PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

By: Carmen Willings
teachingvisuallyimpaired.com
Revised May 16, 2017
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As with all professions, Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments will face ethical dilemmas and need to use personal and professional standards to handle these issues. Each person has their own code of ethics based on their personal set of beliefs and standards they use to guide their life. 

Ethical Principles

How people respond to ethical dilemmas is governed by their own internal belief system. Professional code of ethics guide professional practice. The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), has a code of ethics for educators of persons with special needs that can be found in their Ethical Principle and Practice Standards. ​

Principles include:

• maintaining challenging expectations;
• a high level of professional competence;
• promoting inclusion;
• practicing collegiality;
• developing respectful relationships with families;
• using evidence based instruction;
• ensuring safety;
• practicing within professional ethics and standards;
• advocating for professional conditions;
• engaging in improvement of the profession; and
• ​participating in growth and dissemination of professional knowledge and skills. 

Code of Ethics

AER established and adopted a code of ethics in 1992 for teachers of students with visual impairments, O&M specialists, rehabilitation teachers, and low vision therapists that can be found in the appendix section of Foundations of Education, Volume 1. The Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments Code of Ethics addresses:

• Commitment to Persons Served,
• Commitment to Community,
• Commitment to the Profession,
• Commitment to Colleagues,
• Fellow Professionals and the Professional Employer.

Persons who are certified to practice any of these professions must follow the specific code of ethics for their specialization. ​

Ethical Dilemmas

Ethical dilemmas will most likely be encountered throughout a professional’s career. When faced with an ethical dilemma, Kay Holbrook and Alan Koenig suggest the following strategies within Foundations of Education, Vol. 1, History and Theory of Teaching Children and Youths with Visual Impairments (PP. 263-264):

• Do what is right for all students on the basis of their individual needs and focus on these needs in everything you do. 
• Serve as an advocate for the student and his or her family. 
• Be a professional, not an employee. 
• Do not accept or condone the practice of allowing nonqualified persons or paraeducators to perform a teacher’s duties. 
• Advocate continually for high-quality and expanded services for students who are visually impaired.

     Following a carefully defined professional code of ethics and applying it throughout one’s professional life helps to ensure that the education offered to children and youths with disabilities is of the highest quality and that improvements are continually sought.” 
-Koenig & Holbrook, Foundations of Education, Vol. 1 p. 262

FREE VI Program Templates

Become a member for FREE to access the Printable VI Program Templates  to support your district's vision program. Simply click on Log In|Register in the navigation bar at the top of the page and follow the directions to register and create your password. ​

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Post a Job 

Due to the nationwide shortage of vision professionals, it can be challenging to locate personnel. Announce a job vacancy on the Job Exchange of Teaching Students with Visual Impairments, an online listing of jobs specific to the visual impairment field.

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About

Hi! I'm Carmen Willings. Welcome to my website! I developed this web resource to support fellow TVI's and to educate those new to the field of visual impairments in how to best support students who are blind or visually impaired.  ​Read More

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