ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
TEACHER-STUDENT BOUNDARIES
Embedded Files
Education is replete with rhetorical imprecision. Whenever we use terms, it is important to define them as well as we can. In this section, we offer our understandings of what it means to strive to be developmentally appropriate, trauma informed, and culturally responsive.
➨ Many school and district handbooks have sections that outline expectations for teachers, such as this staff boundaries document from the Amherst Regional Schools in Amherst, Massachusetts. The sections titled “professional relationships with students” and “classroom specifics” are particularly useful.
➨ The National Education Association (NEA) has a Code of Ethics for Educators . Principle 1 (“Commitment to the student”) is the most relevant to the matter of teacher conduct, though the rest of the document contains useful guidelines for educators to consider.
➨ The NEA also offers a guide to role clarity and boundary mapping that, while aimed at higher education faculty, contains important information and advice. For example, it explains that “Teacher and student identities shape expectations, reactions, and dynamics regarding boundaries. For example, students are more likely to challenge the authority of faculty of color, particularly women. These challenges may require minoritized faculty to establish their credibility and roles in ways that majoritized faculty may not. When we consider the privilege and marginalization assigned to the range and intersection of identities between students and faculty, we see a vast array of influences, including not only gender and race, but also age, social class, nationality, and more.”
➨ This article by Amanda Wyrick is geared toward post-secondary educators, but a good deal of what she offers applies to earlier grades, as well. She begins by stating: “I’ve found that creating and sustaining boundaries—the physical, emotional, and mental limits we put in place to honor our personal needs and our role as educators—helps to not only avoid burnout, but also prevent role confusion, build trust, ensure professionalism, foster student independence, and teach students how to respect boundaries outside the classroom. It also removes the guessing game and reduces anxiety for you and your students.”
➨ This resource from the UK offers clear and practical guidance for educators to consider.
ALL REFERENCES
ALL REFERENCES
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National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (n.d.). Developmentally Appropriate Practice. https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/training-technical-assistance/education-level/early-learning/developmentally-appropriate-practice
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