A Code of Ethics That Tickles

A profession is a source of livelihood that can only be performed by those who have particular expertise in their field. A profession is founded on education that is specialised and focused on a particular field. A person who has a profession must go through, and be declared to have passed, a series of education that trains the skills needed to work in a field in line with the competence they have trained. For example, in the medical profession, only those who are experts or have competence in the field of health can practise it. Likewise with the teaching profession: only people who have the competence to teach and who meet other applicable requirements can practise as teachers. So not just anyone can work as a doctor or a teacher. A profession is carried out by complying with the existing code of ethics; every profession has its own code of ethics. A professional code of ethics is a system of rules and provisions of conduct that exists and is accepted in a particular professional group. A professional code of ethics can also be described as a norm or basic guideline that directs a person's behaviour in carrying out their profession. The purpose of this code of ethics is to ensure that the duties of the profession are carried out well and to ensure that the conduct of those who hold the profession does not deviate from or violate norms. One profession with a large number of members is teaching. Teachers, or educators, are tasked with educating or passing on knowledge to learners; in addition, teachers are also responsible for planning the learning process and assessing learning outcomes. Teachers are also expected to guide learners, take part in training, and conduct research as well as serve the community. In carrying out their profession, teachers have a code of ethics that must be obeyed. The basic guidelines for teachers in their service include guiding learners to have a Pancasila spirit and a spirit of integrity, providing guidance to learners, creating a good school atmosphere, maintaining relationships with learners' guardians, improving the quality of the profession, maintaining professional solidarity, and improving the quality of PGRI, as well as carrying out government policies in the world of education. Teachers, with the code of ethics they hold, serve to bridge moral principles and norms in carrying out their duties. The existing norms must not be violated; if they are violated, the teachers' code of ethics will be tarnished. In addition, if a teacher deviates from the norms, it will also tarnish their own good name, the institution that employs them, and even the good name of the teaching profession itself. The good name of teachers as educators who guide learners must be accompanied by behaviour that is worthy of emulation, because teachers are generally imitated by their learners. In the world of education today, for some reason many problems arise related to teachers' code of ethics as well as learners' morality. There are many cases in which teachers behave contrary to their code of ethics; it can be said that there are many cases in which people in the teaching profession violate the teachers' code of ethics. One example is the case at SMPN 1 Sukodadi, Lamongan, East Java, where a teacher with the initials R.E cut a female student's hair because she wore a headscarf without a ciput (inner cap) on Tuesday, 23 August 2023 (Tempo.co, 2023). Perhaps this was intended to discipline learners so that they wear a ciput when wearing a headscarf, so that the hair at the front is not visible. In fact, the school does not require wearing a headscarf, but because all of its female students are Muslim, the school wants its female students to wear headscarves, though it does not require a ciput. Although the teacher had previously warned the female students to wear a ciput, cutting the student's hair was wrong and could be classed as an act of child abuse, according to the Head of the Advocacy and Campaign Division of LBH Surabaya, Habibus Salihin. This of course violates the code of ethics of the teaching profession. Disciplining learners is part of a teacher's duties, but in disciplining learners one must still adhere to the guidelines of the teachers' professional code of ethics. As a teacher, one cannot simply be idealistic and carry out duties in accordance with what one personally believes is right. In this case, several provisions of the code of ethics were violated, such as creating a good school atmosphere. Cutting a female student's hair under the pretext of disciplining can cause psychological trauma that makes them uncomfortable going to school. Learners' discomfort in going to school certainly means a good school atmosphere is not created. Learners' discomfort at school also makes guardians no longer entrust their children to that educational institution, so teachers can no longer maintain good relationships with learners' guardians. Yet according to the teachers' professional code of ethics, teachers are required to build and maintain good relationships both with the learners themselves and with learners' guardians. This is intended so that teachers and learners' guardians can work together to develop learners' potential to the fullest. Teachers who act on their own whims or do something they feel is right without regard for the code of ethics can damage the quality of the teaching profession. In other words, they cannot improve the quality of the profession. If the quality of the teaching profession is damaged or its good name tarnished, then the public's view of teachers will also change. People who once greatly respected teachers now switch sides and defend their own children to the extreme even though sometimes the child is the one who is naughty. This happens because the public no longer trusts teachers as a result of the tarnished code of ethics of the teaching profession. Being a teacher is certainly not easy, especially for someone who truly dedicates themselves to the teaching profession, because the profession requires educating and guiding other people's children. For that reason, the feelings of learners and of learners' guardians need to be looked after. People in the teaching profession must also have great patience, because it is not uncommon for learners to be mischievous and naughty, yet we must respond with patience and reprimand them gently. It is also not uncommon for a naughty learner, even after being gently reprimanded, to remain stubborn and refuse to listen to the teacher's reprimand, which wears down the teacher's patience. When this happens, someone in the teaching profession is required to behave professionally and must not harm learners physically or mentally. The importance of teacher professional education before people take up the teaching profession directly lies partly in training teachers' professionalism in guiding learners. A person in the teaching profession must already have instilled a spirit of integrity and hold firmly to the teachers' professional code of ethics. Even once they are a teacher at a particular institution, their teaching must be in line with government policy, which is done in order to fulfil and comply with the teachers' professional code of ethics. It should be remembered that a person who has decided to dedicate themselves to the teaching profession must be ready for everything that may be unexpected and must consistently apply the teachers' professional code of ethics. They must teach correctly and educate students to have a Pancasila spirit. Instilling the Pancasila spirit properly and correctly in learners is expected to minimise misbehaviour. This instilling of the Pancasila spirit should be done gradually and with great patience so that learners tend to accept it and not reject or rebel against it. It also needs to be borne in mind that when teachers discipline learners, they should always pay attention to the learners' mental condition and not use physical violence. This is done to prevent tarnishing of the code of ethics, and also to maintain the relationship between teachers and learners and their guardians, so that a comfortable school life can be created.