Ethics in Training & Education

Ethics in training and education carry a very different significance from ethics in say, selling groceries.

The biggest difference lies in the fact that in buying groceries, the customer knows what they are looking for, what they should get, and how to qualify it, whereas in buying training or education they do not know (beforehand) how to qualify or specify what they need or should get.

They usually only have some idea of the outcome they’re looking for, like getting a job, a raise, etc., but have little or no idea about what the training input should be like.

This lays the onus of ethics of training or education on the providers – the institution, the offering, the teachers, the trainers, etc. I share below some ethical values I have seen addressed by many providers. There will certainly be more that I will have missed. Please share those in your comments and feedback.

Ethics of the Training Organization

• Training Organization will identify the most relevant and effective Training Needs for learners as part of a sustainable society
• Training Organization will define curriculum that are relevant and efficient in helping learners progress towards their learning objectives and goals
• Training Organization will make all efforts to keep every promise and commitment made to Trainees – before, during, and after the training.
• Training Organization will ensure Trainers have the required caliber for the training delivery assigned to them.

Ethics in the Offering

• The offering (training program/intervention) will be focused on takeaways for every participant that are relevant and effective in helping them move closer to their learning objectives as easily and efficiently as possible.
• The offering will uphold all applicable Laws of Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).
• The offering will focus on meeting every commitment made or implied to the learners.

Ethics of Trainers

• Trainer will make all efforts to demonstrate relevant, current, ASKBs (Attitudes, Skills, Knowledge, and Behaviors) for helping the trainee in meeting their Learning Objectives and Goals.
• Trainers will make all necessary efforts to:
  • Appreciate the goals and learning objectives of learners.
  • Appreciate the trust and faith reposed in them by their learners, and never ever misuse it or betray the learner.
  • Identify the Training Needs of learners. Distinguish between learners’ needs, expectations, and requirements, and collate those that will benefit the learners the most in their context, while being socially sustainable.
  • Identify all subject matter that is relevant to meeting the Training Needs – research for the latest developments/implementations/developments in progress at the time.
  • Determine the facts and truth in subject matter. Share only what is unequivocally true with learners.
  • Develop the training strategies most suitable and efficient for learners – Presentations, Reading materials, Audio, Video, Activities, Debriefs, Simulations, etc.
  • Declare and clarify what objectives learners can expect to be met.
  • Use the training strategies to help the learners assimilate the relevant subject matter.
  • Involve every learner, and provide a safe and fair learning and assessment environment.
  • Give learners a sense of closure in meeting their learning objectives.

Ethics of Learners

• Learners will engage and interact with the trainer, to enhance their learning experience.
• Learners will pay attention and attempt to comprehend the experience they receive from the trainer/teacher.
• Learners will diligently follow instructions of the trainer/teacher regarding their learning.
• Learners will deploy their learning in endeavors which drive and support the sustainability of society.

If these seem to be too many, try going through them again and identify those which can be deleted as they may be redundant or unimportant.

I would love to hear your feedback and comments.

— O —

Also: “An Industry of Hope, Belief, Trust, Integrity, and Responsibility”

“Ethics at Work”

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Talk the walk!

That’s right!  We’ve been used to hearing and reading about it the other way around.  ‘Walk the talk!’ is the constant refrain for leadership.  You should ‘do as you say, practice what you preach’.

I’ve found that while the (almost cliched) saying “Walk the Talk” works fine for those situations where we may benefit from it, there’s the flip saying also which is very effective in growing and spreading a greater understanding.  Most people don’t give a second thought to whether what they are saying is true about themselves.  This may be fine as long as you ascribe the authorship of what you say to someone else, someone greater than yourself, but why do we treat what we say as separate from our own behavior?

You may be very sincerely giving advice to another from the storehouse of quotations you carry in your mind.  In such a scenario you are the medium through which someone (the author’s) else’s learning is finding new ears.  It doesn’t make any difference to how you may be.  Or at least it gives you the liberty of some time before people may expect you to follow what you have said, to demonstrate in action the same wise words.  So let’s consider another approach.  An approach to changing yourself for the better forever.

Let’s say you hold yourself very responsible for saying something that you do not practice.  In such a case, out of a sense of integrity, you would diligently also mention that these words have been said by so and so.  Lets also assume that you don’t want to have to keep remembering what other people have said simply to share them with others, but you use them more to make a difference to who you are.  In such a scenario, one very simple thing to do is to only share what you do, and how you yourself are. 

Choose to only share those aspects or facts that you have already worked upon, and the changes you have already caused with them. Make sure you always have something  new to talk about.  With this approach, it follows that you will first practice differently, analyze the results for yourself, and then talk about the successes, the lessons.  If you are trying out new ways of doing things, of being yourself, you will always have many lessons to talk about.

When you talk from personal experience, and from the rewards that you yourself have reaped, it becomes something far more engaging and valuable.  Such conversations have far reaching depths, and impact that may just be the change that was needed. It’s our integrity with ourselves. It’s living personal integrity as alignment between what we think, believe, say, and do.

— O —

Why does our faith have to be blind?

We hear stories every day of so-called Godmen, Spiritual Masters, Gurus, and Healers taking people for a ride. Why do we blame the Godman? Why do we blame these spiritual scamsters? Why look for the mistakes of one person, and turn a blind eye to the one mistake of thousands, including our own?  Just think about it.

It is WE who give them the opportunity to take us for a ride. Our blind faith is what makes them what they are.  As soon as they realize our stupidity, they can justify the ‘rewards’ they take for their smartness.  Their arrogance and liberties grows by leaps and bounds, knowing that their ‘flock’ will stay stupid because they will keep it so.

Think!

Why does our faith have to be blind? Why can’t we be mindful? Do we not have minds? Do we not have brains? Or are we just cattle, following the herd.  Any faith that calls for blind obeisance is a cult, mind you.

Let’s be mindful of what we invest our faith in. Everyone is not worthy of being respected just because they say something we do not understand.  Just as important it is for the guru to choose the disciple, it is important for the disciple to choose the guru. Even our scriptures advise us to do our own research and be mindful of our own experience before believing anything.

This is not a trivial matter.  It is one ailment with far-reaching consequences for the nation and each one of us, and the generations that follow! 

— O —