Abstract
In the process of professionalisation of adult educators, a significant role is played by qualification, educational and evaluation standards. However, they do not often deal with ethical questions which can arise from their relationship with participants of the educational process, from their membership in professional associations or from the relationship with an educational institution. This gap is filled by ethical codes, which are not legal standards but they are adult educators’ voluntary obligations. The importance of codes was a reason for the comparison of 26 ethical codes aiming to find their common features and non-standard regulations, to point out the prevailing structures and contents and disciplinary measures when the code is violated. The contribution of this study is to enrich the andragogical theory with a deeper understanding of the purpose of ethical codes, their structural elements and content. From the point of view of education policy, an analysis of codes can work as a specific monitoring of the market of educational services. It can serve for designing certification courses of adult educators as well as subjects in graduate studies in andragogy. The limitation of this study lies in the fact that the selection of codes was limited to codes written in four languages; however, one of them was English, which is a world language. As for the territorial scope, codes cover North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Highlights
A good-quality adult educator should be an expert in a particular field, have andragogical competences and appropriate personal qualities (Beneš, 2014; Mužík, 2010; Veteška, 2016; Religa, 2014; Despotović, 2012; Evans, 2012; Malach, 2014; Malach & Chmura, 2014; Milana & Skrypnyk, 2012; Prusáková, 2014)
No other study has been found in the andragogical literature which would focus on the examination of ethical codes for adult educators
Based on the results presented here, I argue that ethical codes and codes of practice play a significant role in creating a professional culture of adult educators
Summary
A good-quality adult educator should be an expert in a particular field, have andragogical competences and appropriate personal qualities (Beneš, 2014; Mužík, 2010; Veteška, 2016; Religa, 2014; Despotović, 2012; Evans, 2012; Malach, 2014; Malach & Chmura, 2014; Milana & Skrypnyk, 2012; Prusáková, 2014). Frequent requirements are: being aware of one’s role and responsibility; using a range of modern methods; using media/technology responsibly and ethically and preventing teachers and learners’ plagiarism; always transferring current, relevant and true information; striving for open and partner communication; providing feedback and evaluation at the right time; enabling learners to share responsibility for their learning, evaluation, goal setting; striving for the highest quality of work; ensuring learners’ progress during instruction; demonstrating self-reliance, active and proactive approach; delivering reliable (research) data and sources to learners; improving one’s knowledge and skills, based on clients’ feedback; being capable of self-management, self-evaluation and self-control; being able to work in a team; using only truthful promotion. Woloszyn-Spirka, Krause: Wybrane Kodeks zagadnienia etyki etyczny doradcy zawodowego, doradcy
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