Law and Ethics for the Classroom Teacher

Syllabus TCED 6959:

 

Randy L. Hoover, Instructor

2210 Beeghly College of Education

(941-3260)

DrRHoo@cisnet.com

http://cc.ysu.edu/~rlhoover/ClassConnections

 

Prerequisite:  Admission to the School of Graduate Studies

 

Catalog Description:  Examination of the legal, ethical, and civic dimensions and interrelations in teaching and schooling from the standpoint of the roles of the teacher and student.   (3 s.h.)

 

Course Purpose: The purpose of this course is to empower practitioners with a critically reflective sense of how law, ethics, and citizenship education affect the contexts and activities of teaching and schooling.  It is intended to serve the notions of  civic education and constitutional education as they relate to the activities of classroom teachers.  Likewise, this course serves to help the participants to conceptualize the arenas of ethics and civic education as they relate to the legal regulations and entitlements of teachers and students.  In addition to the examining the explicit elements of these three dimensions, the course will serve to expose how they interrelate in terms of curriculum and learning outcomes.

 

Course Overview: The course will address regulation of the behavior, speech, and appearance of students, religious freedom, discrimination based on race and sex, teacher employment rights and tort liability.  These issues are examined in the light of  professional ethics, civic education, Ohio school law, and constitutional law.  The course format is lecture/discussion, role-playing, simulation, and small-group activity.

 

Texts: Teachers and the Law.  Louis Fischer, David Schimmel, and Cynthia Kelly

            Democratic Discipline: Foundation and Practice. R.  Hoover & R. Kindsvatter

            Democracy and Education, John Dewey

            Truth and Credibility: A Citizens Dilemma.  Harry Broudy

            The Civic Imperative:  Examining the Need for Civic Education. Pratte, R.  (1988). 

 

WWW: http://cc.ysu.edu/~rlhoover/ClassConnections

             http://www.cisnet.com/teacher-ed

             http://www.findlaw.com

             http://w.ode.ohio.gov/wwwreptcard/    

 

Topics

 

Relations across the legal, ethical, and civic dimensions of teaching and schooling:

¥     Legal Contexts

¥     Ethical Contexts

¥     Civic Education

¥     Conflicts, contradictions, and compatibilities

 

The Legal Context of Classroom Teaching:

¥     Teacher contracts

¥     Collective Bargaining

¥     Reasons and due process for dismissal

¥     Rights of association and collective bargaining

¥     Academic freedom

¥     Speech inside and outside the classroom

¥     Censorship

¥     Freedom in personal life

¥     Liability for student injuries

¥     Libel and slander

¥     Student records and privacy

¥     Certification and licensure

¥     Regulation of student behavior

¥     Due process in disciplinary practices

¥     Regulation of student speech and publications

¥     Compulsory school attendance laws

¥     High Stakes Testing and pupil personnel records

¥     Copyright laws

¥     Child abuse and neglect

¥     Racial discrimination

¥     Discrimination based on sex

¥     Freedom of religion

¥     Rights of the handicapped

¥     Legal accountability of teachers and students

¥     Proprietary, parochial, private, and charter schools

¥     EMIS and Ohio School Net

 

      The Ethical Context of Classroom Teaching:

¥     The Pedagogical Imperative

¥     Ethics, Values, and Morality

¥     Principled Behavior

¥     Democratic Foundation of Discipline

¥     Ethical Foundation of Discipline

¥     Professional Ethics

¥     Critical Constructivism and radical behaviorism

 

Grading and Evaluation

30%         Group Case Projects. (To be presented in class.)

50%         Final Project

20%         Class participation based on the professional judgment of the instructor.

 

Other:

Anyone requiring special adaptations or accommodations should inform the instructor as soon as possible. In accordance with University procedure, if you have a documented disability and require accommodations to obtain equal access in this course, please contact the office of Equal Opportunity and Disability Services at the beginning of the semester or when given an assignment for which an accommodation is required. Students with disabilities must verify their eligibility through the Office of Disability Services' (330-941-1372) intake procedure.

 

Instructional Objectives

The students will:

      Compare and contrast the legal, ethical, and civic domains existing both implicitly and explicitly in classrooms and schools.

      Distinguish among legal, ethical, and civic education activities of teaching and schooling.

      Understand and deal with the contradictions, conflicts, and compatibilities of the three domains.

