Conduct unbecoming a teacher: A study of the ethics of teaching in America

Though the field of education has more often been concerned with understanding the institutional restrictions placed upon the conduct of students, the role(s) that teachers can play and the role(s) that teachers do play are very much caught up in what they ought and ought not do, who and what they ought and ought not be. The purpose of this study is to come to a better understanding of what is meant by current and historical usages of the term conduct unbecoming a teacher as it has been used to regulate teacher behavior through laws, public policies, and in the public media. In a comprehensive study of court records of conduct unbecoming charges wagered at police officers, military officers, and teachers in the period from 1980-2005, this study defines unbecoming behavior for each of these three professions (by compiling and comparing the statues, regulations, laws, and court proceedings that have wagered a conduct unbecoming charge), compares the usages the term among and between the professions, and analyzes how teachers have fared against the other two comparison groups when it comes to unbecoming accusations. In sum, the study shows that, in fact, conduct unbecoming a teacher charges more often operate as a secondary layer of moral rebuke for serious crimes that could have been prosecuted under the typology of other, existing laws. The study suggests, however, that the vagueness of the term conduct unbecoming a teacher and its history of being involved in the over-scrutiny of teachers private lives has caused unbecoming statues to be perceived as broader threat to personal liberty. In the end, it is argued that the usage of term as seen in the cases of the last 25 years serves no worthwhile purpose

Conduct unbecoming a teacher: A study of the ethics of teaching in America

Though the field of education has more often been concerned with understanding the institutional restrictions placed upon the conduct of students, the role(s) that teachers can play and the role(s) that teachers do play are very much caught up in what they ought and ought not do, who and what they ought and ought not be. The purpose of this study is to come to a better understanding of what is meant by current and historical usages of the term conduct unbecoming a teacher as it has been used to regulate teacher behavior through laws, public policies, and in the public media. In a comprehensive study of court records of conduct unbecoming charges wagered at police officers, military officers, and teachers in the period from 1980-2005, this study defines unbecoming behavior for each of these three professions (by compiling and comparing the statues, regulations, laws, and court proceedings that have wagered a conduct unbecoming charge), compares the usages the term among and between the professions, and analyzes how teachers have fared against the other two comparison groups when it comes to unbecoming accusations. In sum, the study shows that, in fact, conduct unbecoming a teacher charges more often operate as a secondary layer of moral rebuke for serious crimes that could have been prosecuted under the typology of other, existing laws. The study suggests, however, that the vagueness of the term conduct unbecoming a teacher and its history of being involved in the over-scrutiny of teachers private lives has caused unbecoming statues to be perceived as broader threat to personal liberty. In the end, it is argued that the usage of term as seen in the cases of the last 25 years serves no worthwhile purpose

Chant, Liturgy, and the Inheritance of Rome : Essays in Honour of Joseph Dyer

Daniel J. DiCenso is a co-editor of this book. This volume of nineteen essays takes a cross-disciplinary approach to one of the most celebrated and vexing questions about plainsong and liturgy in the Middle Ages: how to understand the influence of Rome?https://crossworks.holycross.edu/hc_books/1008/thumbnail.jp

The MEMA kwa Vijana project: design of a community randomised trial of an innovative adolescent sexual health intervention in rural Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: Effective interventions to reduce the incidence of HIV, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unwanted pregnancy among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa are urgently needed. This paper describes the rationale and design of a randomised trial of the impact of an innovative sexual health intervention among adolescents in rural Mwanza Region, Tanzania. METHODS: The MEMA kwa Vijana intervention comprises a teacher-led, peer-assisted sexual health education programme for students in the last 3 years of primary school, training and supervision of health workers in the provision of youth-friendly health services, peer condom promotion and distribution, and wider community activities. Detailed process evaluation was conducted and the impact of the intervention was evaluated through a community-randomised trial in which a cohort of 9645 adolescents was followed up for 3 years. Both process and impact evaluation used multiple assessment methods. Impact measures included incidence and prevalence of HIV and other STIs, pregnancy rates, knowledge and reported attitudes and sexual behaviour, as well as qualitative assessments. RESULTS: Results of the baseline survey of the cohort have been presented previously. The outcome of the trial will be reported separately. CONCLUSIONS: Behaviour change interventions among adolescents have been widely advocated, but there have been few rigorously designed trials of their effectiveness, particularly in developing countries, and measurement of sexual behaviour is particularly problematic in this age group. The MEMA kwa Vijana trial was undertaken to address these problems and to collect rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of an innovative intervention, designed to be implemented on a very large scale