DEFINITION

 

What is Dilemma?

Dilemma is where a person has a difficult choice to make between two or more alternatives, especially ones that are equally undesirable.

Ethical Dilemma

This is where a person is facing dilemma of choosing between going against their code of ethics or societal norms, such as codes of law and religious teachings, or with their internal moral beliefs of what is right and wrong.

In Education

Teachers have to face ethical dilemma in regards their students and them as educators. One example is where the teacher have to make decision that goes against their personal values to fulfill their role as moral agent or moral educators to their students. This is especially the case in a diverse classroom where the teacher has to put aside any bias beliefs or stereotypes so they can display an appropriate behaviour for the students to model after.

Secondly, there is a choice the teacher has to make between following the standards of good practices that benefits the system or the students. For example, a teacher has to decide if a general punishment used in the school is something done with the students' best interest considered.

In the current scenario regarding the COVID-19 pandemic where schools are reopened and allow physical lessons, one of the most common ethical dilemmas is how teachers are debating between the option of choosing to remain fully online, fully physical, or do a hybrid of the two.