Week 28 - Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice

I have chosen an incident, which triggered an ethical dilemma in a past incident that I became involved in and will reflect using Rolfe et al's (2001) ethical decision-making model, which has 3 parts.

What is the problem? In this incident I was working with a small group of troubled teenagers at a Girls High School who I had established a positive working relationship and understanding with.  Cell phones were becoming a necessity in their lives they thought ..however with no means of purchasing one they often "borrowed " friends one. 
Unexpectedly we had an addition to the class one day who was disruptive and had been removed from mainstream for her 'safety'. Unbeknown to me during a morning break she managed to get my cell phone from my locked drawer and summoned her "sisters" from outside the school to deal to some other student. 
The situation got ugly, the police became involved and I was accused by her of ringing the girls on my phone. The "sisters" confirmed my phone number.
(It was the police who managed to get my phone back some 3 hours later.) It had been used to order drugs, bully the targetted girl and photos taken and sent out of the ensuing fight.  

So What?
Those impacted by the incident were apart from myself the new girl who had stolen my phone, the targetted girl and my class. As stated in our "Our code our Standards" (2017) Manaakitanga the creation of a welcoming, caring and creative learning environment that treats and respects everyone with dignity is the foundation of our schools. Allowing this incident to go on unchallenged would have condoned the actions of a few who hadn't respected the belongings and rights of others. As the teacher I was responsible for the wellbeing of my charges to model Pono Our code our standards (2017) by showing integrity and fairness in my actions to everyone. I challenged the sisters who arrived in the class and became abusive and called for support from Truancy officers and management.The use of Digital media escalated a situation that needed police involvement. A situation that could have possibly been diffused with time.

Now what?
The targetted girl needed support and protection and this was done later through the counsellor and some senior students and friends. Enforcing school rules for the safety of everyone was needed and this was dealt with from management.  Mediation discussions took place with the 2 girls to ensure full and frank communication took place to remove any misunderstanding that may have been present. Consequences for the theft and use of my phone resulted in a stand down and the girl returned, spending 2 weeks in our room getting to know us as a group. Mediation wasn't formal but she participated in all activities and resulted in a positive response from the student when returning to her class. For myself, I changed my number got a phone that could be locked and traced and became very aware of how the spoken word on media is irretrievable.  A digital phone is a wonderful tool that in the uneducated and unethical hands, can cause such harm and often anonymously. Education in digital Etiquette is so essential today and can't start early enough in schools.   








Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D. and Jasper, M. (2001). Critical reflection in nursing and the helping professions: a user’s guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Education Council. (2017). Our Code Our Standards.
Retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%
20Standards%20web%20booklet%20FINAL.pdf