      Demonstrate understanding of the legal basis and context of classroom teachers.

      Recognize when they or the school have violated the rights of students.

      Know the procedures and agencies that should be involved in redress of these violations.

      Evaluate their own and the school's behavior in light of ethical practice.

      Understand their professional and contractual rights and responsibilities.

      Know the proper avenues and procedures for redress of contract violations.

      Recognize the constitutional principles undergirding student and teacher rights and responsibilities.

      Compare and contrast the role of the Federal government and state government in the legal context of schooling.

      Understand the history and effect of collective bargaining relative to school personnel.

      Define and analyze legal basis for dismissal.

      Show fluent understanding of the principle of academic freedom.

      Discriminate between restricted and unrestricted freedom of speech as it applies to teachers and students.

      Understand the difference in the application of Constitutional rights between the public and private sectors.

      Distinguish and understand the legal differences among libel, slander, and liability.

      Recognize the requirements licensure under the new Ohio Standards.

      Apply the principles of Due Process to the context of schooling and teaching.

      Understand and value the nature and ramifications of high-stakes testing.

      Know and apply principles of copyright law.

      Understand the educatorÕs responsibility under child abuse and neglect laws.

      Understand and apply legal principles affecting discrimination across race, class, gender, disability, and age.

      Know the legal commonalties, differences and distinctions across proprietary, parochial, private, and charter schools.

      Understand and value EMIS and Ohio School Net as supplements to understanding OhioÕs legal context for schooling.

      Apply the principle of the pedagogical imperative across legal, ethical, and civic education domains of teaching and schooling.

      Distinguish between teacher/student activities that are deskilling or that are empowering.

      Define and distinguish principles among the ethics, values, and morality.

      Discriminate between family values and the value of family; community values and the value of community; legal values and the value of democratic principles.

      Define and act on the concept of principled behavior.

      Compare and contrast principles of democratic discipline, ethical discipline, and legal discipline.

      Develop activities that facilitate civic education within the framework of the Constitutional initiative.

      Understand and apply principles of professional ethics both formal and personal.

      Understand and value the principle of teacher advocacy and empowerment as applied to professional associations and unions.

      Apply the principle of accountability/decision latitude ratio to legal, ethical, and civic education domains.

      Value the differences between radical behaviorism and critical constructivism across the legal, ethical, and civic education domains.

      Distinguish between ideology and philosophy and also hegemony and discourse in shaping teacher and student views of the legal, ethical, and civic education domains.

     

Course Reference List

 

Aronowitz, S., & Giroux, H.  (1993).  Education still under siege (2nd ed.).  Westport, CT:  Bergin & Garvey.

 

Baker, R., and Carey, K.  (1993).  (Current) Handbook of Ohio school law.  Cincinnati:  Anderson Publishing Company.

 

Bennett, K. P., & LeCompte, M. D.  (1990).  The way schools work:  A sociological analysis of education.  New York:  Longman

 

Broudy, Harry. (1982) Truth and Credibility: A citizenÕs dilemma.

 

Cherryholmes, C. H.  (1988).  Power and criticism:  Poststructural investigations in education.  In Advances in Contemporary Educational Thought, Vol. 2.  New York:  Teachers College Press.

 

Deskbook encyclopedia of American school law.  (1990).  Rosemount, Minnesota:  Data Research, Inc.

 

Fischer, L, Schimmel, D., & Kelly, C.  (1995).  Teachers and the law.  New York:  Longman Publishers.

 

Hoover, R. & Kindsvatter, R. (1997).  Democratic Discipline: Foundation and Practice.  NJ: Prentice Hall.

 

Hoover, R. (1999). Teaching Methods for Empowerment: The Pedagogical Imperative.  NJ: Prentice Hall.

 

Rothstein, L.  (1995).  Special education law (2nd ed.).  New York:  Longman Publishers.

 

Pratte, R.  (1977).  Ideology and education.  New York, NY:  David McKay Co.

 

Pratte, R.  (1988).  The civic imperative:  Examining the need for civic education. Advances in Contemporary Educational Thought, 3.  New York, NY:  Teachers College Press.

 

Spring, J.  (1986).  The American school 1642-1985.  New York, NY:  Longman.

 

Vandenberg, D.  (1990).  Education as a human right:  A theory of curriculum and pedagogy.  In Advances in Contemporary Educational Thought, Vol. 6.  New York:  Teachers College Press.