Ethical Dilemmas in Mentorship for Graduate Teaching Assistants

A dilemma is a situation where one has to make a (difficult) choice over more than one course of action. In other words, it's a personal contemplation over choosing available choices and usually a conflict of values. However, it is important that the distinction is made between personal and professional ethics and values (Congress, 1999). Further, when such an individual elects to become a member of a profession, he or she agrees to comply with the standards of the profession, including its code of ethics and values.

Moral Challenges in Mentoring Graduate Teaching Assistants

The dilemma I am intending to advance in this paper is not one affecting me individually but GTAs at the law school generally regarding lack of mentorship. This work looks at this dilemma, ethical issues that can arise from it, and options open to a solution. One may have a question as to whether mentorship has an effect on the quality of teaching in higher education (HE). The answer to this is affirmative, that quality and standards are not new in HE; it is fitness for purpose which we judge and which defines the quality we expect and approve (Green, 1994). The importance of quality and standards in teaching is specified in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), a tool used by the UK government among other things to assess the quality and standards of teaching in HE (Fry, 2014). Therefore, the quality of teaching cannot be compromised, and hence teachers in HE, whether new or experienced, are expected to keep up with such standards in order to maintain quality. However, if teachers are not well mentored (especially new teachers), then the quality of their academic practice becomes compromised.

Policies and Frameworks

The UK government has played an important role in focusing concern regarding teaching practice and standards which have been achieved following various policies in place (Macfarlane, 2002). Such policies include the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) for teaching and supporting learning in HE 2011, which aims among other things to support the initial and continuing professional development of staff engaged in teaching and supporting learning. The facets of this framework rest in identified areas of activity (A1-A5), core knowledge (K1-K6), and professional values (V1-V4) that academics must adhere to in order to provide quality and standards in HE. As GTAs, we should at least have appropriate core knowledge and understanding of at least K1 and K2, which are on subject material and appropriate teaching methods respectively, and be committed to appropriate professional values in facilitating others' learning. All these cannot be achieved if one is not nurtured and mentored to understand what and how it works in HE. One may be well acquainted and knowledgeable in core knowledge but may lack professional values.

The Role of Mentorship

Mentorship is a tool that can be used to support an individual throughout their teaching journey. Mentoring in HE can either take formal or informal ways. Informal mentoring suggests that mentor(s) provide support in achieving work-life balance and providing career guidance; in most cases, support is provided by senior faculty mentoring new faculty members (De Janasz & Sullivan, 2004). Whereas, the formal mentoring program appears to be established because of the requirements of professional bodies or because of priorities of University administrations (Wuetherick, 2017).

Personal Experience

However, from personal experience as a GTA, we were not assigned a formal mentor by the school, nor did some of my colleagues have informal mentors considering that most of us were either new to teaching or had experience but from a different setting compared to Kent. Personally, following a number of challenges encountered in academic practice, I took personal initiatives to engage the course convenor as my mentor, though it was informal and she did not expressly consider herself as such. The convenor managed to provide me with the moral and material support required in order to implement my duties diligently and effectively as a new seminar leader. The challenges that I encountered with respect to the course, use of technology in teaching, assessment, and feedback all were resolved by the 'personal mentor' I chose to have. Therefore, in the absence of a formal arrangement by the school, I had to make good use of the course convenor who was professional and enthusiastic to help.

The Benefits of Having a Mentor

Having a mentor in place will enable a new teacher in HE to develop expertise in academic practice. When two groups of experienced and inexperienced teachers were given scenarios to test how they would respond with respect to academic practice, the inexperienced group was less tolerant than the experienced group (Macfarlane, 2002). However, from the scenario by Macfarlane, had the inexperienced teachers received mentorship from senior staff, they would not have responded to such scenarios as they did. They would also be able to exercise academic autonomy in decision-making through guidance provided by their mentors.

Conclusion and Recommendations

There has not been a right or wrong way of handling this dilemma. Shulman (2005) suggests that it is required of a teacher to act for the best during unpredictable situations. The best course of action or solution that, as GTAs, collective initiatives with the assistance of the GTA Coordinator managed to do was establishing the so-called 'buddy scheme'. This scheme so far has been piloted to the new GTAs and meant to help them in their academic practice career. It works in a way that the second-year GTAs act as buddies by pairing with new GTAs to provide the necessary support throughout their teaching. Since we did not have this opportunity, we thought the new GTAs should not undergo what we went through. However, this remains to be our own initiative, and we would suggest in the near future that the school adopts this scheme and makes it formal.

Therefore, providing no formal mentorship support and expecting a new teacher to self-mentor is extremely challenging, especially for those new to teaching and academia. The impact extends to both students and the new teachers themselves, and sometimes it can have effects on the school at large with respect to the quality and standards of teaching.

References

• Congress, E. (1999). The importance of distinguishing between personal and professional ethics and values. Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics.
• De Janasz, S. C., & Sullivan, S. E. (2004). Multiple mentoring in academe: Developing the professorial network. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 64(2), 263-283.
• Fry, H. (2014). The Teaching Excellence Framework: Assessing quality and standards in higher education. Higher Education Policy Institute.
• Green, D. (1994). What is quality in higher education? Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press.
• Macfarlane, B. (2002). Teaching with integrity: The ethics of higher education practice. Routledge.
• Shulman, L. S. (2005). Signature pedagogies in the professions. Daedalus, 134(3), 52-59.
• Wuetherick, B. (2017). Mentoring in higher education: A review of the literature. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, 6(4), 334-351.