A Study On The Decision-making Process And Influence Mechanism Of Kindergarten Teachers' Professional Ethics In Dilemmas

In recent years,ethical issues of teachers are given increasingly more attention.Every day at work,kindergarten teachers are faced with complicated ethical decisions.Therefore,in order to provide practical suggestions for teachers under such situations,this study explores the decision-making process and influence mechanism of preschool teachers when they are dealing with professional ethical dilemmas.Aiming at probing such dilemma situations,the author conducts this study based on three gradual researches with qualitative and quantitative research methods including dilemma-related storytelling,distributing questionnaire and interviewing to delve into the current decision-making situations that Chinese kindergarten teachers are facing when they are trapped into professional ethical dilemmas,trying to analyze the influence of ethical decision-making mechanism.Study 1: Based on the collected 109 kindergarten teachers' ethical dilemmas,a questionnaire on kindergarten teachers' ethical decision-making in dilemmas was decided,which has good reliability and validity.Study 2: Using the questionnaire of Study 1 to survey 705 kindergarten teachers,the results show that:(1)The factors that affect the ethical decision-making level of kindergarten teachers are: whether they have received professional ethics training for teachers,teaching years,age,professional title,and education background.(2)The three factors of age,ethics training and education background all have a significant impact on ethical decision-making.The predictive power of three independent variables on "ethical decision-making ability" are: 2% for age,1.8% for training and 0.6% for education background,jointly explained 4.4% of the variation.(3)Kindergarten teachers with long teaching years(?15 years)and high professional title(level 1)have the lowest ethical decision-making level,which may be affected by job burnout.Study 3:Thirteen kindergarten teachers at different levels were interviewed and it shows that:in dilemma,the professional ethical decision-making process of kindergarten teachersconsists of five steps:(1)identify ethical issues;(2)think and make judgment;(3)establish intention;(4)make decisions and actions;(5)evaluation: whether the matter has been handled well,if it is,then it ends;if not,it returns to the second step..As for the influence mechanism,based on the theory of the ecosystem of Bronfenbrenner,the influence mechanism of the professional ethical decision-making of kindergarten teachers in the dilemma is analyzed.The professional ethical decision of kindergarten teachers is balanced by internal and external factors.Personal internal factors include:professional knowledge level(ethics training,educational background,teaching years),empathy ability,reflection,experience,mental pressure,and differences in understanding of teachers' responsibilities.External factors are the changing environment in which kindergarten teachers live and interact with them,namely kindergarten teachers' behavior systems,including microsystems,middle systems,external systems and macro systems.Microsystem includes: teachers' family,colleagues,kindergarten organizational atmosphere and system,children and their parents.Middle system: that is,the interconnection or relationship between micro systems,such as teachers' own family and kindergarten,the connection between parents,the teacher and colleagues,etc.External system includes: the education department,children's family environment and community.Macro system includes:the social and cultural concepts,public opinion,and teacher ethics regulations that exist in the above three systems.