Responses of School Psychologists and Special Education Teachers to Administrative Pressures to Practice Unethically

Abstract

Responses of school psychologists (N = 141) and special educators (N = 130) to ethical dilemmas involving conflicts between administrative directives and ethical obligations were examined. Respondents completed a survey asking them to predict their own and others' responses to four ethical dilemmas. The majority of respondents predicted that they, immediate colleagues, and professional peers would make the choices judged as ethical in all situations. Predictions of ethical response were highest for self prediction and varied across the four dilemmas. Respondents who viewed their immediate colleagues as supportive of autonomous decision making were more likely to predict ethical choices than those who viewed their colleagues as supporting deference to administrative authority. No differences in predictions related to gender, degree level, job security, preservice training in or

Strategies School Practitioners Report They Would Use to Resist Pressures to Practice Unethically

“…For the quantitative study reported in Helton et al (2000), participants predicted their own and others' responses to each dilemma by choosing one of two possible options. For each dilemma, one option provided by the authors represented an ethical response while the other option provided represented an unethical response.…”

“…Previous research (e.g., Helton et al, 2000;Kelman & Hamilton, 1989) suggests that several factors must be in place before practitioners can cope appropriately with administrative pressures to practice unethically. These factors include the ability to recognize situations posing ethical dilemmas, the motivation to honor ethical obligations, and the skills to do so.…”

“…Our own research on this topic (as reported in Helton, Ray & Biderman, 2000) involved a national survey of school psychologists and special education teachers. The survey involved written descriptions of four ethical dilemmas involving administrative pressures to practice unethically.…”

“…To supplement the quantitative analysis (Helton et al, 2000), the current study presents a qualitative analysis of strategies these same respondents stated they would use to resist administrative pressures to practice unethically. The purpose of this study was to examine strategies respondents proposed as appropriate responses to ethical dilemmas of this type.…”

Administrative Pressures to Practice Unethically: Research and Suggested Strategies

“…Our own research on the topic of administrative pressures to practice unethically is described in two articles (Helton & Ray, 2005b;Helton, Ray, & Biderman, 2000) and two conference papers (Helton & Ray, 2005a;Helton & Ray, 2007). The remainder of this article summarizes this research and makes some suggestions for practice.…”