Instructors' Code of Conduct and Ethics

[Archtkd]

I am in the process of revamping our instructors code of conduct and ethics and doing a little research on teh matter, when I stumbled on this example from the British Taekwondo Council. http://www.tkdcouncil.com/Downloads/WEB-BTC Policy-CodeofConduct.pdf.

The BTC document made me think: do any of the big Taekwondo organizations in the U.S, or the Kukkiwon for that matter, have a published code of conduct and ethics for instructors? The document would cover such things as fair business practices, sexual harassment, client/student confidentiality, handling students records, professionalism, etc. Maybe I’ve just not been lucky, but I don’t recall ever getting any teaching or serious advise about these issues – which are very important for aspiring instructors and dojang owners – from several grandmasters and masters I’ve trained under.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

 

[Bruno@MT]

I am not a big fan of such things, for the simple reason that to me, such things fall under common sense. sexual harassment is not something you should engage in, ever. No need to explicitly mention it again. Imo that is like specifying in the rules that you should not murder anyone, or that thieving gets you thrown out, etc. As an instructor, you should always strive to be a honorable man or woman, with the best interest of your students at heart. That should cover all bases.

As for student - teacher relationship: you are a trainer in a position of trust. There is no legal confidentiality requirement. Do what you think a honorable teacher should do. If your student is in trouble and you think police / parents / ... should be informed, then talk with the student ask them to take those steps or take them yourself. No confidentiality agreement absolves you from the moral consequences of keeping silent. And if your student tells you something (like e.g. he is outing himself as gay) then by the same token you are not required to tell anyone, and that includes the parents. Whether you break confidentiality or not should be based on the simple question: is it the right thing or not. You should not hide behind the policy and say 'hey, I can't help it I have to / could not tell.

And this is what I meant: As an instructor, you should always strive to be a honorable man or woman, with the best interest of your students at heart. That should cover all bases. Invent too many rules / red tape / code of conduct policies, and you'll limit yourself in your ability to do the honorable thing without breaking your own rules.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I

The BTC document made me think: do any of the big Taekwondo organizations in the U.S, or the Kukkiwon for that matter, have a published code of conduct and ethics for instructors??

I have seen a draft for ITF V . Not sure if it was finalized.

 

[Archtkd]

I am not a big fan of such things, for the simple reason that to me, such things fall under common sense. sexual harassment is not something you should engage in, ever. No need to explicitly mention it again. Imo that is like specifying in the rules that you should not murder anyone, or that thieving gets you thrown out, etc. As an instructor, you should always strive to be a honorable man or woman, with the best interest of your students at heart. That should cover all bases.

As for student - teacher relationship: you are a trainer in a position of trust. There is no legal confidentiality requirement. Do what you think a honorable teacher should do. If your student is in trouble and you think police / parents / ... should be informed, then talk with the student ask them to take those steps or take them yourself. No confidentiality agreement absolves you from the moral consequences of keeping silent. And if your student tells you something (like e.g. he is outing himself as gay) then by the same token you are not required to tell anyone, and that includes the parents. Whether you break confidentiality or not should be based on the simple question: is it the right thing or not. You should not hide behind the policy and say 'hey, I can't help it I have to / could not tell.

Good post, but what might appear to be an issue of common sense to you may not be common sense to your employee, instructors , assistant instructors, juniors, etc. Also the common sense in your (dojang owner, instructor) mind does not lay out the consequences of not using common sense. I thinks that's the reason many employers require employees to sign codes of conduct and ethics annually. I did this for 14 years while working as a journalist

Actually what would be wrong with taking some of the exact things you wrote in your post and using them as part of a guildeline for your dojang's employees and instructors? The key word here is guideline.

There's a caveat to all that: I consider good Taekwondo dojangs to be professional places of business. Some of us might not look at dojangs that way.

 

[StudentCarl]

For those involved, this is a topic included in the USAT Coach's Edge Seminar this year. Whether a written Code is used or not, it is important to discuss what is and isn't acceptable behavior. Sometimes behaviors that seem innocent leave the door open to problems down the road. At the seminar there were some interesting horror stories.

 

[Miles]

Not quite the same thing, but the Korea Taekwondo Association has or had an etiquette guide. This helps immensely when dealing with senior Korean instructors because it helps explain their culture. If you are interested, PM me and I will see if I can find a copy to email to you.

 

[granfire]

The ITA has a section in the (old) manual about those things. Have not read them in a while and only skimmed them anyhow (because I am a good girl!)

But yeah, the obvious things are covered so much so that they retain the right to take your rank if you violate the rules. (you are also subject to background check, not a bad thing when working with kids)

 

[Archtkd]

The ITA has a section in the (old) manual about those things. Have not read them in a while and only skimmed them anyhow (because I am a good girl!)

But yeah, the obvious things are covered so much so that they retain the right to take your rank if you violate the rules. (you are also subject to background check, not a bad thing when working with kids)

Where could I find a copy of the old ITA manual?

 

[IcemanSK]

I am not a big fan of such things, for the simple reason that to me, such things fall under common sense. sexual harassment is not something you should engage in, ever. No need to explicitly mention it again. Imo that is like specifying in the rules that you should not murder anyone, or that thieving gets you thrown out, etc. As an instructor, you should always strive to be a honorable man or woman, with the best interest of your students at heart. That should cover all bases.

As for student - teacher relationship: you are a trainer in a position of trust. There is no legal confidentiality requirement. Do what you think a honorable teacher should do. If your student is in trouble and you think police / parents / ... should be informed, then talk with the student ask them to take those steps or take them yourself. No confidentiality agreement absolves you from the moral consequences of keeping silent. And if your student tells you something (like e.g. he is outing himself as gay) then by the same token you are not required to tell anyone, and that includes the parents. Whether you break confidentiality or not should be based on the simple question: is it the right thing or not. You should not hide behind the policy and say 'hey, I can't help it I have to / could not tell.

