A study of professional ethics from the point of view of secondary school counselors

Master's thesis in the field of

Philosophy of Education

Abstract

The study of professional ethics from the perspective of secondary school counselors

The purpose of this research is to examine the study of professional ethics from the perspective of secondary school counselors. This research was conducted in a qualitative paradigm using the dominant-less dominant model. In this model, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods is used. Data collection in the qualitative part was done by semi-in-depth interview method, in which the study subjects were selected in a targeted manner. The data collection in the low-dominant part, that is, the quantitative part, was also done using the researcher-made professional ethics scale of counselors, which was built based on the theoretical foundations in the field of professional ethics and the statutes of the psychology system organization, in the statistical population of secondary school counselors. To analyze the data in the qualitative part of the inductive content analysis method and in the quantitative part of the variance analysis of repeated measurements, the t-test for independent groups and the Pearson correlation coefficient were used.

The results of the research showed that the counselors attract the student, gain his trust, pay attention to the client's conditions, communicate verbally, be realistic, pay attention to the client's needs, be kind, do not blame, honesty, motivation, lack of value judgment, provide positive and favorable outcomes, induce Personal abilities of the individual, non-abuse of references and commitment, establishing non-verbal communication and having a private space are among the tips and things that should be observed in relation to students. They have prioritized establishing equality, prioritizing clients based on problems, and providing thoughtful services (diagnosing people with problems in schools by counselors) to students. They also called confidentiality one of the most important principles of professional ethics and allowed the necessity of providing student information to other groups only in two cases (suicide and suicide). He considered the degree of adherence of consultants to the principles of professional ethics to be positive and believes that the obstacles to complying with these principles are: remaining unknown to the role of the consultant, neglecting compromise counseling, lack of awareness of the role of the consultant. The reasons for the importance of professional ethics from the point of view of counselors were mentioned as professional ethics being a prerequisite for counseling, observing order, correcting students, increasing the motivation to refer, removing obstacles, not judging non-specialists. Quantitative research results have been analyzed using spss software. The results obtained indicate that the highest average of the dominant dimension of the professional ethics of consultants is non-injury. Also, there is a positive and meaningful relationship between age and honesty and establishing equality. In addition to that, there is a significant difference between gender and dimensions of professional ethics, only in the dimension of honesty.

Key words: professional ethics - school counselors - secondary level

Introduction

Long-term human history confirms that ethics is one of the phenomena that has appeared in history since the beginning of official civilizations and has a long past. This phenomenon has continued until now and continues to exist in human societies. Staying away from morals is the beginning of war, oppression and calamity. Since a long time ago, mankind has come to the knowledge that living according to ethics ensures mental health, improves social relations and human excellence. Man has learned to enact laws in support of morality so that adherence to morality is institutionalized. Living according to moral principles encompasses all aspects of personal and social life, including ethical interaction with oneself, family ethics, citizenship ethics, business ethics, ethics in political activities, and international relations are examples of the dimensions of ethical life. The purpose of professional ethics is a set of rules that people must follow voluntarily and based on the call of their conscience and nature in doing professional work; Without having an external requirement or in case of violation, they will be subject to legal punishments (Amiri et al., 1389: 139). The major part of the teachings of the prophets throughout history has been the necessity of adherence and commitment to ethics in all fields, including profession and occupation. Today, the discussion of professional ethics[1] is one of the most important discussions in the field of ethics.

On the other hand, there is no institution or profession that is able to continue its legitimate life without ethics, which defines the boundaries of conduct and normal behavior. The ethics of every society determines the criteria of its dos and don'ts and guides the social man in the path of his future life towards perfection, virtue and happiness. Ethics has both a religious origin and is influenced by custom, culture, history and other social phenomena. In fact, between these concepts and social phenomena and ethics, there is a permanent interaction that causes the principles, values ??and norms of the society to be refined over time and to form justified and acceptable patterns of individual and collective behavior.

Although the profession has been implicitly associated with the promotion of the necessity of human commitment to perform moral duties in the form of material activities and this world. But it seems that the turning point and the peak of professional ethics in the West can be traced to the opinions of Luther [2] and it was suddenly after the Renaissance that applied ethics became the focus of attention in the Western world and perhaps it can be considered as one of the fruits of the religious reform era (Rismanbaf, 2008: 57). Therefore, what is called professional ethics today includes sets of rules and values. It is the tasks of behavior and behavior and instructions for its implementation, which are compiled in the form of moral rules or regulations (Nishath, 1381: 111-138). Codified ethical codes include the goals and responsibilities of professional groups and explain professional ethics standards as an impartial and unbiased tool. Being an ethical expert not only requires an understanding of ethical rules in the field of professions, but also considers them necessary to interpret them consciously for the professional situations they face. On the other hand, counselors, with a better understanding of ethical standards and principles, step on a path that as they progress, they face new ethical questions and ambiguities, which, examining and answering them, leads them to higher standards. Of course, there is a big difference between simply following moral standards and having a practical commitment to high moral standards. Ethical obligations require ethical performance, and the promotion of ethical standards requires achieving desirable standards of behavior. Counselors who are committed to high-level ethical standards are trying to provide any kind of professional service to their clients.

Since the range of topics in the field of professional ethics is very wide and diverse, the present research aims to examine professional ethics from the perspective of school counselors; Because consultants have a double duty. On the one hand, they should be able to take on the role of a consultant and on the other hand, consider their educational role and be able to implement the necessary coordination between these two roles. This work can be consulting, research, teaching, writing or any other work. Every organization has codes of practice and behavior with the structure of common words for its members that they must follow. In other words, professional ethics are a set of principles and standards of human behavior that determine the behavior of individuals and groups (Sahraei, 2006). The most dangerous human event is moral degeneration and the breaking of moral boundaries. In this case, nothing will be safe and human humanity will collapse, and this has a special and dangerous place in administrative affairs. Because when a person goes out of the individual range and is connected with other people and this connection takes an administrative form, if good morals do not govern human relations, the disaster will multiply. This is the reason why the highest criterion in any administrative organization is to be humane.

Many of the behaviors and actions of counselors and psychologists are influenced by moral values ??and are rooted in ethics. Failure to pay attention to work ethics [3] in counselors and psychologists can create big problems for schools. One of the basic problems is the inattention of school counselors to work ethics and weakness in observing ethical principles in dealing with clients and external stakeholders, which can create problems for schools and question their legitimacy and actions. Weak work ethic is effective on people's attitudes towards jobs, organizations and managers and can affect individual, group and organizational performance (Arasteh et al., 2010: 32).