Earlier this semester, students at the Harvard Graduate School of Education launched EdEthics Students at HGSE, a new group aimed at fostering engagement in education-based policy and practice within an ethical framework.
The organization is led by HGSE master's student Molly Wuerz and focuses on the newly emerging field of educational ethics. HGSE Professor Mayra Levinson helped pioneer this field, which has continued to develop over the past decade.
Levinson, who was a middle school teacher in Boston Public Schools earlier in her career, became concerned about the lack of ethical guidance for educators and founded HGSE's official EdEthics organization, also known as “Justice in Schools.” He said he did. ”
This organization and the field as a whole studies ethical decision-making specific to the work that educational leaders and policy makers do.
“As a teacher, I was constantly faced with ethical dilemmas in my work, but I never had the opportunity to talk about them,” Levinson said. “In fact, I would be a little embarrassed to admit that I was often unsure of what to do morally.”
Inspired by Levinson's research principles, master's student Molly Wertz founded HGSE's Educational Ethics Students to provide an access point for students wishing to join the field. The kickoff event, held in early February, attracted more than 50 attendees and featured a panel discussion featuring four Harvard-affiliated companies with expertise in educational ethics.
Wertz, who has 10 years of teaching experience in various fields, said she has been “abandoned by the institution” and is determined to serve her future students in the best way possible.
Wertz said that while established codes of ethics are common in professional fields such as law and medicine, such codes of ethics are often unclear or non-existent in educational settings.
“This is what I really fell in love with during my time at HGSE: a whole new range of things for educators that weren't necessarily talked about, that they weren't trained on, and that I didn't get in my own education training. The concept is to explore the field,” Wertz added.
EdEthics Director of Outreach Elizabeth Block said ethics instruction is essential in today's polarized climate and cited book banning, LGBTQ+ issues, artificial intelligence and the climate crisis as issues of contention in education. .
Block likened this emerging field to bioethics. Bioethics did not exist before the 1960s and is now an important component of patient care.
“We want to do something similar with education ethics. In 10 years, for example, we would like to see education ethicists working with new education ethicists, not just universities, but schools, policy makers, and states. We're going to be training educators.'The profession,'' Block said.
Brandon VanBibber, HGSE master's student and vice president of Educational Ethics Students, emphasized the importance of long-term sustainability for the new group. Both Mr. VanBibber and his Mr. Wuerz plan to resign from their positions soon, as he has a one-year commitment to HGSE's master's program.
“We're spending this semester really thinking about what works and what doesn't in terms of events and student engagement,” VanBiver said, adding that the Ed School's Ph.D. He cited efforts to build partnerships with institutions. .LD candidate.
Aaron Diaz, an Ed.LD student and elementary school principal in Mississippi, said that although Mississippi requires a code of ethics for educators, educators often have to balance personal judgment with legal standards. He said he had to take it.
Diaz said he felt it would be more effective to guide decisions based on the best interests of students, even in states like Mississippi that have honor codes for teachers.
“I think it would have been better to take the lead on that and basically appeal to the hearts and consciences of the staff,” he said.
Wertz said he hopes the influence of educational ethics will continue to grow in the future.
“Education is the only profession that affects everyone,” she added. “No one goes through life without interacting with an educator in some way, shape, or form.”
—Staff writer Katie B. Tian can be reached at katie.tian@thecrimson.com.