And this is what I meant: As an instructor, you should always strive to be a honorable man or woman, with the best interest of your students at heart. That should cover all bases. Invent too many rules / red tape / code of conduct policies, and you'll limit yourself in your ability to do the honorable thing without breaking your own rules.

Codes of Conduct for instructors go beyond whether or not one teaches "morality" with their MA. It goes to good business practices & expectation management of all those who teach at the school. Quality control of instructors, expectation management for both students & instructors, as well as liability issues are all things that can be addressed but school Codes of Conduct.

As a school owner, it goes beyond making rules to promote quality of instruction, understanding among students & staff, & even possible liability issues that may arise. It's good business.

 

[granfire]

Where could I find a copy of the old ITA manual?

I will see if I can dig mine up and see what it exactly says.

(I moved a lto of stuff around, sometimes I can't find my head in the mornings...)

 

[Miles]

Here's a link to the KTA Code of Etiquette:
http://www.chaehooksung.com/public/etiquette.pdf

The Code was also printed in TKD Times years ago.

 

[d1jinx]

I agree that things that should be common sense shouldn't have to be said or written, murder, theft, sex offenses, that being said, we still have to put signs in the bathroom saying "wash hands" or "Flush Toilet". (not just in our schools, but in society and public places)

Some people lack the moral/ethical common sense that others may have. That being said, those people shouldn't be in our industry. They make us all look bad.

If they have no morals, honor, trust, or common sense, re-think having them around.

 

[granfire]

I agree that things that should be common sense shouldn't have to be said or written, murder, theft, sex offenses, that being said, we still have to put signs in the bathroom saying "wash hands" or "Flush Toilet". (not just in our schools, but in society and public places)

Some people lack the moral/ethical common sense that others may have. That being said, those people shouldn't be in our industry. They make us all look bad.

If they have no morals, honor, trust, or common sense, re-think having them around.

Well, you know those types of rules are set in place because the actual behavior leaves a lot to be desired....

 

[jks9199]

A written code of ethics also provides a benchmark for those outside of the organization to have some idea what the members should be and what sort of behavior is accepted.

 

[Kyosanim]

I am in the process of revamping our instructors code of conduct and ethics and doing a little research on teh matter, when I stumbled on this example from the British Taekwondo Council. http://www.tkdcouncil.com/Downloads/WEB-BTC Policy-CodeofConduct.pdf.

The BTC document made me think: do any of the big Taekwondo organizations in the U.S, or the Kukkiwon for that matter, have a published code of conduct and ethics for instructors? The document would cover such things as fair business practices, sexual harassment, client/student confidentiality, handling students records, professionalism, etc. Maybe I’ve just not been lucky, but I don’t recall ever getting any teaching or serious advise about these issues – which are very important for aspiring instructors and dojang owners – from several grandmasters and masters I’ve trained under.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

Yeah I would have to say no to that. Sorry but I'm one of those people who DO NOT SIGN THINGS! I'm even leery about online job apps. You could lose a lot people that way. I mean this is a free country ( I live in the US) and I'm not signing my rights away. It just comes down to over stepping bounds. What I do when I'm not in your dojang is none of your business. Basically what you are asking people to do is sign a manifesto. If they open a dojang its their's and you have no right dictate what they do with it.


Plus
"things as fair business practices, sexual harassment, client/student confidentiality, handling students records, professionalism, etc."

Is something that a person opening a business should know, and has to abide by because it is enforced by something call the LAW! NOT by TKD practitioners.

Sheesh do we have to be on the look out for TKD Nazis now? lol

Sorry to be blunt like that but thats how I feel about the matter.

 

[Archtkd]

Yeah I would have to say no to that. Sorry but I'm one of those people who DO NOT SIGN THINGS! I'm even leery about online job apps. You could lose a lot people that way. I mean this is a free country ( I live in the US) and I'm not signing my rights away. It just comes down to over stepping bounds. What I do when I'm not in your dojang is none of your business. Basically what you are asking people to do is sign a manifesto. If they open a dojang its their's and you have no right dictate what they do with it.

I'm a little lost? Who is signing their rights away? Why would I lose any business by trying to improve a set of standardized guidelines for employees or instructor who I pay or compensate in one way or the other? What exactly is the manifesto you are talking about?

Also, I find it odd for anyone in the Western World to make the broad statement " I do not sign things." Do you own any property? Do you lease any property? Do you a drive car? Do you provide services to anyone in consideration for payment? Are you employed? etc.. etc.?

 

[jks9199]

Yeah I would have to say no to that. Sorry but I'm one of those people who DO NOT SIGN THINGS! I'm even leery about online job apps. You could lose a lot people that way. I mean this is a free country ( I live in the US) and I'm not signing my rights away. It just comes down to over stepping bounds. What I do when I'm not in your dojang is none of your business. Basically what you are asking people to do is sign a manifesto. If they open a dojang its their's and you have no right dictate what they do with it.


Plus
"things as fair business practices, sexual harassment, client/student confidentiality, handling students records, professionalism, etc."

Is something that a person opening a business should know, and has to abide by because it is enforced by something call the LAW! NOT by TKD practitioners.

Sheesh do we have to be on the look out for TKD Nazis now? lol

Sorry to be blunt like that but thats how I feel about the matter.

I'll lay you odds that you sign more things than you realize, and that you've agreed to be held to standards that you aren't even really aware of...

However, I think you're over-reacting. The idea of a member of an association being expected to agree to the standards of conduct and behavior appropriate to their station within that organization. Lawyers are held to the bar association's standards of conduct, doctors to that of the medical association, and so on.