Hi, Im having a hard time working out how to respond and understanding these questions.
I have been able to respond to the first question, but then it went down hill from there!
If anyone can help, please respond. I would greatly appreciate it
Scenario
Jack is a 4 year old child within your kinder room. You are aware that Jack’s mother Amy is good friends with Mel who is the kinder teacher. Jack has been displaying some aggressive behaviours towards some of the other children within the room. You have noticed this behaviour has significantly increased since Jack’s parent’s announced that they were separating.
You have approached Mel with your concerns, and have expressed that you feel that a meeting should be set to discuss the concerns with Jack’s parents. Mel responds by saying that she knows Amy really well so she will have a chat with her at a BBQ that they are attending together on the weekend. She says that she does not want to cause the family any more stress by calling them in for a formal meeting.
The following Monday, Amy attends the service and lodges a formal complaint with the service director regarding Mel’s conduct, stating that she has acted unprofessionally in discussing her son’s behaviour in a public setting at the BBQ on the weekend, and that she now feels humiliated. There were also other families who attend the services present at the BBQ and Amy expressed that they were within earshot when Mel was discussing Jack’s behaviour with her. Amy also states that after the BBQ, another parent spoke with her and informed her that she had overheard one of the educators in the room discussing Jack’s behaviour when she arrived to collect her child. She stated that the educator used Jack’s name to identify him, and spoke very loudly regarding her feelings about how Amy should be handling her sons behaviour at home.
1.What are the legal and/or ethical considerations/dilemmas within this scenario? How would you address these as an educator?
- The problem in this scenario is that a Jack the child has been showing signs of aggressive behaviour towards the other children in the room. And not only that the sign and behaviour has increased with the stress of the child’s parents split.
The educator Amy is unprofessional and had discussed private matters of the child and the family in a public environment outside her job as the educator, which is an invasion of confidentiality and privacy. The educators actions are not protecting the privacy of the child and family. And now the parent has lodged a formal complaint towards the educator, which the parent had every right to do.
If I was the main educator that noticed the signs, I would have observed and then if it became more significant I would have done something about it straight away. Arranging a meeting with the family regardless of their own issues. And discuss the aggressive behaviour that their child has demonstrated towards the other children. And would ask for their family to maybe try to get professional therapist/help to assist to in the matter.
2. How would you ensure that the family and the child’s confidentiality and privacy is protected within this situation?
3. Outline how you would handle the parent’s complaint. What documentation would you refer to within your service? Who would you speak with? How would you respond?
4. What steps would you take to ensure that as an educator you were working in a manner that upheld the rights of the child and the family?
5. What regulation breeches have you identified within this scenario? You will need to research the regulations and National quality standard and outline the specific regulation/s and standards that have been breached.
6. Do you feel that there has been a breach of practitioner/client boundaries? Explain your response, and explain how you would act to ensure that ethical client/practitioner boundaries were maintained
7. As an educator, outline TWO (2) potential work practice improvements that you could implement into the service to avoid this situation occurring again.
8. Outline what role the service policies and philosophy would have in guiding staff in a similar situation
9. Outline the impacts that the identified breaches would have on the child, the family and the worker
Thank you
