Читать книгу Ethics and Law for School Psychologists - Susan Jacob - Страница 34

Respect for the dignity of all persons also encompasses the ethical obligation to promote fairness and social justice. School psychologists “use their expertise to cultivate school climates that are safe, welcoming, and equitable to all persons regardless of actual or perceived characteristics, including race, ethnicity, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, immigration status, socioeconomic status, primary language, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, or any other distinguishing characteristics” (NASP Guiding Principle I.3; also APA Principle E).

The school psychologist’s obligation to students from diverse cultural, linguistic, and experiential backgrounds goes beyond striving to be impartial and unprejudiced in the delivery of services. Practitioners have an ethical responsibility to actively pursue awareness and knowledge of how diversity factors may influence child development, behavior, and school learning (NASP Standard II.3.8; Flanagan et al., 2005) and to pursue the skills needed to promote the mental health and education of diverse students. Ignoring or minimizing the importance of characteristics such as ethnicity, disabilities, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic background may result in approaches that are ineffective and a disservice to children, parents, teachers, and other recipients of services (APA, 2017a).

Consistent with the broad ethical principle of justice, school psychologists also “strive to ensure that all children and youth have equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from school programs and that all students and families have access to and can benefit from school psychological services. They work to correct school practices that are unjustly discriminatory or that deny students or others their legal rights” (NASP Standard I.3.2; also APA Principle D).

Efforts by school psychologists to advance social justice in the nation’s schools and society align with NASP’s code Broad Theme I, Respecting the Dignity and Rights of All Persons, and Broad Theme IV, Responsibility to Schools, Families, Communities, the Profession, and Society. The construct social justice can be viewed as a contemporary articulation of the long-recognized ethical principle of justice. NASP leadership defined social justice as:

both a process and a goal that requires action. School psychologists work to ensure the protection of the educational rights, opportunities, and well-being of all children, especially those whose voices have been muted, identities obscured, or needs ignored. Social justice requires promoting non-discriminatory practices and the empowerment of families and communities. School psychologists enact social justice through culturally-responsive professional practice and advocacy to create schools, communities, and systems that ensure equity and fairness for all children and youth. (Adopted by the NASP Board of Directors, April 2017)