New ethics code: 22 behaviours prohibited to educators in Abu Dhabi

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

It is imperative that all personnel employed within educational institutions in Abu Dhabi consistently exhibit integrity, respect, impartiality, and ethical conduct.

This obligation extends to all aspects of their professional engagement, encompassing both the classroom environment and their interactions with colleagues, community members, including parents, and fellow educators.

The Department of Education and Knowledge in Abu Dhabi has emphasised that educators are obligated to collaborate with their peers in the best interests of students and the teaching profession, in accordance with the policies established by the Department concerning the integrated safety of staff within educational facilities and the behavioural expectations for students.

The recently implemented professional ethics policy in Abu Dhabi schools has identified 22 unprofessional behaviours that are strictly prohibited for educators in Abu Dhabi schools. These behaviours are categorised within six distinct criteria, including respect for national identity and Emirati cultural values, relationships with co-workers, legal obligations, digital activities, community protection, and interaction with the community.

Six distinct criteria

The policy is clear: educators must foster an atmosphere of respect and appreciation for all members of their school community. Unprofessional behaviour includes the following five prohibitions: Discriminating against or harassing members of the school community or the environment, discriminating against pregnant or recently delivered staff, engaging in behaviours or activities that lead to indoctrination and promote religious/political extremism, racism, bullying and all other forms of discrimination. This includes dressing in a way that is considered culturally insensitive (e.g. dressing immodestly) and violating the school dress code.

In addition, behaving in a way that contradicts the professional and ethical code for workers in public education institutions. Professional behaviour includes showing respect for individuals from different religious, ethnic or cultural backgrounds, taking all necessary measures to ensure that classrooms and other workplaces are free from all forms of discrimination, and treating all students and colleagues equally.

In accordance with the Relationships with Colleagues standard, educators are obliged to collaborate with their peers in the best interests of students and the teaching profession. Unprofessional behaviour in this standard is prohibited and includes the following four prohibitions.

Harassing a colleague verbally or physically, including any inappropriate behaviour that makes a colleague feel uncomfortable or unsafe, spreading rumours or damaging a colleague's reputation, disclosing confidential information about a colleague, deliberately excluding a colleague from work-related activities or professional information, preventing colleagues from performing their official duties. Professional behaviour includes, for example: encouraging and supporting colleagues to adopt high professional standards, collaborating with other teachers in a way that promotes a positive professional environment, and helping to prepare and mentor new teachers.

The third criterion, regarding legal obligations, emphasised that educators are bound to adhere to government laws and regulations at all times, as they are obligated to report any violations of these laws to the relevant authorities.

Unprofessional behaviour is prohibited by five regulations, which include the fabrication or misrepresentation of professional qualifications or work experience; the presentation of someone else's work as one's own; plagiarism and intellectual theft; the deliberate violation or disregard of applicable laws; the participation in the covering up of a reported violation; the provision of comments or statements that could harm the reputation of the department, school or colleagues; and the provision of private lessons to students registered in the school where they work as teachers.

Conversely, professional behaviour encompasses a commitment to honesty and integrity during professional activities, awareness of and adherence to the laws, regulations and policies of the UAE relevant to their field of work, and the acquisition of a permit to work as a private teacher according to the stipulations of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation when practicing private tuitions after duty time.

The fourth criterion on digital activities indicates that educators must adhere to good practices in digital activities to ensure the protection of their own and their students' digital safety. Unprofessional behaviour includes two prohibitions: the inappropriate use of work devices in violation of the school's responsible use policy, and the sharing of screenshots or student work that contains personally identifiable information and data. Professional behaviour includes, for example, commitment to continuous professional development, engaging with students in assessing the reliability of digital information, using AI technologies responsibly and ethically, helping students understand what cyberbullying consists of and how to identify whether they are victims or perpetrators, avoiding plagiarism, monitoring the use of plagiarised material in student work and implementing positive corrective measures.

The fifth criterion on protecting the community emphasises that educators will not participate in or facilitate any form of mistreatment of students or staff inside and outside the school, nor will they fail to report any incident of mistreatment that they witness. Unprofessional behaviour is subject to four prohibitions, for example, inappropriate comments or physical contact, even in a playful or joking manner, mistreatment of students or staff in any way, failure to report an incident of mistreatment of students or staff witnessed in any way, and facilitation of mistreatment of students in any way. Conversely, professional behaviour encompasses reporting to the relevant authorities when identifying any incident or suspicion of student or staff mistreatment, raising awareness about best practices with students to identify and report mistreatment, and ensuring that classrooms and the school building are safe places for students.

The sixth criterion on interaction with the community indicates that educators must participate and contribute effectively to the promotion of integrated safety within the school and the community. This is achieved by the promotion of civilised behaviour and civic duty, with the objective of effecting positive change within the community at the social, economic, cultural, or other levels.

Unprofessional behaviour is defined as the use of social issues to motivate students to act in extremist ways or to join organisations that can be considered extremist groups, and the use of social issues for personal gain through fraud (e.g. raising donations through crowd funding platforms for illegitimate reasons).Conversely, professional behaviour includes, for example, dedicating time to volunteering for social issues, contributing to environmental and sustainability initiatives, and participating in continuous professional development activities to improve interaction with and contribution to the community.