Responsibility to Students

• Educators can teach respect through encouraging a student's interest.Jupiterimages/Goodshoot/Getty Images
  
  A teacher's responsibility in school extends beyond imparting a curriculum standard for students. Florida regulations state, "The educator's primary professional concern will always be for the student and for the development of the student's potential."
  
  Teaching respect as a reciprocal concept can involve enforcing a conduct standard in the classroom such as raising hands to speak and paying attention when peers are asking questions. If a student expresses an interest in a particular classroom exercise, encouraging that interest shows the student respect is mutual.
  
  

Responsibility to the Profession

• Teachers are aware that their conduct both on and off the job can be a direct reflection on the teaching profession. Therefore, they are expected to maintain a conduct code that imparts trust and confidence. Limiting or prohibiting socializing with parents or students, for example, is a common expectation of teachers. Violating this or other expectations can jeopardize the trustworthiness of a teacher's status.
  
  Further, teachers are expected to maintain confidentiality in appropriate situations. This includes not communicating personal information a student has entrusted to the teacher unless the situation lawfully or professional mandates it, as with evidence of child abuse.
  
  

Responsibility to the Community

• In the Illinois conduct code, educators are expected to recognize they are trusted individuals in the community at large. As such they must "comply with state and federal codes, laws and regulations." This standard applies to maintaining good standing with the community as responsible citizens. Following traffic laws is one way to uphold this standard.
  
  Other states hold similar codes of ethics which teachers are expected to obey. Teachers also have a responsibility in the community to encourage citizens to become involved in educational policy changes.
  
  

Professional Misconduct

• The Massachusetts guidelines cite that educators "[s]hall not use professional relationships with students for private advantage."
  
  Pamela Smart's case gained national notoriety in 1990 when her husband was found murdered. Smart was a teacher in the New Hampshire school system who engaged in a sexual relationship with one of her male students. Together they plotted the murder of Smart's husband. She was sentenced to life in prison in March of 1992 as a result of her misconduct.
  
  While the majority of misconduct cases do not reach the caliber of Smart's case, educators are nationally encouraged and expected to uphold their professional code of ethics. Social networking sites are an example of forums where private information can be publicly scrutinized. Educators are cautioned to use discretion when using such tools.
  
  Any behavior that is considered to violate professional conduct codes can be subject to professional consequences such as suspension or termination.