Transcript Dr. Balchan Rampaul - Ethics and Integrity in Higher Education

ACTT’s 1st INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
QUALITY ASSURANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION
DAY 2: MAY 2ND 2013
3.20PM
THEATRE 2 - NAPA
Title: Ethics and Integrity in Higher
Education
Presenter: Dr. Balchan D. Rampaul
Trinidad and Tobago
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ETHICS AND INTEGRITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
DR. BALCHAN D. RAMPAUL
There is a centrality of Ethics (and its subcomponent, Integrity) that characterizes the
notion of education at all levels:
• preschool,
• primary,
• secondary,
• as well as higher education,
which cannot readily be ignored.
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ETHICS AND INTEGRITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
DR. BALCHAN D. RAMPAUL
Education is organised to improve "academic
performance and greater spiritual, social, and
cultural awareness of all students" and "the
development of well-rounded young citizens
who possess the basic knowledge, skills,
attitudes to themselves and society that would
make them responsible contributing members
of society." (The Education Plan- 1985 - 1990)
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ETHICS AND INTEGRITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
DR. BALCHAN D. RAMPAUL
"If we could really teach people not only to be
socially viable, but also to become seriously
attached to what is worthwhile, to conduct their
lives...with imagination and enthusiasm, and to
be genuinely able to love at least some
people...to find some genuine joy, excitement
and enjoyment in life...we should at least have
some idea of the enormous power that
education has in principle. (Wilson, 2000)
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ETHICS AND INTEGRITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
DR. BALCHAN D. RAMPAUL
R.S. Peters (1969) criteria for calling an activity educational:
(i) the intentional transmission of worthwhile knowledge and
skills to learners.
(ii) the transmission/transaction between teachers and
learners must be conducted in morally acceptable ways...to
bring about rational understanding on the part of learners.
It must be "accompanied by appropriate encouragement and
explanation".
It must be done/ practised in such a manner "as to respect
students' intellectual integtrity and capacity for independent
judgement" (Scheffler, 1970).
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ETHICS AND INTEGRITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
DR. BALCHAN D. RAMPAUL
Morally acceptable situations then can be
summarized as those in which learners feel free
and secure "to stick their necks out" in the
process of experimentation and discovery while
under the guidance of helpful and supportive
leaders, skilled to protect them from
humiliation, embarrassment, and failure.
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Strategies for deepening the development of
knowledge of practice
1. Building bridges between teachers/lecturers
understandings and students' learning,
2. Teachers/lecturers learning fro students about learning
3. Teachers/learners researching their own practice with a
view to its improvement
4. Teachers/lecturers engaging with the kinds of critical
self-reflection, critical reasoning and critical action
5. Teachers/lecturers understanding research on
students' learning, and deploying such knowledge in
their approaches to teaching.
THANK YOU