apply expertise in mental health, learning, and behavior, to help children and youth succeed academically, socially, behaviorally, and emotionally. School psychologists partner with families, teachers, school administrators, and other professionals to create safe, healthy, and supportive learning environments that strengthen connections between home, school, and the community. (NASP, n.d.-a, p. 1)
As the decisions made by school psychologists have an impact on human lives, and thereby on society, the practice of school psychology rests on the public’s trust. To build and maintain society’s trust in school psychology, it is essential that every school psychologist is sensitive to the ethical and legal components of their work, knowledgeable regarding broad ethical principles and rules of professional conduct, and committed to a proactive stance in ethical thinking and conduct.
QUALITY CONTROL IN SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY
Four sources of “quality control” protect the rights and welfare of students and other recipients of school psychological services. Professional codes of ethics for the delivery of psychological services are discussed in this chapter. Chapter 2 provides an introduction to law that protects the rights of students and their parents in the school setting. Educational law provides a second source of quality control. Chapter 2 also addresses the credentialing of school psychologists, a third mechanism of quality assurance. Credentialing helps to ensure that psychologists meet specified qualifications before they are granted a legal sanction to practice (Fagan & Wise, 2007). Graduate-program accreditation is an additional mechanism of quality control. Program accreditation helps to ensure the adequate preparation of school psychologists during their graduate coursework and field experiences.
This chapter focuses on the what and why of professional ethics, ethics education and competencies, and the codes of ethics of the NASP and the American Psychological Association (APA). Four broad ethical principles are introduced along with an ethical-legal decision-making model. We also describe ethics committees and sanctions for unethical conduct.
WHAT AND WHY OF PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
The term ethics generally refers to a system of principles of conduct that guide the behavior of an individual. Ethics derives from the Greek word ethos, meaning character or custom, and the phrase ta ethika, which Plato and Aristotle used to describe their studies of Greek values and ideals (Solomon, 1984). Accordingly,
ethics is first of all a concern for individual character, including what we call “being a good person,” but it is also a concern for the overall character of an entire society, which is still appropriately called its “ethos.” Ethics is participation in, and an understanding of, an ethos, the effort to understand the social rules which govern and limit our behavior. (p. 5)
A system of ethics develops in the context of a particular society or culture and is connected closely to social customs. Ethics is composed of a range of acceptable (or unacceptable) social and personal behaviors, from rules of etiquette to more basic rules of society. The terms ethics and morality are often used interchangeably. However, according to philosophers, the term morality refers to a subset of ethical rules of special importance. Solomon (1984) suggested that moral principles are “the most basic and inviolable rules of a society.” Moral rules are thought to differ from other aspects of ethics in that they are more important, fundamental, universal, rational, and objective (pp. 6–7). W. D. Ross (1930), a twentieth-century Scottish philosopher, identified a number of moral duties of the ethical person: nonmaleficence, fidelity, beneficence, justice, and autonomy. These moral principles have provided a foundation for the ethical codes of psychologists and other professionals (Bersoff & Koeppl, 1993).
Our focus here is on applied or practical professional ethics, the application of broad ethical principles and specific rules to the problems that arise in professional practice (Beauchamp & Childress, 2019). Applied ethics in school psychology is, thus, a combination of ethical principles and rules, ranging from more basic rules to rules of professional etiquette, that guide the conduct of the practitioner in their professional interactions with others. Furthermore, although school psychologists are employed in a variety of settings, in this text we emphasize the special challenges of school-based practice.
Professionalism and Ethics
Professionalization has been described as:
the process by which an occupation, usually on the basis of a claim to special competence and a concern for the quality of its work and benefits to society, obtains the exclusive right to perform a particular kind of work, to control training criteria and access to the profession, and to determine and evaluate the way the work is to be performed. (Chalk et al., 1980, p. 3)
Professional associations or societies function to promote the profession by publicizing the services offered, safeguarding the rights of professionals, attaining benefits for its members, facilitating the exchange of and development of knowledge, and promoting standards to enhance the quality of professional work by its members (Chalk et al., 1980). Codes of ethics appear to develop out of the self-interests of the profession and a genuine commitment to protect the interests of persons served. Most professional associations have recognized the need to balance self-interests against concern for the welfare of the consumer. Ethical codes are one mechanism to help ensure that members of a profession will deal justly with the public (Bersoff & Koeppl, 1993).
However, the development of a code of ethics also serves to foster the profession’s self-interests. A code of ethics is an indicator of the profession’s willingness to accept responsibility for defining appropriate conduct and a commitment to self-regulation of members by the profession (Chalk et al., 1980). The adoption of a code of ethics often has been viewed as the hallmark of a profession’s maturity. Ethical codes thus may serve to enhance the prestige of a profession and reduce the perceived need for external regulation and control.
The field of psychology has a long-standing commitment to activities that support and encourage appropriate professional conduct. As will be seen in this chapter, both the NASP and the APA have developed and adopted codes of ethics. These codes are drafted by committees within professional organizations and reflect the beliefs of association members about what constitutes appropriate professional conduct. They serve to protect the public by sensitizing professionals to the ethical aspects of service delivery, educating practitioners about the parameters of appropriate conduct, and helping professionals to monitor their own behavior. Furthermore, because the codes of ethics of psychologists can now be accessed using the Internet, they also increasingly serve to educate the public and recipients of services about the parameters of expected professional conduct by school psychologists. Finally, professional codes of ethics also provide guidelines for adjudicating complaints (Behnke & Jones, 2012). By encouraging appropriate professional conduct, the NASP and the APA help to ensure that each person served will receive the highest quality of professional service. As a result, the public’s trust in psychologists and psychology is enhanced and maintained.
Ethical Codes versus Ethical Conduct
Codes of ethics serve to protect the public. However, ethical conduct is not synonymous with simple conformity to a set of rules outlined in professional codes and standards (J. N. Hughes, 1986). As Kitchener (2000) and others (Bersoff, 1994; Welfel, 2012) have noted, codes of ethics are imperfect guides to behavior for several reasons. First, ethical codes in psychology are composed of broad, abstract principles along with a number of more specific statements about appropriate professional conduct. They are at times vague and ambiguous (Bersoff, 1994).
Second, competing ethical principles often apply in a particular situation