many legislative requirements teachers must work with, which are regulated by the DECD and Teachers Registration Board (TRB).

The Teacher's Registration Act 2004 details the academic and legal requirements for registration and employment as a teacher. These include completion of a mandatory notification course (Reporting Abuse and Neglect Training) and current police clearance, both in accordance with the Children's Protection Act 1993.

Teachers must also work in accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The school also had policies in accordance with this act, detailing elements such as assessment modification or adjustment for eligible students, and inclusion strategies for students with a disability.

References: 
Children's Protection Act 1993. Retrieved from: http://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/A/CHILDRENS
%20PROTECTION%20ACT%201993/CURRENT/1993.93
.UN.PDF 
Disability Discrimination Act (1992). Retrieved from: http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2014C00013 
Teachers Registration and Standards Act 2004. Retrieved from: http://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/A/TEACHERS
%20REGISTRATION%20AND%20STANDARDS%20ACT%
202004.aspx 
International Baccalaureate Requirements for MYP and DP

In IB schools there are myriad requirements including those for teachers. In the Diploma Program, all teachers must attend workshops to induct them into the IB way of working through curriculum design, as the IBO has very strict assessment policies.  Teachers must start to become familiar with the new IB unit plan design. The IB  are implementing a design which requites much more explicit integration of the ATLs. They also now require the IB learner profiles to be linked to the unit plans. I spoke to both the school DP, and MYP coordinators about the IB structure and school policies.

The school policies which link in to the IB assessment requirements are to have assessment due dates significantly before the actual IB due dates. This helps ensure that the students submit their work on time, and are able to receive sufficient help to gain a passing grade.

The IBO requirements for MYP teachers are very similar. The stipulations for assessment are slightly different in MYP and the school policies align accordingly. Each of the MYP assessment criteria must be assessed twice during the school year, and teachers must plan units accordingly. The school policies also detail acceptable forms of feedback and assessment standardisation.
7.3 - Establish and maintain respectful collaborative relationships with parents/ carers regarding their children’s learning and wellbeing.
Emails to Parents

Once a week, emails are sent home to the students detailing the work done during the week, and any homework or ongoing assignments. These are also sent to the parents to effectively ensure they are kept aware of what is happening at school. If the parents are kept informed, the students are able to receive more support from home. It is also useful to keep parents informed in case work is handed in late. To ensure parent confidentiality in these emails, the parents are always blind copied into the email to ensure that no one else obtains their email addresses.

In some instances, emails may be sent to individual parents if a student has achieved a low grade in an assignment. I have had to communicate with parents twice for this reason. Below is an example of an email I sent to a student's parents. The names have been removed to maintain confidentiality.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. ________,

_______ recently completed a Science assignment on metal corrosion assessing criteria B (Inquiring and Designing) and D (Reflecting on the Impacts of Science). While ________ met the required standard in criterion B, he unfortunately received a level 2 for criterion D. We are however, assessing criterion D again in our next assignment for the Rock Our World unit. _________ has the opportunity here to score a higher grade if he addresses the feedback he received in our recent assignment.

Kind Regards,

Georgia Martin

It is important in these emails to ensure that there is an explanation of what has happened, but maintain positivity by explaining how the student can improve.
Phone Calls to Parents

Phone calls are also an effective method of maintaining parent contact. During my placement I have made a number of phone calls home to parents to help manage student behaviour.

In these phone calls it is important to deal with the issues sensitively and be aware of the types of language used. I began by introducing myself and explaining the situations and what I had done so far, and saying that I was concerned that the student behaviour/late submission of work would negatively affect the students' grades. 

I then spoke with the parent about what we could both do to ensure that the situation either did not continue, or would not escalate.

In these conversations it is also important to maintain confidentiality. The calls are always made in the office so that other students cannot overhear, and if other students are involved in situation, their names should not be introduced by the teacher.
7.4 - Participate in professional and community networks and forums to broaden knowledge and improve practice.
Community Information and PD Evenings

During the year at my current school, there are several informal opportunities to attend PD sessions with other members of the community. 

There have been a number of sessions on topics such as stress management, social media awareness, and grief counselling. 

​These have been wonderful opportunities not only for PD, but to engage with the school community about issues of common concern. 
Professional Development in Staff Meetings

During my time at the school, a number of PD sessions were held. One particular session was held during a staff meeting, and a presenter who worked with ClickView was brought in to inform the staff of new features and how the school could make the most of this resource.

In this instance, an external professional was beneficial as the staff were able to ask in-depth questions, and receive information about future developments to the resource. 

External professionals are a valuable source of PD as they will commonly have extensive knowledge of the area, and will be able to highlight new resources, and avenues of development for the staff to explore.