Teachers’ code of ethics and technology

Technology is not merely a tool. / AI-created image

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Antoni Hernández-Fernández

Many teachers are unaware of the existence of a Teachers’ Code of Ethics (TCE) intended to guide professional practice. This applies both to early-career teachers and to some with decades of experience. It should be made clear from the outset that this is not their fault if no one has previously informed them of the existence of such a code—still less that some of these codes explicitly address educational technology. In this respect, I would like to highlight the TCE approved in 2021 by the Col·legi Oficial de Doctors i Llicenciats en Filosofia i Lletres i en Ciències de Catalunya, as it explicitly incorporates a commitment by teachers to the responsible and ethical use of technology. This is a strategic step, and one that can be extrapolated to other contexts regardless of differences between education systems. It concerns teachers at all educational levels, not only those who teach technological subjects.

Technology is not merely a tool. It entails a system of practices with social impact. Every technological decision taken in the classroom—just as in society, or in the laws and regulations that govern technology—has consequences. It affects citizenship, privacy, students’ autonomy, equity, and the educational ecosystem as a whole. It also concerns, and should involve, families. Internal regulations within schools are of limited value if, outside their walls, a digital “Wild West” prevails.

The TCE structures the teaching profession around several specific commitments: towards students, towards the profession, towards knowledge, and towards society. In the case of the Catalan TCE, a specific commitment regarding the responsible and ethical use of technology is added. This is far from trivial and remains uncommon in other international codes, including some promoted by UNESCO (see Ardila and Hernández-Fernández, 2024, for a general review).

The underlying approach is clear. Students constitute a vulnerable group. Consequently, the use of technology must be pedagogically justified, safe, and proportionate. It is not enough to introduce apps or artificial intelligence into subjects on a discretionary basis and expect students to self-regulate. Education is required. Timeframes, contexts, and educational purposes must be regulated. Risks such as cyberbullying, overexposure, addiction, or the inappropriate use of personal data must be prevented and avoided. Just as language teachers bear greater responsibility for spelling, technology teachers should bear greater responsibility here (where the system allows them to survive), although no one is exempt from their share of responsibility.

Teachers across all subject areas have concrete obligations: to update their digital competences; to be familiar with data protection regulations; to prevent plagiarism; to use secure platforms; to separate personal and professional lives on social media—something that so-called teachtokers, for example, often fail to do when they turn their classrooms into tools for increasing likes or online visibility; to intervene in digital incidents affecting the school; and to ensure the confidentiality of academic information. Enough of uploading students’ work or materials to the internet: their privacy must be protected and the law respected.

Furthermore, equity in access to technology must be promoted. Online tasks should be planned realistically. Teachers should explain not only the benefits of digital tools, but also their limitations and risks. The biases of artificial intelligence and their educational implications must be analysed. Students should be educated in critical thinking in relation to algorithms and digital surveillance—sometimes promoted by schools themselves or by the business models of major technology companies, which are based on student data, often obtained without the consent of students or their families, in violation of existing data protection laws.

It is important to stress that defending technological education—a position I support—does not entail the indiscriminate or uncritical digitalisation of education. Technological culture can and should be promoted without multiplying devices, in line with the TCE. Any credible code of ethics must explicitly incorporate technology and techno-ethics into its commitments. This is not optional. It is part of the professional duty of educators and concerns the entire teaching staff. To sidestep technology is to ignore part of our professional obligations.

Table I. Summary of professional guidelines for teachers’ commitment to the responsible and ethical use of technology in the classroom.

Table I summarises some guidelines that I would recommend to colleagues in the profession. Technology is a structural component of teaching. The ethical framework proposed here explicitly acknowledges this and requires it to be addressed with professional rigour. Digital competence without ethics is insufficient. Regulation, prudence, and critical reflection must accompany any educational innovation that incorporates technology. This commitment does not rest solely with technology teachers. It is a shared responsibility of all educators, and, of course, of their superiors: school leadership teams, education departments, inspectorates, and, most importantly, legislators. Unfortunately, ethics remains largely absent from both initial and continuing teacher education, as well as from education laws and their accompanying regulations.

References:

Ardila, M. & Hernández-Fernández, A. (2024). Codi deontològic docent: una perspectiva global per a una actuació local. Informe tècnic UPC, https://hdl.handle.net/2117/416351.

Hernández-Fernández, A. (2025). Tecnologia, tecnoètica i codi deontològic docent. Revista de tecnologia, 13, p. 56-59. DOI: 10.2436/20.2004.01.69. https://hdl.handle.net/2117/442517

UNESCO (2023). Código deontológico de la profesión docente. https://etico.iiep.unesco.org/sites/default/files/2023-03/Spain_CE.pdf

Source: educational EVIDENCE

Rights: Creative Commons