Trustee Blog – Ethics and Social Responsibility

Submitted by Trustee Stacia Leech

January 31, 2022

The new year is a good time to reflect on what ethical decision-making means to the board of education from the perspective of governance.   What ethical principles guide our decisions and how do we ensure we are aware of the impact on students, families and community? 

Ethical considerations often arise around the issues of rights, obligations, fairness and integrity.

Something we might consider when a high impact decision is required, is the ethical intensity of an action – what is the scope of the decision – will a large number of people (families/students) be affected by this decision or will it have greater consequences for only some individuals and how do we balance those impacts?

Ethical decision making can also be influenced by the proximity of the effect – how close to us (social, psychological, cultural, physical distance) are those who will be affected by the decision?

In considering an issue it is sometime helpful to use the touchstone of the seven ethical principles (see below).

These principles move through a continuum of moral development from individual interest (ego centric) to societal interest (world centric).

As an education system we consider the question of how to support students to develop an awareness of ethics? How do we teach them to recognize which issues are ethical issues, how to develop internalized ethical principles to solve dilemmas, and to avoid the rationalizing of unethical behavior – “this isn’t really a moral issue and besides no one will ever find out”?

As children develop their social responsibility capacity they can begin to have an inner discernment or ‘knowing’ of the right (ethical) path so that decisions and actions are motivated by an internal ethical perspective.

Our responsibility as a board of education is to model a process that always takes the interests of others into account when making decisions.

Seven guiding principles for ethical decision making:

1.  Long term self- interest – never take any action this is not in the organizations long-term interest.
2.  Compassion – never take an action that is unkind or that harms a sense of community.
3.  Government (legal) requirements – never take an action that violates the law (laws represent the minimal moral standards of society)
4.  Individual rights – never take an action that infringes on others agreed-upon rights.
5.  Personal integrity – never do anything that is not honest, and truthful and that you would be embarrassed to see reported in the media.
6.  Distributed justice – never taking an action that harms the least fortunate (most vulnerable) in some way.
7.  Universal benefit – choose actions that create the greatest good for the greatest number.

Reference for the Seven Ethical guiding principles for decision making: Influences on Ethical Choices | Principles of Management (lumenlearning.com)